Flight Orientation Behaviors Promote Optimal Migration Trajectories in High-Flying Insects

Chapman, Jason W.; Nesbit, Rebecca; Burgin, Laura; Reynolds, D. R.; Smith, A. D.; Middleton, D. R.; Hill, Jane K.

doi:10.1126/science.1182990

Cited by 265 publications

(318 citation statements)

References 24 publications

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“…2009; Chapman et al. 2010), whereas there is very little published information on dispersal ability in other species. This lack of dispersal information was reflected in the expert survey information (Table 2) where there was some lack of consensus on which moths belonged in the “low” and “medium” categories.…”

Section: Discussionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Quantifying interspecific variation in dispersal ability of noctuid moths using an advanced tethered flight technique

Jones

Lim

Bell

et al. 2015

Ecology and Evolution

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Dispersal plays a crucial role in many aspects of species' life histories, yet is often difficult to measure directly. This is particularly true for many insects, especially nocturnal species (e.g. moths) that cannot be easily observed under natural field conditions. Consequently, over the past five decades, laboratory tethered flight techniques have been developed as a means of measuring insect flight duration and speed. However, these previous designs have tended to focus on single species (typically migrant pests), and here we describe an improved apparatus that allows the study of flight ability in a wide range of insect body sizes and types. Obtaining dispersal information from a range of species is crucial for understanding insect population dynamics and range shifts. Our new laboratory tethered flight apparatus automatically records flight duration, speed, and distance of individual insects. The rotational tethered flight mill has very low friction and the arm to which flying insects are attached is extremely lightweight while remaining rigid and strong, permitting both small and large insects to be studied. The apparatus is compact and thus allows many individuals to be studied simultaneously under controlled laboratory conditions. We demonstrate the performance of the apparatus by using the mills to assess the flight capability of 24 species of British noctuid moths, ranging in size from 12–27 mm forewing length (~40–660 mg body mass). We validate the new technique by comparing our tethered flight data with existing information on dispersal ability of noctuids from the published literature and expert opinion. Values for tethered flight variables were in agreement with existing knowledge of dispersal ability in these species, supporting the use of this method to quantify dispersal in insects. Importantly, this new technology opens up the potential to investigate genetic and environmental factors affecting insect dispersal among a wide range of species.

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Section: Discussionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Quantifying interspecific variation in dispersal ability of noctuid moths using an advanced tethered flight technique

Jones

Lim

Bell

et al. 2015

Ecology and Evolution

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“…Lagrangian-based particle models are often employed for the IBM, with each individual indexed by its instantaneous position and velocity: navigation can be incorporated via a directional bias according to orienteering cues. Currents can be obtained from widely available datasets and models based on these principles have been applied to understand movement dynamics across aquatic and airborne populations: the advection-dominated movement of fish larvae [8]; the role of current-directed movement in jellyfish blooms [9]; the influence of directed movement on turtle drifting within ocean currents [10,11]; the Atlantic movements of eel larvae [12]; how wind influences the choice of staging sites during red knot migration [13]; the exploitation of favourable winds by high-flying insects [14]. For many further references and examples, see [15,16].…”

Section: Modelling Movement In Ecologymentioning

confidence: 99%

Navigating the flow: individual and continuum models for homing in flowing environments

Painter

Hillen

2015

J. R. Soc. Interface.

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Navigation for aquatic and airborne species often takes place in the face of complicated flows, from persistent currents to highly unpredictable storms. Hydrodynamic models are capable of simulating flow dynamics and provide the impetus for much individual-based modelling, in which particlesized individuals are immersed into a flowing medium. These models yield insights on the impact of currents on population distributions from fish eggs to large organisms, yet their computational demands and intractability reduce their capacity to generate the broader, less parameter-specific, insights allowed by traditional continuous approaches. In this paper, we formulate an individual-based model for navigation within a flowing field and apply scaling to derive its corresponding macroscopic and continuous model. We apply it to various movement classes, from drifters that simply go with the flow to navigators that respond to environmental orienteering cues. The utility of the model is demonstrated via its application to 'homing' problems and, in particular, the navigation of the marine green turtle Chelonia mydas to Ascension Island.

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“…To date, there is no evidence that midges belonging to the genus Culicoides actively migrate in ways shown by many other insects such as locusts [1]. Nevertheless, wind-borne dispersal of Culicoides from infected areas has been implicated as an explanation for the introduction of bluetongue virus (BTV) over both sea and land in the absence of recorded movements of their vertebrate hosts, for example, from Cuba to Florida, USA [2], from Morocco to Portugal [3], from Turkey or Syria to Cyprus [3], from Sardinia to the Balearic Islands [4] and from Mexico to Montana, USA [5].…”

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

A new algorithm quantifies the roles of wind and midge flight activity in the bluetongue epizootic in northwest Europe

et al. 2012

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The 2006 bluetongue (BT) outbreak in northwestern Europe had devastating effects on cattle and sheep in that intensively farmed area. The role of wind in disease spread, through its effect on Culicoides dispersal, is still uncertain, and remains unquantified. We examine here the relationship between farm-level infection dates and wind speed and direction within the framework of a novel model involving both mechanistic and stochastic steps. We consider wind as both a carrier of host semio-chemicals, to which midges might respond by upwind flight, and as a transporter of the midges themselves, in a more or less downwind direction. For completeness, we also consider midge movement independent of wind and various combinations of upwind, downwind and random movements. Using stochastic simulation, we are able to explain infection onset at 94 per cent of the 2025 affected farms. We conclude that 54 per cent of outbreaks occurred through (presumably midge) movement of infections over distances of no more than 5 km, 92 per cent over distances of no more than 31 km and only 2 per cent over any greater distances. The modal value for all infections combined is less than 1 km. Our analysis suggests that previous claims for a higher frequency of long-distance infections are unfounded. We suggest that many apparent long-distance infections resulted from sequences of shorter-range infections; a 'stepping stone' effect. Our analysis also found that downwind movement (the only sort so far considered in explanations of BT epidemics) is responsible for only 39 per cent of all infections, and highlights the effective contribution to disease spread of upwind midge movement, which accounted for 38 per cent of all infections. The importance of midge flight speed is also investigated. Within the same model framework, lower midge active flight speed (of 0.13 rather than 0.5 m s 21 ) reduced virtually to zero the role of upwind movement, mainly because modelled wind speeds in the area concerned were usually greater than such flight speed. Our analysis, therefore, highlights the need to improve our knowledge of midge flight speed in field situations, which is still very poorly understood. Finally, the model returned an intrinsic incubation period of 8 days, in accordance with the values reported in the literature. We argue that better understanding of the movement of infected insect vectors is an important ingredient in the management of future outbreaks of BT in Europe, and other devastating vector-borne diseases elsewhere.

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Flight Orientation Behaviors Promote Optimal Migration Trajectories in High-Flying Insects

Cited by 265 publications

References 24 publications

Quantifying interspecific variation in dispersal ability of noctuid moths using an advanced tethered flight technique

Quantifying interspecific variation in dispersal ability of noctuid moths using an advanced tethered flight technique

Navigating the flow: individual and continuum models for homing in flowing environments

A new algorithm quantifies the roles of wind and midge flight activity in the bluetongue epizootic in northwest Europe

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