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Appetitive flight patterns of male Agrotis segetum moths over landscape scales

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Author

Summary, in English

An analysis is presented of the first harmonic radar studies of pheromone-plume locating flights of male Agrotis segetum moths over distances of up to 500m. Upon release most moths flew in a direction having a downwind component. The first significant changes in flight orientations occur in the immediate vicinity of a pheromone source. Moths that were initially flying downwind change course and start flying crosswind whilst those that initially flew crosswind change course and start flying upwind. It is shown that such behaviour is consistent with the adoption of an effective plume-location strategy, and conditions are identified when downwind flights would be more advantageous than crosswind ones. Additionally, some of the complex flight patterns that can arise at later times are shown to be compatible with the adoption of an optimal biased scale-free (Levy-flight) searching strategy. It is found that disruptive doses of sex pheromone can have a marked influence upon male moth flight patterns.

Publishing year

2007

Language

English

Pages

141-149

Publication/Series

Journal of Theoretical Biology

Volume

245

Issue

1

Document type

Journal article

Publisher

Academic Press

Topic

  • Biological Sciences
  • Zoology

Keywords

  • Pheromone plumes
  • Noctuidae
  • Agrotis segetum
  • Lepidoptera
  • Casting
  • Lévy flights

Status

Published

Research group

  • Pheromone Group

ISBN/ISSN/Other

  • ISSN: 1095-8541