The long-distance flight behavior of Drosophila supports an agent-based model for wind-assisted dispersal in insects.

ABSTRACT: Despite the ecological importance of long-distance dispersal in insects, its mechanistic basis is poorly understood in genetic model species, in which advanced molecular tools are readily available. One critical question is how insects interact with the wind to detect attractive odor plumes and increase their travel distance as they disperse. To gain insight into dispersal, we conducted release-and-recapture experiments in the Mojave Desert using the fruit fly, Drosophila melanogaster We deployed chemically baited traps in a 1 km radius ring around the release site, equipped with cameras that captured the arrival times of flies as they landed. In each experiment, we released between 30,000 and 200,000 flies. By repeating the experiments under a variety of conditions, we were able to quanti

SUBMITTER: Leitch KJ 

PROVIDER: S-EPMC8092610 | biostudies-literature | 2021 Apr

REPOSITORIES: biostudies-literature