Aphid Aerial Density Profiles Are Consistent With Turbulent Advection Amplifying Flight Behaviours: Abandoning The Epithet 'Passive'

Main Category: Biology / Biochemistry
Also Included In: Water - Air Quality / Agriculture
Article Date: 10 Sep 2008 - 4:00 PDT

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There is an enormous daily flux of terrestrial arthropods through the atmosphere. Minute wingless arthropods such as ballooning spiders represent one extreme.

Like pollen grains, spores and seeds these organisms are not able to control their movements in the air. At the other extreme are large insects, bats and birds with relatively good control over their movements.

In between come weakly-flying insects like aphids. Our modelling shows that the epithet 'passive' often applied to the windborne migration of these insects is misleading and should be abandoned.

This has important ramifications for the prediction and understanding of outbreaks of aphid infestations.

Proceedings of the Royal Society B: Biological Sciences

Proceedings B is the Royal Society's flagship biological research journal, dedicated to the rapid publication and broad dissemination of high-quality research papers, reviews and comment and reply papers. The scope of journal is diverse and is especially strong in organismal biology.

Proceedings of the Royal Society B: Biological Sciences