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© 2024 by the authors. Licensee MDPI, Basel, Switzerland. This article is an open access article distributed under the terms and conditions of the Creative Commons Attribution (CC BY) license (https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/). Notwithstanding the ProQuest Terms and Conditions, you may use this content in accordance with the terms of the License.

Abstract

Simple Summary

In this study, we explored how the wingbeat frequency of flying insects changes with air temperature. By analyzing over 300,000 insect observations using a near-infrared light sensor made during an eight-month field experiment, we observed that flying insects increase their wingbeat frequency when air temperature rises and that this trend was even more significant for insects with naturally higher wingbeat frequencies. Based on our findings, we developed a model to predict how wingbeat frequency typically changes with temperature. This model is designed to improve the precision of insect clustering, often used with entomological optical or acoustic sensors. Although it may not account for the unique responses of specific insect species to temperature variations, this empirical approach provides a general insight into the relationship between wingbeat frequency and temperature, which can be used to improve the effectiveness of insect classification from photonic or acoustic sensors.

Abstract

This study examines the relationship between the wingbeat frequency of flying insects and ambient temperature, leveraging data from over 302,000 insect observations obtained using a near-infrared optical sensor during an eight-month field experiment. By measuring the wingbeat frequency as well as wing and body optical cross-sections of each insect in conjunction with the ambient temperature, we identified five clusters of insects and analyzed how their average wingbeat frequencies evolved over temperatures ranging from 10 °C to 38 °C. Our findings reveal a positive correlation between temperature and wingbeat frequency, with a more pronounced increase observed at higher wingbeat frequencies. Frequencies increased on average by 2.02 Hz/°C at 50 Hz, and up to 9.63 Hz/°C at 525 Hz, and a general model is proposed. This model offers a valuable tool for correcting wingbeat frequencies with temperature, enhancing the accuracy of insect clustering by optical and acoustic sensors. While this approach does not account for species-specific responses to temperature changes, our research provides a general insight, based on all species present during the field experiment, into the intricate dynamics of insect flight behavior in relation to environmental factors.

Details

Title
Temperature Dependency of Insect’s Wingbeat Frequencies: An Empirical Approach to Temperature Correction
Author
Saha, Topu 1   VIAFID ORCID Logo  ; Genoud, Adrien P 2   VIAFID ORCID Logo  ; Park, Jung H 3 ; Thomas, Benjamin P 1   VIAFID ORCID Logo 

 Department of Physics, New Jersey Institute of Technology, University Heights, Newark, NJ 07102, USA; [email protected] 
 Institut Lumière Matière, UMR 5306, Université Claude Bernard Lyon 1, CNRS, F-69100 Villeurbanne, France; [email protected] 
 Department of Data Science, New Jersey Institute of Technology, University Heights, Newark, NJ 07102, USA; [email protected] 
First page
342
Publication year
2024
Publication date
2024
Publisher
MDPI AG
e-ISSN
20754450
Source type
Scholarly Journal
Language of publication
English
ProQuest document ID
3059447320
Copyright
© 2024 by the authors. Licensee MDPI, Basel, Switzerland. This article is an open access article distributed under the terms and conditions of the Creative Commons Attribution (CC BY) license (https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/). Notwithstanding the ProQuest Terms and Conditions, you may use this content in accordance with the terms of the License.