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Research output: Contribution to Journal/Magazine › Review article › peer-review
Research output: Contribution to Journal/Magazine › Review article › peer-review
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TY - JOUR
T1 - The tethered flight technique as a tool for studying life-history strategies associated with migration in insects
AU - Minter, Melissa
AU - Pearson, Aislinn
AU - Lim, Ka S.
AU - Wilson, Kenneth
AU - Chapman, Jason W.
AU - Jones, Christopher M.
PY - 2018/8
Y1 - 2018/8
N2 - 1. Every year billions of insects engage in long-distance, seasonal mass migrations which have major consequences for agriculture, ecosystem services and insect-vectored diseases. Tracking this movement in the field is difficult, with mass migrations often occurring at high altitudes and over large spatial scales. 2. As such, tethered flight provides a valuable tool for studying the flight behaviour of insects, giving insights into flight propensity (e.g. distance, duration and velocity) and orientation under controlled laboratory settings. By experimentally manipulating a variety of environmental and physiological traits, numerous studies have used this technology to study the flight behaviour of migratory insects ranging in size from aphids to butterflies. Advances in functional genomics promise to extend this to the identification of genetic factors associated with flight. Tethered flight techniques have been used to study migratory flight characteristics in insects for more than 50years, but have never been reviewed. 3. This study summarises the key findings of this technology, which has been employed in studies of species from six Orders. By providing detailed descriptions of the tethered flight systems, the present study also aims to further the understanding of how tethered flight studies support field observations, the situations under which the technology is useful and how it might be used in future studies. 4. The aim is to contextualise the available tethered flight studies within the broader knowledge of insect migration and to describe the significant contribution these systems have made to the literature.
AB - 1. Every year billions of insects engage in long-distance, seasonal mass migrations which have major consequences for agriculture, ecosystem services and insect-vectored diseases. Tracking this movement in the field is difficult, with mass migrations often occurring at high altitudes and over large spatial scales. 2. As such, tethered flight provides a valuable tool for studying the flight behaviour of insects, giving insights into flight propensity (e.g. distance, duration and velocity) and orientation under controlled laboratory settings. By experimentally manipulating a variety of environmental and physiological traits, numerous studies have used this technology to study the flight behaviour of migratory insects ranging in size from aphids to butterflies. Advances in functional genomics promise to extend this to the identification of genetic factors associated with flight. Tethered flight techniques have been used to study migratory flight characteristics in insects for more than 50years, but have never been reviewed. 3. This study summarises the key findings of this technology, which has been employed in studies of species from six Orders. By providing detailed descriptions of the tethered flight systems, the present study also aims to further the understanding of how tethered flight studies support field observations, the situations under which the technology is useful and how it might be used in future studies. 4. The aim is to contextualise the available tethered flight studies within the broader knowledge of insect migration and to describe the significant contribution these systems have made to the literature.
KW - Animal orientation
KW - dispersal
KW - insect movement
KW - migration
KW - tethered flight
KW - GRASSHOPPER MELANOPLUS-SANGUINIPES
KW - AGROTIS-IPSILON LEPIDOPTERA
KW - EXEMPTA WALKER LEPIDOPTERA
KW - LONG-DURATION FLIGHT
KW - HELICOVERPA-ARMIGERA LEPIDOPTERA
KW - MONARCH BUTTERFLY MIGRATION
KW - MILKWEED BUGS ONCOPELTUS
KW - PRE-REPRODUCTIVE PERIOD
KW - AFRICAN ARMYWORM MOTHS
KW - COTTON-BOLLWORM MOTH
U2 - 10.1111/een.12521
DO - 10.1111/een.12521
M3 - Review article
VL - 43
SP - 397
EP - 411
JO - Ecological Entomology
JF - Ecological Entomology
SN - 0307-6946
IS - 4
ER -