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The bat–bird–bug battle : Daily flight activity of insects and their predators over a rice field revealed by high-resolution scheimpflug lidar

Malmqvist, Elin LU ; Jansson, Samuel LU ; Zhu, Shiming ; Li, Wansha ; Svanberg, Katarina LU ; Svanberg, Sune LU ; Rydell, Jens LU ; Song, Ziwei ; Bood, Joakim LU and Brydegaard, Mikkel LU , et al. (2018) In Royal Society Open Science 5(4).
Abstract

We present the results of, to our knowledge, the first Lidar study applied to continuous and simultaneous monitoring of aerial insects, bats and birds. It illustrates how common patterns of flight activity, e.g. insect swarming around twilight, depend on predation risk and other constraints acting on the faunal components. Flight activity was monitored over a rice field in China during one week in July 2016, using a high-resolution Scheimpflug Lidar system. The monitored Lidar transect was about 520 m long and covered approximately 2.5 m3. The observed biomass spectrum was bimodal, and targets were separated into insects and vertebrates in a categorization supported by visual observations. Peak flight activity occurred at... (More)

We present the results of, to our knowledge, the first Lidar study applied to continuous and simultaneous monitoring of aerial insects, bats and birds. It illustrates how common patterns of flight activity, e.g. insect swarming around twilight, depend on predation risk and other constraints acting on the faunal components. Flight activity was monitored over a rice field in China during one week in July 2016, using a high-resolution Scheimpflug Lidar system. The monitored Lidar transect was about 520 m long and covered approximately 2.5 m3. The observed biomass spectrum was bimodal, and targets were separated into insects and vertebrates in a categorization supported by visual observations. Peak flight activity occurred at dusk and dawn, with a 37 min time difference between the bat and insect peaks. Hence, bats started to feed in declining insect activity after dusk and stopped before the rise in activity before dawn. A similar time difference between insects and birds may have occurred, but it was not obvious, perhaps because birds were relatively scarce. Our observations are consistent with the hypothesis that flight activity of bats is constrained by predation in bright light, and that crepuscular insects exploit this constraint by swarming near to sunset/sunrise to minimize predation from bats.

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organization
publishing date
type
Contribution to journal
publication status
published
subject
keywords
Agriculture, Bats, China, Ecosystem service, Entomology, Predation
in
Royal Society Open Science
volume
5
issue
4
article number
172303
publisher
Royal Society Publishing
external identifiers
  • scopus:85045338118
  • pmid:29765679
ISSN
2054-5703
DOI
10.1098/rsos.172303
language
English
LU publication?
yes
id
ecf38158-22a4-4605-8948-f614c3128931
date added to LUP
2018-04-26 14:15:00
date last changed
2024-04-15 07:09:09
@article{ecf38158-22a4-4605-8948-f614c3128931,
  abstract     = {{<p>We present the results of, to our knowledge, the first Lidar study applied to continuous and simultaneous monitoring of aerial insects, bats and birds. It illustrates how common patterns of flight activity, e.g. insect swarming around twilight, depend on predation risk and other constraints acting on the faunal components. Flight activity was monitored over a rice field in China during one week in July 2016, using a high-resolution Scheimpflug Lidar system. The monitored Lidar transect was about 520 m long and covered approximately 2.5 m<sup>3</sup>. The observed biomass spectrum was bimodal, and targets were separated into insects and vertebrates in a categorization supported by visual observations. Peak flight activity occurred at dusk and dawn, with a 37 min time difference between the bat and insect peaks. Hence, bats started to feed in declining insect activity after dusk and stopped before the rise in activity before dawn. A similar time difference between insects and birds may have occurred, but it was not obvious, perhaps because birds were relatively scarce. Our observations are consistent with the hypothesis that flight activity of bats is constrained by predation in bright light, and that crepuscular insects exploit this constraint by swarming near to sunset/sunrise to minimize predation from bats.</p>}},
  author       = {{Malmqvist, Elin and Jansson, Samuel and Zhu, Shiming and Li, Wansha and Svanberg, Katarina and Svanberg, Sune and Rydell, Jens and Song, Ziwei and Bood, Joakim and Brydegaard, Mikkel and Åkesson, Susanne}},
  issn         = {{2054-5703}},
  keywords     = {{Agriculture; Bats; China; Ecosystem service; Entomology; Predation}},
  language     = {{eng}},
  month        = {{04}},
  number       = {{4}},
  publisher    = {{Royal Society Publishing}},
  series       = {{Royal Society Open Science}},
  title        = {{The bat–bird–bug battle : Daily flight activity of insects and their predators over a rice field revealed by high-resolution scheimpflug lidar}},
  url          = {{http://dx.doi.org/10.1098/rsos.172303}},
  doi          = {{10.1098/rsos.172303}},
  volume       = {{5}},
  year         = {{2018}},
}