Author Correction: Investigating effect of climate warming on the population declines of Sympetrum frequens during the 1990s in three regions in Japan

An amendment to this paper has been published and can be accessed via a link at the top of the paper.

Investigating effect of climate warming on the population declines of Sympetrum frequens during the 1990s in three regions in Japan

Climate warming is of concern as a key factor in the worldwide decline in insect populations. In Japan, numbers of a common dragonfly in rice paddy fields, Sympetrum frequens, decreased sharply in the 1990s. Because S. frequens migrates to cooler mountains in summer, climate warming has been suggested as one of the main causes of the population decline in addition to agronomic factors. Here, we analysed the relation between summer temperatures and population densities of S. frequens and the related S. infuscatum, which does not migrate to mountains in summer, using published population monitoring data and temperature data from three regions (Toyama, Ishikawa, and Shizuoka) in Japan. Decadal differences in summer temperatures lay within the range of fluctuations among years, suggesting that an increase in summer temperatures cannot explain the past sharp population declines. However, regression analyses using monitoring data from Toyama showed that the population dynamics of both species in autumn are negatively correlated with summer temperatures in the same year. These results suggest that high temperatures in summer directly affect adult mortality to an extent that results in a decrease in population growth.

Self-Excited Vibration Model of Dragonfly’s Wing Based on the Concept of Bionic Design for Small- or Micro-Sized Actuators

This paper describes a self-excited vibration model of dragonfly’s wing based on the concept of bionic design, which is expected as a technological hint to solve the scale effect problems in developing the small- or micro-sized actuators. From a morphological consideration of flight muscle of dragonfly, the nonlinear equation of motion for the wing considering the air drag force due to flapping of wing is formulated. In the model, the dry friction-type and Van der Pol-type driving forces are employed to power the flight muscles and to generate the stable self-excited wing vibration. Two typical Japanese dragonflies, “Anotogaster sieboldii Selys” and “Sympetrum frequens Selys”, are selected as examples, and the self-excited vibration analyses for these dragonfly’s wings are demonstrated. The linearized solutions for the nonlinear equation of motion are compared with the nonlinear solutions, and the vibration system parameters to generate the stable limit cycle of self-excited wing vibration are determined.