Vertical-Looking Radar: A New Tool for Monitoring High-Altitude Insect Migration

Many insect species engage in high-altitude, wind-borne migration, often several hundred meters above the ground. At these heights they can use the wind to travel tens or hundreds of kilometers in a single flight, and hence a knowledge of their movements is essential to understanding their ecology a...

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Bibliographic Details
Published in:Bioscience 2003-05, Vol.53 (5), p.503-511
Main Authors: CHAPMAN, JASON W, REYNOLDS, DON R, SMITH, ALAN D
Format: Article
Language:English
Subjects:
Altitude
Animal migration
Animal migration behavior
Balloon flight
Case Studies
Data Analysis
DEPARTMENTS
diamondback moth
Ecology
Entomology
flight
Insect behavior
Insect ecology
Insect migration
insect monitoring
Insect pests
Insects
Light
Migrants
Migration
Migratory species
Nutation
orientation
Pests
Radar
radar entomology
Remote sensing
Sampling
Wind
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Description
Summary:Many insect species engage in high-altitude, wind-borne migration, often several hundred meters above the ground. At these heights they can use the wind to travel tens or hundreds of kilometers in a single flight, and hence a knowledge of their movements is essential to understanding their ecology and population dynamics. Direct observation of high-flying insect migrants is very difficult, especially at night, but the remote sensing capabilities of entomological radar provide a solution to this seemingly intractable problem. We describe a novel, nutating-beam, vertical-looking radar with autonomous data analysis software. This system routinely extracts data on size, shape, alignment, and displacement vectors from individual targets, allowing long-term monitoring of migrant insect populations. We discuss the capabilities and limitations of this system and describe some of its applications in the study of insect migration behaviour.
ISSN:0006-3568
1525-3244
DOI:10.1641/0006-3568(2003)053[0503:VRANTF]2.0.CO;2