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Weight Loading and Reproductive Status Affect the Flight Performance of Pieris napi Butterflies
Stockholm University, Faculty of Science, Department of Zoology.
Stockholm University, Faculty of Science, Department of Zoology.ORCID iD: 0000-0002-2452-9609
2012 (English)In: Journal of insect behavior, ISSN 0892-7553, E-ISSN 1572-8889, Vol. 25, no 5, p. 441-452Article in journal (Refereed) Published
Abstract [en]

Weight-induced mobility reductions can have dramatic fitness consequences and winged animals are especially sensitive to the trade-off between mass and locomotion. Data on how natural weight fluctuations influence a flying insect's ability to take off are scarce. We therefore quantified take-off flight ability in Pieris napi butterflies in relation to reproductive status. Take-off flight ability (velocity and take-off angle) under suboptimal temperature conditions was recorded with a 3D-tracking camera system and was predicted to decrease with relatively larger weight loads. Our results show that relatively larger weight loads generally reduce flight speed in male butterflies and lower take-off angles in females. However, despite having a lower wing loading, mated male butterflies flew slower than unmated males. Our study suggests that retention of weight loads associated with reproduction impairs insect flight performance.

Place, publisher, year, edition, pages
2012. Vol. 25, no 5, p. 441-452
Keywords [en]
Lepidoptera, mobility, wing loading, reproduction, flight muscle ratio
National Category
Zoology
Identifiers
URN: urn:nbn:se:su:diva-80637DOI: 10.1007/s10905-011-9309-1ISI: 000306220900002OAI: oai:DiVA.org:su-80637DiVA, id: diva2:556450
Note

AuthorCount:2;

Available from: 2012-09-25 Created: 2012-09-25 Last updated: 2022-02-24Bibliographically approved
In thesis
1. Escape flight in butterflies
Open this publication in new window or tab >>Escape flight in butterflies
2009 (English)Doctoral thesis, comprehensive summary (Other academic)
Abstract [en]

Flight is considered to be the overarching reason for the enormous diversity and world-wide abundance of insects. Not only does flight enable great distances to be covered and new areas to be colonised, flying has also evolved to be important in most adult life-history characteristics from reproduction to anti-predator strategies. However, despite its advantages, the costs of flight are high, particularly with regard to building a flight apparatus and staying in the air. Winged insects are popular prey for various predators from which they rely on flight to escape. However, because of their nutrient poor adult diet, butterflies are especially sensitive to the trade-off between flight and reproduction. Theory therefore predicts costs of physiological changes such as weight gain to be visible through altered aerial performance. Whereas insect flight has been extensively studied with regard to biomechanics, aerodynamics, dispersal and force production, little effort has been made to empirically study the relationship between escape strategies and weight loading, despite its value for survival and fitness. In this thesis a novel three-dimensional flight-recording set-up was used to study free flight ability in relation to natural weight loads in male and female Aglais urticae and Pieris napi butterflies. Weight loads consisted of ingested food, mate-carrying and reproductive mass, affecting wing loading and flight muscle ratio, key determinants of flight ability. Moreover, butterfly escape strategies were investigated through the use of model predators. The results showed that perceived predation risk affected butterfly flight behaviour, with greater speed being observed in attacked butterflies. Decreased flight muscle ratio after feeding resulted in slower escape flights in A. urticae, and impaired flight during mate-carrying in P. napi. Increased wing loading during reproduction in P. napi negatively affected male flight speed and female take-off angles. In summary, this thesis demonstrates that flight effort is context dependant and shows a trade-off between flight ability and longevity- and fitness related weight gain that may ultimately affect survival, mating success and energy expenditure.

Place, publisher, year, edition, pages
Stockholm: Department of Zoology, Stockholm University, 2009. p. 17
Keywords
Flight, Lepidoptera, gamete load, lipid accumulation, predation risk, hibernation
National Category
Biological Sciences
Research subject
Zoology
Identifiers
urn:nbn:se:su:diva-25968 (URN)978-91-7155-837-4 (ISBN)
Public defence
2009-04-03, Nordenskiöldsalen, Geovetenskapens hus, Svante Arrhenius väg 8, Stockholm, 10:00 (English)
Opponent
Supervisors
Available from: 2009-03-12 Created: 2009-03-03 Last updated: 2022-02-25Bibliographically approved

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