A
subsidiary page of The Radar Entomology Web Site.
Migration
and Dispersal of Insects and Other Biota. This site, operated
by "North Central Region (USA) Committee 148" (NCR-148),
is the primary source of information on insect migration on the
WWW, at least for economic species in North America. Click here to find links to other Movement and Dispersal-related Sites, to read annual research reports and newsletters (a wealth of information here), and to find out about the Alliance
for Aerobiology Research and "ESCOP's PMSS MAD" (where MAD stands for "Migration and Dispersal"!).
Local
Dispersal and Migration by Insect Pests and Their Importance in IPM Strategies. A paper on migration as an (often-neglected) factor in Integrated
Pest Management, with a focus on whitefly (Bemisia). From Department
of Entomology of the University of Arizona.
Two papers relating insect migration to ecology and the regional landscape.
Long Range Atmospheric Transport of Biota (link currently not working) describes a completed study while Flow of Biota in the Atmosphere outlines a new one. Both are concerned with pest species in north-central USA.
From Department of Entomology of Michigan State University.[Both links broken - sorry; paragraph under review and may be deleted.]
Two sites on Monarch butterfly migration in North America ...
Monarch Watch (University of Kansas) and
Monarchs and Migration (Science Museum of Minnesota)
both describe K-12 educational projects centred on the Monarch butterfly. A third site, Journey North: A Global Study of Wildlife Migration, has a similar theme but also includes other migrants, especially birds.
... one on a Butterfly Migration Project in Central America...
... and one on butterfly and moth migration in Europe.
Belgian Migrating Lepidoptera Survey. [Link broken - sorry; paragraph under review and may be deleted.]
An account of migrant insects (a wide variety of species)
washed
up along a beach of Lake Michigan, USA ... [Link broken - sorry; paragraph under review and may be deleted.]
... and another of
aphid and
moth migrations into
Finland, observed with meteorological radar.
A
term paper on Insect Migration (with some emphasis on monarchs),
by Nick Panella (Department of Entomology of Colorado
State University).
Helicoverpa
forecasting in Australia
Interactive operational site incorporating current weather data. Estimate your own emergence dates and plot your
own migration trajectories! [Link broken - sorry; paragraph under review and may be deleted.]
The TREWS Question and Answer page includes information on insect migration and spider
"ballooning".
Desert
Locust Information Service
Operational site with up-to-date information on this major pest whose migrations
span two continents.
Australian Plague Locust Commission
Locust control and research in Australia. Includes bulletin of current locust situation.
There is an Insect Flight and Migration link list on the Insects on the WWW page from Virginia Tech (USA). A lot of overlap with this list, but worth checking for pages on insect flight (not covered here) and also for links on related ecological topics, which can be found higher up on the same page.
Another way of finding out about insect migration is to read the books!
Insect
Migration: Tracking Resources through Space and Time. V.A. Drake & A.G.
Gatehouse (eds) (1995).
The
Biomechanics of Insect Flight: Form, Function, Evolution. R. Dudley (2000).
Flow
of Life in the Atmosphere: An Airscape Approach to Understanding Invasive
Organisms. S.A. Isard & S.H. Gage (2001).
Migration:
the Biology of Life on the Move. H. Dingle (2001).
Insect
Migration: Mechanisms and Consequences. I.P. Woiwod, D.R. Reynolds & C.D.
Thomas (eds) (2001).
A list of scientific meetings and books on insect migration provides a partial bibliography of the topic and also gives an indication of how it has developed.
If you know of any sites with significant insect migration content that are not included here or in the Migration and Dispersal of Biota pages, please advise Gail Kampmeier (email gkamp@uiuc.edu) or Alistair Drake (email a.drake@adfa.edu.au).
There are also numerous WWW sites covering other aspects of entomology. The Wonderful World of Insects is an excellent starting point for K-12 readers while Entomology on World-Wide Web (WWW) and Insects on the WWW are comprehensive link lists to material at all levels.
For information on migration of animals other than insects, check the Global Register of Migratory Species and the Convention on Migratory Species sites.
The background to this page is a drawing of an oriental armyworm (Mythimna separata) moth. This species migrates through China from south to north each spring and summer, often also reaching Korea and Japan. There is almost certainly a "return" movement south in autumn. Armyworm caterpillars frequently cause severe damage to crops (mainly rice and maize) in all three countries. Chinese records indicate that outbreaks of this pest have occurred for hundreds of years. For further information, see Chen et al. 1989, 1995.
The butterfly in the header is a monarch (Danaus plexippus), one of the most remarkable and best studied (though not with radar) of all insect migrants. For further information on the monarch, see the Monarch Watch and Monarchs and Migration sites above.
Back to: The Radar Entomology Web Site home page.
Last revised 2001Dec12, by Alistair Drake (a.drake@adfa.edu.au).