Building an Enhanced Flight Mill for the Study of Tethered Insect Flight

Flight Mill Experiments and Computer Simulations Indicate Islands Recruit More Capable Flyers of Moths

Frontiers in Ecology and Evolution ◽

10.3389/fevo.2021.771719 ◽

2021 ◽

Vol 9 ◽

Author(s):

Yu-xuan Zheng ◽

Ying Wang ◽

Bo-ya Dai ◽

Zheng Li ◽

Qi-run Huo ◽

...

Keyword(s):

Morphological Traits ◽

Insect Flight ◽

Mainland China ◽

External Factors ◽

Simulation Experiments ◽

Flight Mill ◽

Tethered Flight ◽

The Family ◽

Moth Species ◽

Number Of Individuals

Understanding the traits related to species colonization and invasion, is a key question for both pest management and evolution. One of the key components is flight, which has been measured for a number of insect species through radar and tethered flight mill systems, but a general understanding of insect flight at a community level is lacking. In this study, we used flight mill experiments to quantify flight abilities of moth species, and simulation experiments to study which moths in mainland China have the potential for cross-island dispersal. We found that moths from superfamily Geometroidea (family Geometridae) have the weakest flight ability among the seven Lepidoptera superfamilies, which is characterized by the shortest longest single flight (LSF), the shortest time corresponding to the longest single flight (TLSF) (timecorrespondingtothelongestsingleflight), the lowest total distance flown (TDF), and the lowest average speed during the flight (VTDF). Surprisingly, the family Pyralidae (superfamily Pyraloidea) has the highest flight endurance of all 186 species of 12 families in this study, which is unexpected, given its small size and morphological traits yet it shows the longest LSF and TLSF. The comparison between species common to mainland and islands shows that flight distance (LSF) may be more important for species spread than flight speed. The results of mainland-island simulations show that when P(LSF>CD) (the proportion of individuals whose LSF is greater than the closest distance (CD) between mainland and island to the total number of individuals in the population) is less than 0.004, it is difficult for moth species to disperse to across islands without relying on external factors such as airflow. Over extended periods, with the immigration of species with strong flight abilities, islands are more likely to recruit species with stronger flight abilities.

The aerodynamics of flight in an insect flight-mill

PLoS ONE ◽

10.1371/journal.pone.0186441 ◽

2017 ◽

Vol 12 (11) ◽

pp. e0186441 ◽

Cited By ~ 14

Author(s):

Gal Ribak ◽

Shay Barkan ◽

Victoria Soroker

Keyword(s):

Insect Flight ◽

Flight Mill

Speed Control and Force-Vectoring of Blue Bottle Flies in a Magnetically-Levitated Flight Mill

10.1101/351445 ◽

2018 ◽

Author(s):

Shih-Jung Hsu ◽

Neel Thakur ◽

Bo Cheng

Keyword(s):

Flight Control ◽

Insect Flight ◽

Aerodynamic Force ◽

Speed Control ◽

The Body ◽

Flight Mill ◽

Wing Motion ◽

Force Magnitude ◽

Magnetically Levitated ◽

And Control

Flies fly at a broad range of speeds and produce sophisticated aerial maneuvers with precisely controlled wing movements. Remarkably, only subtle changes in wing motion are used by flies to produce aerial maneuvers, resulting in little directional tilt of aerodynamic force vector relative to the body. Therefore, it is often considered that flies fly according to a helicopter model and control speed mainly via force-vectoring enabled primarily by body-pitch change. Here we examine the speed control of blue bottle flies using a magnetically-levitated (MAGLEV) flight mill, as they fly at different body pitch and with different augmented aerodynamic damping. We identify wing kinematic contributors to the changes of estimated aerodynamic force through testing two force-vectoring models. Results show that in addition to body pitch, flies also use a collection of wing kinematic variables to control both force magnitude and direction, the roles of which are analogous to those of throttle, collective and cyclic pitch of helicopters. Our results also suggest that the MAGLEV flight mill system can be potentially used to study the roles of visual and mechanosensory feedback in insect flight control.

An Automatically Recording Insect Flight Mill

The Canadian Entomologist ◽

10.4039/ent98249-3 ◽

1966 ◽

Vol 98 (3) ◽

pp. 249-252 ◽

Cited By ~ 14

Author(s):

H. W. Smith ◽

M. M. Furniss

Keyword(s):

Insect Flight ◽

Flight Mill ◽

Flight Mills

AbstractSpecifications and construction of an automatically recording insect flight mill are described. Revolutions of individual flight mills are recorded, by means of photocells, on electric counters.

Benefits of Makerspaces: Building An Enhanced Flight Mill for the Study of Tethered Insect Flight v1 (protocols.io.bncfmatn)

protocols.io ◽

10.17504/protocols.io.bncfmatn ◽

2020 ◽

Author(s):

Anastasia Bernat

Keyword(s):

Insect Flight ◽

Flight Mill