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Flight control and landing precision in the nocturnal bee Megalopta is robust to large changes in light intensity.

Baird, Emily LU ; Fernandez, Diana C ; Wcislo, William T and Warrant, Eric LU orcid (2015) In Frontiers in Physiology 6.
Abstract
Like their diurnal relatives, Megalopta genalis use visual information to control flight. Unlike their diurnal relatives, however, they do this at extremely low light intensities. Although Megalopta has developed optical specializations to increase visual sensitivity, theoretical studies suggest that this enhanced sensitivity does not enable them to capture enough light to use visual information to reliably control flight in the rainforest at night. It has been proposed that Megalopta gain extra sensitivity by summing visual information over time. While enhancing the reliability of vision, this strategy would decrease the accuracy with which they can detect image motion-a crucial cue for flight control. Here, we test this temporal... (More)
Like their diurnal relatives, Megalopta genalis use visual information to control flight. Unlike their diurnal relatives, however, they do this at extremely low light intensities. Although Megalopta has developed optical specializations to increase visual sensitivity, theoretical studies suggest that this enhanced sensitivity does not enable them to capture enough light to use visual information to reliably control flight in the rainforest at night. It has been proposed that Megalopta gain extra sensitivity by summing visual information over time. While enhancing the reliability of vision, this strategy would decrease the accuracy with which they can detect image motion-a crucial cue for flight control. Here, we test this temporal summation hypothesis by investigating how Megalopta's flight control and landing precision is affected by light intensity and compare our findings with the results of similar experiments performed on the diurnal bumblebee Bombus terrestris, to explore the extent to which Megalopta's adaptations to dim light affect their precision. We find that, unlike Bombus, light intensity does not affect flight and landing precision in Megalopta. Overall, we find little evidence that Megalopta uses a temporal summation strategy in dim light, while we find strong support for the use of this strategy in Bombus. (Less)
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author
; ; and
organization
publishing date
type
Contribution to journal
publication status
published
subject
in
Frontiers in Physiology
volume
6
article number
305
publisher
Frontiers Media S. A.
external identifiers
  • pmid:26578977
  • wos:000366739200001
  • scopus:84946562289
  • pmid:26578977
ISSN
1664-042X
DOI
10.3389/fphys.2015.00305
language
English
LU publication?
yes
id
6cd6abee-4e79-4757-8d33-e07e7bfd7f60 (old id 8235277)
date added to LUP
2016-04-01 14:30:06
date last changed
2024-01-25 01:26:06
@article{6cd6abee-4e79-4757-8d33-e07e7bfd7f60,
  abstract     = {{Like their diurnal relatives, Megalopta genalis use visual information to control flight. Unlike their diurnal relatives, however, they do this at extremely low light intensities. Although Megalopta has developed optical specializations to increase visual sensitivity, theoretical studies suggest that this enhanced sensitivity does not enable them to capture enough light to use visual information to reliably control flight in the rainforest at night. It has been proposed that Megalopta gain extra sensitivity by summing visual information over time. While enhancing the reliability of vision, this strategy would decrease the accuracy with which they can detect image motion-a crucial cue for flight control. Here, we test this temporal summation hypothesis by investigating how Megalopta's flight control and landing precision is affected by light intensity and compare our findings with the results of similar experiments performed on the diurnal bumblebee Bombus terrestris, to explore the extent to which Megalopta's adaptations to dim light affect their precision. We find that, unlike Bombus, light intensity does not affect flight and landing precision in Megalopta. Overall, we find little evidence that Megalopta uses a temporal summation strategy in dim light, while we find strong support for the use of this strategy in Bombus.}},
  author       = {{Baird, Emily and Fernandez, Diana C and Wcislo, William T and Warrant, Eric}},
  issn         = {{1664-042X}},
  language     = {{eng}},
  publisher    = {{Frontiers Media S. A.}},
  series       = {{Frontiers in Physiology}},
  title        = {{Flight control and landing precision in the nocturnal bee Megalopta is robust to large changes in light intensity.}},
  url          = {{http://dx.doi.org/10.3389/fphys.2015.00305}},
  doi          = {{10.3389/fphys.2015.00305}},
  volume       = {{6}},
  year         = {{2015}},
}