Spatial orientation based on multiple visual cues in non-migratory monarch butterflies
Spatial orientation based on multiple visual cues in non-migratory monarch butterflies
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DOI：
10.1242/jeb.223800
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发表时间：
2020-06-01
影响因子：
2.8
通讯作者：
el Jundi, Basil
中科院分区：
文献类型：
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作者：
Franzke, Myriam;Kraus, Christian;el Jundi, Basil
帝王蝶(Danaus Plexippus)以每年从北美长途迁徙到墨西哥中部越冬地区而闻名。为了在这一漫长的旅程中找到方向，它们使用太阳罗盘作为主要方向参考，但也会根据山脉调整迁徙方向。这表明迁徙的蝴蝶也会关注全景来指导它们的旅行。虽然在迁徙的蝴蝶身上已经对指南针进行了详细的研究，但对非迁徙的蝴蝶的定向能力知之甚少。在这里，我们调查了非迁徙蝴蝶是否也使用类似的指南针系统来指导它们的飞行。非迁徙蝴蝶留在更限制的区域觅食和繁殖。在室内LED飞行模拟器中对拴住的蝴蝶进行行为实验，我们发现帝王蝶相对于模拟的太阳沿着直线轨迹飞行。当全景天际线作为唯一的定位提示出现时，蝴蝶只在短时间内保持飞行方向，这表明它们可能会利用这一天际线来稳定飞行。我们进一步发现，当我们同时呈现这两个线索时，蝴蝶会将这两个线索合并到它们的指南针中。综上所述，我们在这里展示了非迁徙的帝王蝶可以结合多种视觉线索来确定稳健的方向，这一能力也可能有助于它们在迁徙过程中。
Monarch butterflies (Danaus plexippus) are prominent for their annual long-distance migration from North America to their overwintering area in Central Mexico. To find their way on this long journey, they use a sun compass as their main orientation reference but will also adjust their migratory direction with respect to mountain ranges. This indicates that the migratory butterflies also attend to the panorama to guide their travels. Although the compass has been studied in detail in migrating butterflies, little is known about the orientation abilities of non-migrating butterflies. Here, we investigated whether non-migrating butterflies -which stay in a more restricted area to feed and breed - also use a similar compass system to guide their flights. Performing behavioral experiments on tethered flying butterflies in an indoor LED flight simulator, we found that the monarchs fly along straight tracks with respect to a simulated sun. When a panoramic skyline was presented as the only orientation cue, the butterflies maintained their flight direction only during short sequences, suggesting that they potentially use it for flight stabilization. We further found that when we presented the two cues together, the butterflies incorporate both cues in their compass. Taken together, we show here that non-migrating monarch butterflies can combine multiple visual cues for robust orientation, an ability that may also aid them during their migration.