Migration behaviour of commercial monarchs reared outdoors and wild-derived monarchs reared indoors.

ABSTRACT: Captive rearing of monarch butterflies is a commercial and personal pursuit enjoyed by many different groups and individuals. However, the practice remains controversial, especially after new evidence showed that both a group of commercially derived monarchs reared outdoors and a group of wild-derived but indoor-reared monarchs failed to orient south, unlike wild-derived monarchs reared outdoors. To more fully characterize the mechanisms responsible for the loss of orientation in both commercial and indoor-reared monarchs, we performed flight simulator experiments to determine (i) whether any fraction of commercial monarchs maintains a southern heading over multiple tests, and (ii) whether indoor conditions with the addition of sunlight can induce southern flight in wild-derived monarchs.

SUBMITTER: Tenger-Trolander A 

PROVIDER: S-EPMC7575518 | biostudies-literature | 2020 Aug

REPOSITORIES: biostudies-literature