The scaling of the energetic cost of locomotion with body mass is well documented at the interspecific level.However,methodological restrictions limit our understanding of the scaling of flight metabolic rate(MR)in fr...The scaling of the energetic cost of locomotion with body mass is well documented at the interspecific level.However,methodological restrictions limit our understanding of the scaling of flight metabolic rate(MR)in free-flying insects.This is particularly true at the intraspecific level,where variation in body mass and flight energetics may have direct consequences for the fitness of an individual.We applied a 13C stable isotope method to investigate the scaling of MR with body mass during free-flight in the beetle Batocera rufomaculata.This species exhibits large intraspecific variation in adult body mass as a consequence of the environmental conditions during larval growth.We show that the flight-MR scales with body mass to the power of 0.57,with smaller conspecifics possessing up to 2.3 fold higher mass-specific flight MR than larger ones.Whereas the scaling exponent of free-flight MR was found to be like that determined for tethered-flight,the energy expenditure during free-flight was more than 2.7 fold higher than for tethered-flight.The metabolic cost of flight should therefore be studied under free-flight conditions,a requirement now enabled by the 13C technique described herein for insect flight.展开更多
The flight activity of Spodoptera litura in tethered conditions is evaluated using a computer-mediated flight-mill in the laboratory. The 3-4-day-old moths fly longer and farther than those of other ages. Male and fem...The flight activity of Spodoptera litura in tethered conditions is evaluated using a computer-mediated flight-mill in the laboratory. The 3-4-day-old moths fly longer and farther than those of other ages. Male and female moths exhibit similar flight activity. Mating status does not influence the flight duration and distance of 2-day-old females. However, these two flight parameters with a 6-day-old mated female is significantly lower than that of tmmated ones. The optimum temperature for flight ranged from 16-24℃, whereas the optimum RH ranged from 60%--100%. During 72-h period, the total flight duration and distance of 1-day-old male and female moths were 19.6 h （± 5.8） and 83.3 km （± 28.4）, and 24.0 h （± 7.0） and 105.4 km （± 37.4）, respectively. These results indicate that S. litura has a great potential to undertake long-distance migratory flights.展开更多
文摘The scaling of the energetic cost of locomotion with body mass is well documented at the interspecific level.However,methodological restrictions limit our understanding of the scaling of flight metabolic rate(MR)in free-flying insects.This is particularly true at the intraspecific level,where variation in body mass and flight energetics may have direct consequences for the fitness of an individual.We applied a 13C stable isotope method to investigate the scaling of MR with body mass during free-flight in the beetle Batocera rufomaculata.This species exhibits large intraspecific variation in adult body mass as a consequence of the environmental conditions during larval growth.We show that the flight-MR scales with body mass to the power of 0.57,with smaller conspecifics possessing up to 2.3 fold higher mass-specific flight MR than larger ones.Whereas the scaling exponent of free-flight MR was found to be like that determined for tethered-flight,the energy expenditure during free-flight was more than 2.7 fold higher than for tethered-flight.The metabolic cost of flight should therefore be studied under free-flight conditions,a requirement now enabled by the 13C technique described herein for insect flight.
基金We thank Dr. Yong-Jun Zhang, Dr. Gui-Rong Wang and Dr. Ge-Mei Liang for help in this work, and Mrs. LanZhi Han, Guo-Ping Li, Hong-Hua Su, and Mrs. Ke-Jian Lin, Shu-Dong Luo for their help with the data analysis, and Dr. Gul Zamin Khan for reviewing this paper critically. This research was supported by financial assistance from the National Natural Science Foundation of China （30625028）, Chinese Ministry of Science and Technology （2006CB 102007, 2006BAD08A07）.
文摘The flight activity of Spodoptera litura in tethered conditions is evaluated using a computer-mediated flight-mill in the laboratory. The 3-4-day-old moths fly longer and farther than those of other ages. Male and female moths exhibit similar flight activity. Mating status does not influence the flight duration and distance of 2-day-old females. However, these two flight parameters with a 6-day-old mated female is significantly lower than that of tmmated ones. The optimum temperature for flight ranged from 16-24℃, whereas the optimum RH ranged from 60%--100%. During 72-h period, the total flight duration and distance of 1-day-old male and female moths were 19.6 h （± 5.8） and 83.3 km （± 28.4）, and 24.0 h （± 7.0） and 105.4 km （± 37.4）, respectively. These results indicate that S. litura has a great potential to undertake long-distance migratory flights.
