scholarly journals Stimulus-dependent orientation strategies in monarch butterflies

2021 ◽  
Author(s):  
Myriam Franzke ◽  
Christian Kraus ◽  
Maria Gayler ◽  
David Dreyer ◽  
Keram Pfeiffer ◽  
...  
Keyword(s):  
Visual Cues ◽  
Danaus Plexippus ◽  
Monarch Butterfly ◽  
Central Complex ◽  
Orientation Behavior ◽  
Compass Orientation ◽  
Monarch Butterflies ◽  
Sun Compass ◽  
Bright Stripe ◽  
Flight Route

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 for orientation 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 if 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 by a simulated sun stimulus, the butterflies switched their orientation behavior and exhibited compass orientation. Taken together, our data show that monarch butterflies rely on and switch between different orientation modes, allowing them to adjust orientation to the actual behavioral demands of the animal.

scholarly journals State-dependent egocentric and allocentric heading representation in the monarch butterfly brain

2021 ◽  
Author(s):  
M. Jerome Beetz ◽  
Christian Kraus ◽  
Myriam Franzke ◽  
David Dreyer ◽  
Martin F. Strube-Bloss ◽  
...  
Keyword(s):  
Reference Frame ◽  
Reference Frames ◽  
Danaus Plexippus ◽  
Monarch Butterfly ◽  
Central Complex ◽  
Dependent Manner ◽  
The Sun ◽  
Monarch Butterflies ◽  
State Dependent ◽  
Allocentric Reference Frame

AbstractHead direction can be represented in a self-centered egocentric or a viewpoint-invariant allocentric reference frame. Using the most efficient representation is especially crucial for migrating animals, like monarch butterflies (Danaus plexippus) that use the sun for orientation. With tetrode recordings from the brain of tethered flying monarch butterflies, we examined the reference frame in which insects encode heading. We show that compass neurons switch their reference frame in a state-dependent manner. In quiescence, they encode sun-bearing angles, allowing the butterfly to map the environment within an egocentric frame. However, during flight, the same neurons encode heading within an allocentric frame. This switch converts the sun from a local to a global cue, an ideal strategy for maintaining a migratory heading over large distance.One-Sentence SummaryHeading information is encoded in different state-dependent reference frames in the monarch butterfly central complex

scholarly journals Spatial orientation based on multiple visual cues in monarch butterflies

2020 ◽  
Author(s):  
Myriam Franzke ◽  
Christian Kraus ◽  
David Dreyer ◽  
Keram Pfeiffer ◽  
M. Jerome Beetz ◽  
...  
Keyword(s):  
Visual Cues ◽  
Danaus Plexippus ◽  
Behavioral Experiments ◽  
Long Distance ◽  
Monarch Butterflies ◽  
Sun Compass ◽  
Restricted Area ◽  
Mountain Ranges ◽  
Flight Direction ◽  
Flight Stabilization

AbstractMonarch butterflies (Danaus plexippus) are prominent for their annual long-distance migration from North America to its overwintering area in Central Mexico. To find their way on this long journey, they use a sun compass as their main orientation reference but will also adjust their migratory direction with respect to mountain ranges. This indicates that the migratory butterflies also attend to the panorama to guide their travels. Here we studied if non-migrating butterflies - that stay in a more restricted area to feed and breed - also use a similar compass system to guide their flights. Performing behavioral experiments on tethered flying butterflies in an indoor LED flight simulator, we found that the monarchs fly along straight tracks with respect to a simulated sun. When a panoramic skyline was presented as the only orientation cue, the butterflies maintained their flight direction only during short sequences suggesting that they potentially use it for flight stabilization. We further found that when we presented the two cues together, the butterflies register both cues in their compass. Taken together, we here show that non-migrating monarch butterflies can combine multiple visual cues for robust orientation, an ability that may also aid them during their migration.SummaryNon-migrating butterflies keep directed courses when viewing a simulated sun or panoramic scene. This suggest that they orient based on multiple visual cues independent of their migratory context.

Anatomical basis of sun compass navigation II: The neuronal composition of the central complex of the monarch butterfly

2012 ◽  
Vol 521 (2) ◽  
pp. 267-298 ◽  
Author(s):  
Stanley Heinze ◽  
Jeremy Florman ◽  
Surainder Asokaraj ◽  
Basil el Jundi ◽  
Steven M. Reppert
Keyword(s):  
Monarch Butterfly ◽  
Central Complex ◽  
Sun Compass ◽  
Anatomical Basis ◽  
Compass Navigation

scholarly journals Contemporary loss of migration in monarch butterflies

2019 ◽  
Vol 116 (29) ◽  
pp. 14671-14676 ◽  
Author(s):  
Ayşe Tenger-Trolander ◽  
Wei Lu ◽  
Michelle Noyes ◽  
Marcus R. Kronforst
Keyword(s):  
North American ◽  
Indoor Environment ◽  
Captive Breeding ◽  
Danaus Plexippus ◽  
Monarch Butterfly ◽  
Population Recovery ◽  
Monarch Butterflies ◽  
Commercial Population ◽  
Open Question ◽  
The Impact

The annual migration of the monarch butterfly Danaus plexippus is in peril. In an effort to aid population recovery, monarch enthusiasts across North America participate in a variety of conservation efforts, including captive rearing and release of monarch butterflies throughout the summer and autumn. However, the impact of captive breeding on monarchs remains an open question. Here, we show that captive breeding, both commercially and by summertime hobbyists, causes migratory behavior to be lost. Monarchs acquired commercially failed to orient south when reared outdoors in the autumn, unlike wild-caught North American monarchs, yet they did enter reproductive diapause. The commercial population was genetically highly divergent from wild-caught North American monarchs and had rounder forewings, similar to monarchs from nonmigratory populations. Furthermore, rearing wild-caught monarchs in an indoor environment mimicking natural migration-inducing conditions failed to elicit southward flight orientation. In fact, merely eclosing indoors after an otherwise complete lifecycle outdoors was enough to disrupt southern orientation. Our results provide a window into the complexity—and remarkable fragility—of migration.

scholarly journals Discordant timing between antennae disrupts sun compass orientation in migratory monarch butterflies

2012 ◽  
Vol 3 (1) ◽  
Author(s):  
Patrick A. Guerra ◽  
Christine Merlin ◽  
Robert J. Gegear ◽  
Steven M. Reppert
Keyword(s):  
Compass Orientation ◽  
Monarch Butterflies ◽  
Sun Compass

scholarly journals Effects of early-life exposure to sublethal levels of a common neonicotinoid insecticide on the orientation and migration of monarch butterflies (Danaus plexippus)

2020 ◽  
Vol 224 (4) ◽  
pp. jeb230870
Author(s):  
Alana A. E. Wilcox ◽  
Amy E. M. Newman ◽  
Nigel E. Raine ◽  
Greg W. Mitchell ◽  
D. Ryan Norris
Keyword(s):  
Danaus Plexippus ◽  
Monarch Butterfly ◽  
Flight Simulator ◽  
Testing Time ◽  
Long Distance ◽  
Monarch Butterflies ◽  
Early Life Exposure ◽  
Neonicotinoid Insecticide ◽  
In The Wild ◽  
And Migration

ABSTRACTMigratory insects use a variety of innate mechanisms to determine their orientation and maintain correct bearing. For long-distance migrants, such as the monarch butterfly (Danaus plexippus), these journeys could be affected by exposure to environmental contaminants. Neonicotinoids are synthetic insecticides that work by affecting the nervous system of insects, resulting in impairment of their mobility, cognitive performance, and other physiological and behavioural functions. To examine how neonicotinoids might affect the ability of monarch butterflies to maintain a proper directional orientation on their ∼4000 km migration, we grew swamp milkweed (Asclepias incarnata) in soil that was either untreated (0 ng g−1: control) or mixed with low (15 ng g−1 of soil) or high (25 ng g−1 of soil) levels of the neonicotinoid clothianidin. Monarch caterpillars were raised on control or clothianidin-treated milkweed and, after pupation, either tested for orientation in a static flight simulator or radio-tracked in the wild during the autumn migration period. Despite clothianidin being detectable in milkweed tissue consumed by caterpillars, there was no evidence that clothianidin influenced the orientation, vector strength (i.e. concentration of direction data around the mean) or rate of travel of adult butterflies, nor was there evidence that morphological traits (i.e. mass and forewing length), testing time, wind speed or temperature impacted directionality. Although sample sizes for both flight simulator and radio-tracking tests were limited, our preliminary results suggest that clothianidin exposure during early caterpillar development does not affect the directed flight of adult migratory monarch butterflies or influence their orientation at the beginning of migration.

scholarly journals Sun compass neurons are tuned to migratory orientation in monarch butterflies 

2021 ◽  
Vol 288 (1945) ◽  
pp. 20202988
Author(s):  
Tu Anh Thi Nguyen ◽  
M. Jerome Beetz ◽  
Christine Merlin ◽  
Basil el Jundi
Keyword(s):  
North America ◽  
Neural Coding ◽  
Central Complex ◽  
Central Mexico ◽  
The Sun ◽  
Monarch Butterflies ◽  
Sun Compass ◽  
Migratory Form ◽  
Orientation Information ◽  
The Brain

Every autumn, monarch butterflies migrate from North America to their overwintering sites in Central Mexico. To maintain their southward direction, these butterflies rely on celestial cues as orientation references. The position of the sun combined with additional skylight cues are integrated in the central complex, a region in the butterfly's brain that acts as an internal compass. However, the central complex does not solely guide the butterflies on their migration but also helps monarchs in their non-migratory form manoeuvre on foraging trips through their habitat. By comparing the activity of input neurons of the central complex between migratory and non-migratory butterflies, we investigated how a different lifestyle affects the coding of orientation information in the brain. During recording, we presented the animals with different simulated celestial cues and found that the encoding of the sun was narrower in migratory compared to non-migratory butterflies. This feature might reflect the need of the migratory monarchs to rely on a precise sun compass to keep their direction during their journey. Taken together, our study sheds light on the neural coding of celestial cues and provides insights into how a compass is adapted in migratory animals to successfully steer them to their destination.

scholarly journals Anatomical basis of sun compass navigation II: The neuronal composition of the central complex of the monarch butterfly

2012 ◽  
Vol 521 (2) ◽  
pp. Spc1-Spc1 ◽  
Author(s):  
Stanley Heinze ◽  
Jeremy Florman ◽  
Surainder Asokaraj ◽  
Basil el Jundi ◽  
Steven M. Reppert
Keyword(s):  
Monarch Butterfly ◽  
Central Complex ◽  
Sun Compass ◽  
Anatomical Basis ◽  
Compass Navigation
Sign in / Sign up

Export Citation Format

Share Document