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04.08 Studying Insect Flight

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Bugs 101: Insect-Human Interactions

Universidade de AlbertaUniversidade de Alberta

4.9 (131 classificações) | 7.3K alunos inscritos

Of all the animals on earth, which are the strongest for their size? What about the fastest? Who were the first animals to evolve flight? Insects take all of these titles and more! As the most abundant animals on the planet, insects and other arthropods affect our lives in so many ways. From beneficial interactions like pollination and biological pest control, to the transmission of life threatening diseases; this course will teach you about the big ways that these little arthropods impact our lives. In Bugs 101: Insect-Human Interactions, you will be plunged into the diverse (and sometimes alien) world of arthropods to learn how they work, what they do, and how insects and humans interact every day. After completing this course, you will be able to: Describe the evolutionary relationships between insects and their arthropod relatives Inventory major groups of insects and their diversity Demonstrate evolutionary adaptations that make insects successful Discuss insect biology and human-insect interactions Evaluate positive and negative interactions between insects and humans Propose practical and symbolic roles insects play in human societies

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Habilidades que você aprenderá

Biology, Entomology, Science, Ecology

Avaliações

4.9 (131 classificações)

5 stars
122 ratings
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LB

Sep 18, 2019

Fantastic course full of interesting and useful information that is presented in a structured and clear way. A big thank you to the course presenters and plethora of guest experts.

JK

Aug 19, 2019

I learned so much from this class. Most importantly, I appreciated the faculty that would answer my questions in the forum, it made me feel more connected to the course.

Na lição

Module 04: Insect Locomotion

Did you know that insects are the strongest animals in the world for their size? Find out what makes insects so strong in this module, in which we introduce insect musculature and how they use it to get around. From swimming to flying, we explore the many ways insects move and the specialized appendages they've evolved to do so.

04.08 Studying Insect Flight3:53

Ministrado por

Dr. Maya Evenden
Professor of Entomology

Transcrição

[MUSIC] Researchers use many different techniques to study various aspects of insect flight, the cues that insects respond to in flight, and the factors that influence their dispersal capacity are important aspects of their ecology. In order to manage insects considered to be pests, factors influencing dispersal capacity and movement behaviors need to be understood. In order to understand small-scale physical mechanisms that power insect flight, researchers examine precise wing movements and deformations that produce lift and alter flight direction. Early techniques to study insect flight were largely qualitative and relied primarily on looking at smoke vertices produced over the wings of tethered insects in flight. From these early studies researchers deduced that lifted insect flight was produced by a leading edge vortex that is created at a fixed point on the wing before spiraling towards the tip. No quantitative measurements could be taken from these experiments, however, and these visualizations represent the flow field in general rather than the flow at any specific instant. More recently, an approach known as digital particle image velocimetry, or DPIV, is used to precisely analyze the flow field around an insect wing. DPIV works by tracking the movement of marker particles using high resolution imaging and recording systems. This instantaneous flow field data can be combined with measurements from an attached strain gauge that measures the forces acting on the insect. This technique allows the development of precise models of flow fields around insect wings, in which the forces and movements of leading edge vertices are accurately incorporated. These experiments allow researchers to understand the small-scale physical mechanisms that powered the movement and dispersal of insects. To understand ecological and physiological factors that influence insect flight, researchers employ tools such as flight mills and wind tunnels. Flight mills allow researchers to identify variables that influence insect dispersal propensity and distance. The insect is tethered to the arm of the mill and allowed to fly under specific conditions over a predetermined period of time. Data collected from computers attached to the flight ills can be used to understand how variables such as insect sex, mating status, body weight, wing size and fat content impact dispersal by flight. As flight on a mill does not accurately replicate dispersal under field conditions, information collected from flight mill bioassays is compared only to other treatments within the study. And does not make predictions about possible dispersal distances in field conditions. Wind tunnels, unlike flight mills, are used to study how insects respond to external cues during flight, such as olfactory or visual stimuli. In wind tunnel bioassays, researchers expose an insect to the test stimulus within the tunnel where its flight patterns are recorded. Wind tunnel experiments provide insights into the cues that flying insects respond to and use for navigation. So there we have it. These are some of the many ways in which researchers can study insect flight. In the next video, we'll move on to some behavioral aspects of flight. You know that wings are important in insect locomotion, but did you know that some insects are capable of migratory flight over vast distances? In the next video we introduce the extraordinary phenomenon of insect migration.

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