Joop van Loon's research

Research

Over 80% of plant feeding insect species and many parasitoid species are specialized feeders, whereas predators comprise both specialized and generalist species.

Using comparative physiological, behavioural and ecological approaches, we study questions on the use of chemical information by insects, such as:

• how do specialists recognise their host plants and how do generalists discriminate preferred plants from less preferred plants?
• which chemical cues play a key role in host (plant) and prey searching and host (plant) acceptance?
• which chemoreceptors mediate these cues? How specific are these chemoreceptors?
• how is olfactory activity encoded and processed in the brain to generate behaviour? (cooperation with Hans Smid)
• what chemical changes take place in a plant when it is damaged by a plant-feeding insect and how does this affect plant-feeding insects, their parasitoids and predators? (cooperation with Marcel Dicke)
• are there fitness benefits to plants by emitting volatile information which attracts natural enemies? (cooperation with Marcel Dicke and Jeff Harvey)

I am also involved in projects studying the odour-mediated host selection behaviour of malaria mosquitoes (cooperation with Willem Takken).

Research methods

Behavioural studies are the starting point of our work. We dispose over wind tunnels, olfactometers, a locomotion compensator (automated detailed walking track recording), videocamera’s, behavioural recording and analysis software and we use a range of feeding and oviposition assays on natural and artificial substrates. Behavioural observations raise questions on specificity and sensitivity of sensory perception which are addressed using electrophysiological techniques. Specificity and sensitivity of chemoreceptors that insects use to perceive plant-derived compounds are analysed by electrophysiological techniques: electroantennagrams (EAG) and single cell recordings on taste (‘tip-recording’) and olfactory neurons (surface-contact recording). For volatile plant compounds, sensory and chemical-analytical techniques are combined on-line, thereby enabling the efficient detection of individual chemicals that elicit sensory activity (coupled gas chromatography – electroantennography (GC-EAG)). Active chemicals eliciting attraction or acceptance are subsequently isolated and identified in several projects using a range of chemical analytical techniques (GC-MS, HPLC) under the guidance of behavioural assays, in close cooperation with chemists (Department of Organic Chemistry at WAU; Netherlands Institute of Ecological Research CTO-NIOO of KNAW; Department of Organic Chemistry, Technical University of Braunschweig; Institute of Zoology, Free University of Berlin).

Publications

• Nutritional Plasticity of the Black Soldier Fly (Hermetia Illucens) in Response to Artificial Diets Varying in Protein and Carbohydrate Concentrations

  Barragan-Fonseca, K.B. , Gort, G. , Dicke, M. , Loon, J.J.A. van (2020) Journal of Insects as Food and Feed 7 (2020)1. - ISSN 2352-4588 - p. 51 - 61.

• Life on a piece of cake : Performance and fatty acid profiles of black soldier fly larvae fed oilseed by-products

  Schreven, S.J.J. , Yener, S. , Valenberg, H.J.F. van , Dicke, M. , Loon, J.J.A. van (2020) Journal of Insects as Food and Feed 7 (2020)1. - ISSN 2352-4588 - p. 35 - 49.

• Broilers, black soldier fly larvae and behaviour

  Oonincx, D.G.A.B. , Vreugdenhil, L.C. , Veldkamp, T. , Fogliano, V. , Dijkslag, A. , Loon, J.J.A. van , Rodenburg, T.B. (2020) Journal of Insects as Food and Feed 6 (2020)Supplement 1. - ISSN 2352-4588 - p. S19 - S19.

• Gaseous emissions during black soldier fly rearing in a mass-rearing diet and pig manure

  Parodi Parodi, A. , Boer, I.J.M. de , Gerrits, W.J.J. , Loon, J.J.A. van , Heetkamp, M.J.W. , Schelt, J. van , Bolhuis, J.E. , Zanten, H.H.E. van (2020) Journal of Insects as Food and Feed 6 (2020)suppl. 1. - ISSN 2352-4588 - p. S66 - S66.

• Chemical food safety of using former foodstuffs for rearing black soldier fly larvae (Hermetia illucens) for feed and food use

  Fels-Klerx, H.J. van der , Meijer, N. , Nijkamp, M.M. , Schmitt, E. , Loon, J.J.A. van (2020) Journal of Insects as Food and Feed 6 (2020)5. - ISSN 2352-4588 - p. 475 - 488.

• Edible insects unlikely to contribute to transmission of coronavirus SARS-CoV-2

  Dicke, M. , Eilenberg, J. , Falcao Salles, J. , Jensen, A.B. , Lecocq, A. , Pijlman, G.P. , Loon, J.J.A. van , Oers, M.M. van (2020) Journal of Insects as Food and Feed 6 (2020)4. - ISSN 2352-4588 - p. 333 - 339.

• Use of semiochemicals for surveillance and control of hematophagous insects

  Mweresa, Collins K. , Mukabana, W.R. , Loon, J.J.A. van , Dicke, M. , Takken, W. (2020) Chemoecology 30 (2020). - ISSN 0937-7409 - p. 277 - 286.

• Nutrient flows and associated gaseous emissions of the production of black soldier flies

  Parodi, Alejandro , Boer, I.J.M. de , Gerrits, W.J.J. , Loon, J.J.A. van , Heetkamp, M.J.W. , Schelt, J. van , Bolhuis, J.E. , Zanten, H.H.E. van (2020) In: WIAS Annual Conference 2020. - : WIAS - p. 51 - 51.

• Standardisation of quantitative resource conversion studies with black soldier fly larvae

  Bosch, G. , Oonincx, D.G.A.B. , Jordan, H.R. , Zhang, J. , Loon, J.J.A. van , Huis, A. van , Tomberlin, Jeffery K. (2020) Journal of Insects as Food and Feed 6 (2020)2. - ISSN 2352-4588 - p. 95 - 109.

• Fractional Absorption of Iron from Crickets Consumed with Refined or Whole Meal Maize Porridge in Young Adult Women (OR07-06-19)

  Melse-Boonstra, A. , Mwangi, M.N. , Oonincx, D.G.A.B. , Loon, J.J.A. van , Cercamondi, C.I. , Utami, Dessy Aryanti , Gunawan, Lidyawati , Veenenbos, M.E. , Zeder, Christophe , Zimmermann, M.B. , Dicke, M. (2019) Current Developments in Nutrition 3 (2019)Supplement_1. - ISSN 2475-2991 - p. 728 - 728.

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