Why is it worth flying at dusk for aquatic insects? Polarotactic water detection is easiest at low solar elevations

Journal of Experimental Biology

Volumn 207, Issue 5, 2004, Pages 755-765

  Bernáth, Balázs ^a,b   Gál, József ^c   Horváth, Gábor ^a  

^a EÖTVÖS LORÁND UNIVERSITY   (Hungary)

^b PLANT PROTECTION INSTITUTE   (Hungary)

^c JACOBS UNIVERSITY BREMEN   (Germany)

Author keywords

180 field of view imaging polarimetry; Aquatic habitat recognition; Dusk flying water insects; Polarization sensitivity; Polarotaxis; Reflection polarization

Indexed keywords

WATER;

ANIMAL; ARTICLE; BIOPHYSICS; COMPARATIVE STUDY; FLYING; INSECT; ORIENTATION; PHYSIOLOGY; SUNLIGHT; TEMPERATURE; VISION;

ANIMALS; BIOPHYSICS; FLIGHT, ANIMAL; INSECTS; ORIENTATION; SUNLIGHT; TEMPERATURE; VISUAL PERCEPTION; WATER;

ANIMALIA; HEXAPODA; INSECTA;

EID: 1342330955     PISSN: 00220949     EISSN: None     Source Type: Journal    
DOI: 10.1242/jeb.00810     Document Type: Article

References (31)

1. Bernáth, B., Szedenics, G., Molnár, G. and Horváth, G. (2001a). Visual ecological impact of a peculiar oil lake on the avifauna: dual choice field experiments with water-seeking birds using huge shiny black and white plastic sheets. Arch. Nat. Conserv. Landsc. Res. 40, 1-28.
2. Bernáth, B., Szedenìcs, G., Kriska, G. and Horváth, G. (2001b). Visual ecological impact of "shiny black anthropogenic products" on aquatic insects: oil reservoirs and plastic sheets as polarized traps for insects associated with water. Arch. Nat. Conserv. Landsc. Res. 40, 87-107.
3. Bernáth, B., Szedenics, G., Wildermuth, H. and Horváth, G. (2002). How can dragonflies discern bright and dark waters from a distance? The degree of polarization of reflected light as a possible cue for dragonfly habitat selection. Freshw. Biol. 47, 1707-1719.
4. Danilevskii, A. S. (1965). Photoperiodism and Seasonal Development of Insects. Edinburgh, London: Oliver and Boyd.
5. Danthanarayana, W. (ed.) (1986). Insect Flight: Dispersal and Migration. Berlin, Heidelberg, New York: Springer.
6. Fernando, C. H. and Galbraith, D. (1973). Seasonally and dynamics of aquatic insects colonizing small habitats. Verhandl. Int. Vercin Limnol. 18, 1564-1575.
7. Gál, J., Horváth, G. and Meyer-Rochow, V. B. (2001a). Measurement of the reflection-polarization pattern of the flat water surface under a clear sky at sunset. Rem. Sens. Environ. 76, 103-111.
8. Gál, J., Horváth, G. and Meyer-Rochow, V. B. (2001b). Polarization patterns of the summer sky and its neutral points measured by full-sky imaging polarimetry in Finnish Lappland north of the Artic Circle. Proc. R. Soc. Lond. A 457, 1385-1399.
9. Horváth, G. (1995). Reflection-polarization patterns at flat water surfaces and their relevance for insect polarization vision. J. Theor. Biol. 175, 27-37.
10. Horváth, G., Barta, A., Gál, J., Suhai, B. and Haiman, O. (2002). Ground-based full-sky imaging polarimetry of rapidly changing skies and its use for polarimetric cloud detection. Appl. Opt. 41, 543-559.
11. Horváth, G., Bernáth, B. and Molnár, G. (1948). Dragonflies find crude oil visually more attractive than water: multiple-choice experiments on dragonfly polarotaxis. Naturwissenschaften 85, 292-297.
12. Horváth, G., Gál, J. and Wehner, R. (1997). Why are water-seeking insects not attracted by mirages? The polarization pattern of mirages. Naturwissenschaften 84, 300-303 [Erratum 85, 90].
13. Horváth, G. and Pomozi, I. (1997). How celestial polarization changes due to reflection from the deflector panels used in deflector loft and mirror experiments studying avian navigation. J. Theor. Biol. 184, 291-300.
14. Horváth, G. and Varjú, D. (1997). Polarization pattern of freshwater habitats recorded by video polarimetry in red, green and blue spectral ranges and its relevance for water detection by aquatic insects. J. Exp. Biol. 200, 1155-1163.
15. Horváth, G. and Varjú, D. (2003). Polarized Light in Animal Vision -Polarization Patterns in Nature. Heidelberg, Berlin, New York: Springer.
16. Horváth, G. and Zeil, J. (1996). Kuwait oil lakes as insect traps. Nature 379, 303-304.
17. Johnson, G. C. (1969). Migration and Dispersal of Insects by Flight. London: Methuen and Co.
18. King, R. S. and Wrubleski, D. A. (1998). Spatial and diel availability of flying insects as potential duckling food in prairie wetlands. Wetlands 18, 100-114.
19. Können, G. P. (1985). Polarized Light in Nature. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press.
20. Kriska, G., Horváth, G. and Andrikovics, S. (1998). Why do mayflies lay their eggs en masse on dry asphalt roads? Water-imitating polarized light reflected from asphalt attracts Ephemeroptera. J. Exp. Biol. 201, 2273-2286.
21. Labhart, T. (1980). Specialized photoreceptors at the dorsal rim of the honeybee's compound eye: polarizational and angular sensitivity. J. Comp. Physiol. A 141, 19-30.
22. Landin, J. (1968). Weather and diurnal periodicity of flight by Helophorus brevipalpis Bedel (Col. Hydrophilidae). Opusc. Entomol. 33, 28-36.
23. Landin, J. and Stark, E. (1973). On flight thresholds for temperature and wind velocity, 24-hour flight periodicity and migration of the water beetle Helophorus brevipalpis. ZOON Suppl. 1, 105-114.
24. Popham, E. J. (1964). The migration of aquatic bugs with special reference to the Corixidae (Hemiptera Heteroptera). Arch. Hydrobiol. 60, 450-496.
25. Schwind, R. (1985). Sehen unter und über Wasser, Sehen von Wasser. Naturwissenschaften 72, 343-352.
26. Schwind, R. (1991). Polarization vision in water insects and insects living on a moist substrate. J. Comp. Physiol. A 169, 531-540.
27. Schwind, R. (1995). Spectral regions in which aquatic insects see reflected polarized light. J. Comp. Physiol. A 177, 439-448.
28. Schwind, R. and Horváth, G. (1993). Reflection-polarization pattern at water surfaces and correction of a common representation of the polarization pattern of the sky. Naturwissenschaften 80, 82-83.
29. Wildermuth, H. (1998). Dragonflies recognize the water of rendezvous and oviposition sites by horizontally polarized light: a behavioural field test. Naturwissenschaften 85, 297-302.
30. Zalom, F. G., Grigarick A. A. and Way, M. O. (1979). Seasonal and diel flight periodicities of rice field Hydrophilidae. Environ. Entomol. 8, 938-943.
31. Zalom, F. G., Grigarick, A. A. and Way, M. O. (1980). Diel flight periodicities of some Dytiscidae (Coleoptera) associated with California rice paddies. Ecol. Entomol. 5, 183-187.