Evaluation and prediction of butterfly flight patterns over field scales

随着谐波雷达的出现，在景观尺度（高达几百米）上监测和记录单个昆虫的飞行模式成为可能。这些实验彻底改变了我们对蜜蜂、大黄蜂和飞蛾飞行模式的理解。蜜蜂被喂食器捕获，然后被转移，在寻找蜂巢位置时采用了最佳搜索策略。当大黄蜂第一次离开巢穴寻找饲料时，也采用这种最优搜索策略。雄性飞蛾在寻找性伴侣时采用了完全不同的搜索策略。当它们嗅到雌蛾释放的性信息素的气味时，它们就会逆风飞行，直接寻找它的来源。初步分析结果表明，蝴蝶对花丛的花香作出反应，逆风飞行，然后利用最优搜索策略在花丛中定位单个花朵。因此，蝴蝶的行为特征可能在蜜蜂和飞蛾的行为特征之间提供了一个有趣的桥梁。这个分析是基于10只蝴蝶的飞行模式和一个理想的搜索理论。拟议的研究将通过监测许多蝴蝶的飞行模式和发展新的搜索理论来证实初步研究，这些理论明确解释了“飞行指南”的影响，例如已知蝴蝶使用的密集的树木线。这项新研究将使人们更好地了解野外尺度上昆虫的飞行模式，并将产生一个有效的、预测这些飞行模式的理论。这对了解和预测植物授粉和昆虫种群具有重要意义。

With the advent of harmonic radar it has become possible to monitor and record the flight patterns of individual insects over landscape scales (up to several hundred metres). These experiments have revolutionised our understanding of the flight patterns honeybees, bumblebees and moths. Honeybees caught at feeders and then displaced have been shown to adopt an optimal searching strategy when seeking the hive location. This optimal searching strategy is also adopted by bumblebees when they first leave the nest in search of forage. Male moths adopt an entirely different searching strategy when locating sexual partners. When they detect the scent from sex pheromone released by a female moth they fly in an upwind direct in search of its source. The results of a preliminary analysis suggest that butterflies fly upwind in response to floral scent from clusters of flowers and then locate individual flowers within a cluster by employing of an optimal searching strategy. The behaviour characteristics of butterflies may therefore provide an intriguing bridge between the behaviour characteristics of bees and moths. The analysis is based on the flight patterns of just ten butterflies and an idealised theory of searching. The proposed research will substantiate the preliminary study by monitoring the flight patterns of many butterflies and by developing new theories of searching that account explicitly for the influence of 'flight guides', such as dense tree-lines that are known to be used by butterflies. This new research will lead to a better understanding of insect flight patterns over field scales and will result in a validated, predictive theory of these flight patterns. This has important ramifications for the understanding and prediction of plant pollination and insect populations.