Stimulus-dependent orientation strategies in monarch butterflies
(2022) In Journal of Experimental Biology 225(3).- Abstract
Insects are well known for their ability to keep track of their heading direction based on a combination of skylight cues and visual landmarks. This allows them to navigate back to their nest, disperse throughout unfamiliar environments, as well as migrate over large distances between their breeding and non-breeding habitats. The monarch butterfly (Danaus plexippus), for instance, is known for its annual southward migration from North America to certain trees in Central Mexico. To maintain a constant flight route, these butterflies use a time-compensated sun compass, which is processed in a region in the brain, termed the central complex. However, to successfully complete their journey, the butterflies' brain must generate a multitude... (More)
Insects are well known for their ability to keep track of their heading direction based on a combination of skylight cues and visual landmarks. This allows them to navigate back to their nest, disperse throughout unfamiliar environments, as well as migrate over large distances between their breeding and non-breeding habitats. The monarch butterfly (Danaus plexippus), for instance, is known for its annual southward migration from North America to certain trees in Central Mexico. To maintain a constant flight route, these butterflies use a time-compensated sun compass, which is processed in a region in the brain, termed the central complex. However, to successfully complete their journey, the butterflies' brain must generate a multitude of orientation strategies, allowing them to dynamically switch from sun-compass orientation to a tactic behavior toward a certain target. To study whether monarch butterflies exhibit different orientation modes and if they can switch between them, we observed the orientation behavior of tethered flying butterflies in a flight simulator while presenting different visual cues to them. We found that the butterflies' behavior depended on the presented visual stimulus. Thus, while a dark stripe was used for flight stabilization, a bright stripe was fixated by the butterflies in their frontal visual field. If we replaced a bright stripe with a simulated sun stimulus, the butterflies switched their behavior and exhibited compass orientation. Taken together, our data show that monarch butterflies rely on and switch between different orientation modes, allowing the animal to adjust orientation to its actual behavioral demands.
(Less)
- author
- Franzke, Myriam ; Kraus, Christian ; Gayler, Maria ; Dreyer, David LU ; Pfeiffer, Keram and El Jundi, Basil LU
- organization
- publishing date
- 2022-02-01
- type
- Contribution to journal
- publication status
- published
- subject
- keywords
- Attraction behavior, Compass orientation, Insect, Landmark, Lepidoptera, Stripe fixation, Vision
- in
- Journal of Experimental Biology
- volume
- 225
- issue
- 3
- article number
- jeb243687
- publisher
- The Company of Biologists Ltd
- external identifiers
-
- scopus:85124576944
- pmid:35048981
- ISSN
- 0022-0949
- DOI
- 10.1242/jeb.243687
- language
- English
- LU publication?
- yes
- id
- e07383ee-79bc-44ba-9f3c-c2b25aa47ab7
- date added to LUP
- 2022-05-19 09:47:39
- date last changed
- 2024-12-13 08:38:19
@article{e07383ee-79bc-44ba-9f3c-c2b25aa47ab7,
abstract = {{<p>Insects are well known for their ability to keep track of their heading direction based on a combination of skylight cues and visual landmarks. This allows them to navigate back to their nest, disperse throughout unfamiliar environments, as well as migrate over large distances between their breeding and non-breeding habitats. The monarch butterfly (Danaus plexippus), for instance, is known for its annual southward migration from North America to certain trees in Central Mexico. To maintain a constant flight route, these butterflies use a time-compensated sun compass, which is processed in a region in the brain, termed the central complex. However, to successfully complete their journey, the butterflies' brain must generate a multitude of orientation strategies, allowing them to dynamically switch from sun-compass orientation to a tactic behavior toward a certain target. To study whether monarch butterflies exhibit different orientation modes and if they can switch between them, we observed the orientation behavior of tethered flying butterflies in a flight simulator while presenting different visual cues to them. We found that the butterflies' behavior depended on the presented visual stimulus. Thus, while a dark stripe was used for flight stabilization, a bright stripe was fixated by the butterflies in their frontal visual field. If we replaced a bright stripe with a simulated sun stimulus, the butterflies switched their behavior and exhibited compass orientation. Taken together, our data show that monarch butterflies rely on and switch between different orientation modes, allowing the animal to adjust orientation to its actual behavioral demands. </p>}},
author = {{Franzke, Myriam and Kraus, Christian and Gayler, Maria and Dreyer, David and Pfeiffer, Keram and El Jundi, Basil}},
issn = {{0022-0949}},
keywords = {{Attraction behavior; Compass orientation; Insect; Landmark; Lepidoptera; Stripe fixation; Vision}},
language = {{eng}},
month = {{02}},
number = {{3}},
publisher = {{The Company of Biologists Ltd}},
series = {{Journal of Experimental Biology}},
title = {{Stimulus-dependent orientation strategies in monarch butterflies}},
url = {{http://dx.doi.org/10.1242/jeb.243687}},
doi = {{10.1242/jeb.243687}},
volume = {{225}},
year = {{2022}},
}