Evaluation and prediction of butterfly flight patterns over field scales

随着谐波雷达的出现，监测和记录在地貌尺度(最高可达几百米)上个体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、大黄蜂和飞蛾的飞行模式的理解。在喂食器捕获然后被转移的蜜蜂被证明在寻找蜂巢位置时采用了最优的搜索策略。当大黄蜂第一次离开巢去寻找食物时，这种最优的搜索策略也被采用。雄蛾在寻找性伴侣时采用了完全不同的搜索策略。当它们从雌蛾释放的性信息素中检测到气味时，它们会迎风飞行，直接寻找信息素的来源。初步分析的结果表明，蝴蝶迎风飞行对花簇的花香做出反应，然后利用最佳搜索策略在簇内定位单独的花。因此，蝴蝶的行为特征可能会在蜜蜂和飞蛾的行为特征之间架起一座有趣的桥梁。这项分析是基于十只蝴蝶的飞行模式和一种理想化的搜索理论。这项拟议的研究将通过监测许多蝴蝶的飞行模式和开发新的搜索理论来充实初步研究，这些理论明确地解释了“飞行指南”的影响，例如已知蝴蝶使用的密集树线。这项新的研究将导致更好地理解昆虫在田间尺度上的飞行模式，并将导致对这些飞行模式的验证和预测理论。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.