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Continental-scale patterns in diel flight timing of high-altitude migratory insects

Haest, Birgen ; Liechti, Felix ; Hawkes, Will L ; Chapman, Jason ; Åkesson, Susanne LU ; Shamoun-Baranes, Judy ; Nesterova, Anna P ; Comor, Vincent ; Preatoni, Damiano and Bauer, Silke (2024) In Philosophical Transactions of the Royal Society B 379(1904).
Abstract
Many insects depend on high-altitude, migratory movements during part of their life cycle. The daily timing of these migratory movements is not random, e.g. many insect species show peak migratory flight activity at dawn, noon or dusk. These insects provide essential ecosystem services such as pollination but also contribute to crop damage. Quantifying the diel timing of their migratory flight and its geographical and seasonal variation, are hence key towards effective conservation and pest management. Vertical-looking radars provide continuous and automated measurements of insect migration, but large-scale application has not been possible because of limited availability of suitable devices. Here, we quantify patterns in diel flight... (More)
Many insects depend on high-altitude, migratory movements during part of their life cycle. The daily timing of these migratory movements is not random, e.g. many insect species show peak migratory flight activity at dawn, noon or dusk. These insects provide essential ecosystem services such as pollination but also contribute to crop damage. Quantifying the diel timing of their migratory flight and its geographical and seasonal variation, are hence key towards effective conservation and pest management. Vertical-looking radars provide continuous and automated measurements of insect migration, but large-scale application has not been possible because of limited availability of suitable devices. Here, we quantify patterns in diel flight periodicity of migratory insects between 50 and 500 m above ground level during March-October 2021 using a network of 17 vertical-looking radars across Europe. Independent of the overall daily migratory movements and location, peak migratory movements occur around noon, during crepuscular evening and occasionally the morning. Relative daily proportions of insect migration intensity and traffic during the diel phases of crepuscular-morning, day, crepuscular-evening and night remain largely equal throughout May-September and across Europe. These findings highlight, extend, and generalize previous regional-scale findings on diel migratory insect movement patterns to the whole of temperate Europe.

This article is part of the theme issue ‘Towards a toolkit for global insect biodiversity monitoring’. (Less)
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author
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organization
publishing date
type
Contribution to journal
publication status
published
subject
in
Philosophical Transactions of the Royal Society B
volume
379
issue
1904
article number
20230116
pages
11 pages
publisher
The Royal Society of Canada
external identifiers
  • scopus:85192287149
  • pmid:38705191
DOI
10.1098/rstb.2023.0116
language
English
LU publication?
yes
id
d4d7cf21-6aa3-4f52-b625-e4b256d1cc20
date added to LUP
2024-12-03 16:27:56
date last changed
2024-12-11 03:00:02
@article{d4d7cf21-6aa3-4f52-b625-e4b256d1cc20,
  abstract     = {{Many insects depend on high-altitude, migratory movements during part of their life cycle. The daily timing of these migratory movements is not random, e.g. many insect species show peak migratory flight activity at dawn, noon or dusk. These insects provide essential ecosystem services such as pollination but also contribute to crop damage. Quantifying the diel timing of their migratory flight and its geographical and seasonal variation, are hence key towards effective conservation and pest management. Vertical-looking radars provide continuous and automated measurements of insect migration, but large-scale application has not been possible because of limited availability of suitable devices. Here, we quantify patterns in diel flight periodicity of migratory insects between 50 and 500 m above ground level during March-October 2021 using a network of 17 vertical-looking radars across Europe. Independent of the overall daily migratory movements and location, peak migratory movements occur around noon, during crepuscular evening and occasionally the morning. Relative daily proportions of insect migration intensity and traffic during the diel phases of crepuscular-morning, day, crepuscular-evening and night remain largely equal throughout May-September and across Europe. These findings highlight, extend, and generalize previous regional-scale findings on diel migratory insect movement patterns to the whole of temperate Europe.<br/><br/>This article is part of the theme issue ‘Towards a toolkit for global insect biodiversity monitoring’.}},
  author       = {{Haest, Birgen and Liechti, Felix and Hawkes, Will L and Chapman, Jason and Åkesson, Susanne and Shamoun-Baranes, Judy and Nesterova, Anna P and Comor, Vincent and Preatoni, Damiano and Bauer, Silke}},
  language     = {{eng}},
  month        = {{05}},
  number       = {{1904}},
  publisher    = {{The Royal Society of Canada}},
  series       = {{Philosophical Transactions of the Royal Society B}},
  title        = {{Continental-scale patterns in diel flight timing of high-altitude migratory insects}},
  url          = {{http://dx.doi.org/10.1098/rstb.2023.0116}},
  doi          = {{10.1098/rstb.2023.0116}},
  volume       = {{379}},
  year         = {{2024}},
}