Moths Alter Flight to Deal With Winds

Biological Strategy

Death's-head hawkmoth

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Navigate Through Air

Although free from many of the physical obstructions found on land and in water, organisms that move through the air must still avoid hitting each other and objects in their flight path, such as trees and mountains. They also need to navigate from one place to another, which presents a different challenge. They use one strategy to navigate around obstructions and another to move towards their destination. For example, bats use echolocation to detect both obstacles and prey. To navigate during migration, bats also use vision, sun orientation, and likely other strategies.

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Move in/Through Gases

Living systems must move through gases (which are less dense than liquids and solids) such as those in the earth’s atmosphere. The greatest challenge of moving in gases is that because the living system is heavier than the gas, it must overcome the force of gravity. Moving efficiently in this light medium presents unique challenges and opportunities for living systems. As a result, they have evolved countless solutions to optimize drag and increase lift so that they can stay aloft and take advantage of variable currents. Additionally, they must overcome gravity when moving from a liquid or solid into the air. The fairyfly, the smallest known insect, is a tiny wasp that must move through the air. To the wasp, air feels like a heavy liquid and to move through it, it uses special feathery oars rather than wings.

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Insects

Class Insecta (“an insect”): Flies, ants, beetles, cockroaches, fleas, dragonflies

Insects are the most abundant arthropods—they make up 90% of the animals in the phylum. They’re found everywhere on earth except the deep ocean, and scientists estimate there are millions of insects not yet described. Most live on land, but many live in freshwater or saltwater marshes for part of their life cycles. Insects have three distinct body sections: a head, which has specialized mouthparts, a thorax, which has jointed legs, and an abdomen. They have well-developed nervous and sensory systems, and are the only invertebrate that can fly, thanks to their lightweight exoskeletons and small size.

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Moths use changes in speed and altitude to maintain trajectory despite changes in windspeed and direction.

“The results show that moths maintained perfectly straight trajectories for long distances during flight. This was not because they waited for favorable tailwinds. Rather, they employed a range of flight strategies to buffer against prevailing winds, allowing them to hold their course throughout the night. When winds were favorable, they flew high and slow, allowing the air to carry them. But during harsh headwinds or cross winds, they flew low to the ground and increased speed to keep control of their path.

Says Menz: ‘For years it was assumed that insect migration was mostly about getting blown around. But we show that insects are capable of being great navigators, on par with birds, and are far less vulnerable to wind conditions than we thought.'” (MAX-PLANCK-GESELLSCHAFT)

A large moth flies from the hand of a researcher at night.

Image: Christian Ziegler / Max Planck Institute of Animal Behavior / Some rights reserved

Researchers tracking moths with radio transmitters focused on the death’s-head hawkmoth—a large, nocturnal migrant that travels up to 4,000 kilometers (2,500 miles) between Europe and Africa every year.

Related Strategies

a large reddish orange moth rests on a tree

Biological Strategy

Abrupt Flight Patterns Help Evade Predators

Butterflies and moths

Moths detect bat calls and avoid predation using sudden drops and weaving flight patterns.

an apex bird turns its head down in flight while hunting

Biological Strategy

Coordinated Senses Keep Eyes Fixed in Flight

Kestrel

The eyes of a kestrel remain fixed on an object due to the bird’s ability to use reflexes to rapidly reposition its eyes and head with respect to its body.

a light brown hairy bat with dark brown wings on a tree

Biological Strategy

Hairs Help Flight Maneuverability

Big brown bat

Tactile hairs in wing membranes of bats serve as flight control organs by providing immediate sensorimotor feedback.

Last Updated August 12, 2022

References

Other

Study achieves longest continuous tracking of migrating insects

EurekAlert | August 11, 2022 | Max-Planck-Gesellschaft

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Reference

Using a light aircraft and individual radio tracking, we show that nocturnally migrating death’s-head hawkmoths maintain control of their flight trajectories over long distances. The moths did not just fly with favorable tailwinds; during a given night, they also adjusted for head and crosswinds to precisely hold course. This behavior indicates that the moths use a sophisticated internal compass to maintain seasonally beneficial migratory trajectories independent of wind conditions, illuminating how insects traverse long distances to take advantage of seasonal resources.

Journal article

Individual tracking reveals long-distance flight-path control in a nocturnally migrating moth

Science | August 11, 2022 | M. Menz, M. Scacco, H. Bürki-Spycher, H. J. Williams, D. R. Reynolds, J. Chapman, M. Wikelski

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