Recent Insights from Radar Studies of Insect Flight

• Published in: Annual review of entomology 2011-01, Vol.56 (1), p.337-356
• Main Authors: Chapman, Jason W, Drake, V. Alistair, Reynolds, Don R
• Format: Article
• Language: English
• Subjects: Animal Migration; Animals; Biological and medical sciences; dispersal behavior; Flight, Animal; foraging; Fundamental and applied biological sciences. Psychology; harmonic radar; Hymenoptera; insect flight; Insecta; Insecta - physiology; Invertebrates; Lepidoptera; literature reviews; migration behavior; monitoring; navigation; new methods; new technology; orientation; periodicity; Radar; remote sensing; research methods; seasonal migration; seasonal variation; vertical-looking radar; wind; wind direction
• ISSN: 0066-4170; 1545-4487
• DOI: 10.1146/annurev-ento-120709-144820

Radar has been used to study insects in flight for over 40 years and has helped to establish the ubiquity of several migration phenomena: dawn, morning, and dusk takeoffs; approximate downwind transport; concentration at wind convergences; layers in stable nighttime atmospheres; and nocturnal common orientation. Two novel radar designs introduced in the late 1990s have significantly enhanced observing capabilities. Radar-based research now encompasses foraging as well as migration and is increasingly focused on flight behavior and the environmental cues influencing it. Migrant moths have been shown to employ sophisticated orientation and height-selection strategies that maximize displacements in seasonally appropriate directions; they appear to have an internal compass and to respond to turbulence features in the airflow. Tracks of foraging insects demonstrate compensation for wind drift and use of optimal search paths to locate resources. Further improvements to observing capabilities, and employment in operational as well as research roles, appear feasible.