Multi‐generational long‐distance migration of insects: studying the painted lady butterfly in the Western Palaearctic

Abstract

Jason W. 2013 Multi-generational longdistance migration of insects: studying the painted lady butterfly in the Western Palaearctic. Ecography, 36 (4). 474-486. 10.1111/j.1600-0587.2012.07738.x Contact CEH NORA team at noraceh@ceh.ac.ukThe NERC and CEH trademarks and logos ('the Trademarks') are registered trademarks of NERC in the UK and other countries, and may not be used without the prior written consent of the Trademark owner. (up to 60 degrees of latitude). The cycle comprises an annual poleward advance of the 73 populations in spring followed by an equatorward return movement in autumn, with returning 74 individuals potentially flying thousands of kilometres. We show that many long-distance 75 migrants take advantage of favourable winds, moving downwind at high elevation (from 76 some tens of metres from the ground to altitudes over 1,000 m), pointing at strong similarities 77 in the flight strategies used by V. cardui and other migrant Lepidoptera. Our results reveal the 78 highly successful strategy that has evolved in these insects, and provide a useful framework 79 for a better understanding of long-distance seasonal migration in the temperate regions 80 worldwide. 81 82 5

Long-distance autumn migration across the Sahara by painted lady butterflies: exploiting resource pulses in the tropical savannah

“…This means that summer breeding in Maghreb mountains is at most a local phenomenon and cannot explain the origin of most butterflies appearing south of the Sahara in autumn. Although migration between Europe and the African tropical savannah had already been suggested [6,7,15], our analyses represent the first empirical European butterflies comprised a mixture of early and late migratory waves, while Sahelian butterflies only corresponded to more recent waves. For a migratory insect, colonization of the Sahel and further south in autumn seems highly adaptive, as the whole region offers suitable breeding conditions coinciding with a short period of high productivity after the rainy season [7,17].…”

“…Although its general pattern of migration is known, many uncertainties regarding the distances covered by individual butterflies and the movements within Africa still exist. First, it has never been shown that the butterflies appearing south of the Sahara in autumn (sometimes in great numbers) have a European origin [6,7]. Second, although it is believed that northwestern Africa (Maghreb) is colonized in autumn by European migrants, both ground-level and radar observations of northward migration in Morocco and Mauritania in October-November also point to sub-Saharan origins [6].…”

“…One such insect is the painted lady butterfly Vanessa cardui, which, through the succession of at least six generations, accomplishes a complete round-trip migration across most of Europe in spring and summer, and northern Africa in autumn and winter [6]. Although its general pattern of migration is known, many uncertainties regarding the distances covered by individual butterflies and the movements within Africa still exist.…”

Methods in field chronobiology

“…Although miniaturization of tags will certainly extend the range of trackable insect taxa, some miniature insects are trackable only in groups, for instance, with help of citizen science [64] or various radar technologies [35,65,66] (table 2 and next section).…”

Combination of morphometric and isotopic tools for studying spring migration dynamics in Episyrphus balteatus

“…The Pleine-Fougè res study site is part of the ''Zone Atelier Armorique'' experimental site and belongs to a Long Term Ecological Research network (LTER S1001201). This site was chosen to study migration dynamics because it is located on migratory routes of many insect species (Chapman et al 2012, Stefanescu et al 2013, and because it is far enough away from southern Europe that variations in the dD ratio between local individuals and immigrants from the south can be detected.…”