Wind-powered migration

Written by Thomas Hesselberg

Monday, 03 September 2007

Butterflies also make use of wind-power during long-distance migration. Photo courtesy of Photocase.com.
When the topic is long-distance animal migration, most people probably thinks about the amazing round-trips taken by birds, the arctic terns for instance traverse twice a year almost the globe when they fly from their northern breeding grounds near the Arctic to the Antarctica and back. Alternatively we might remember the amazing feat of the eels as they right after emerging from the eggs swim from the Sargasso Sea to inland lakes and rivers in Northern Europe, a distance of more than 5000 km which they repeat once they are ready to reproduce. However, not only vertebrates are capable of long distance migration, so are the insects. Indeed the distances covered by some butterfly species is comparable to what is seen in birds and fish. Like the eels make use of the Gulf Stream to power their migration, so do the butterflies make use of high altitude wind currents according to new research.

Spanish researchers have investigated how the painted lady butterfly Vanessa cardui each spring migrates several hundred kilometres from Northern Africa to Europe and returns in the autumn. Traditionally scientists have thought that most butterflies migrate by their own power at altitudes of only a few metres above the ground. However, by associating the arrival of the butterflies with the prevalence of upper atmosphere winds blowing from Africa, the scientists were able to show conclusively that the butterflies make use of these during the spring migration.

Source: Stefanescu, C., Alarcón, M. and Àvila, A. (2007). Migration of the painted lady butterfly, Vanessa cardui, to north-eastern Spain is aided by African wind currents. Journal of Animal Ecology 76: 888-898.

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