期刊
JOURNAL OF EXPERIMENTAL BIOLOGY
卷 218, 期 9, 页码 1339-1346出版社
COMPANY OF BIOLOGISTS LTD
DOI: 10.1242/jeb.113886
关键词
Insects; Vision; Bombus terrestris; Retina; Behavioural adaptation; Speed control; Position control
类别
资金
- Swedish Research Council Formas [229-2010-829]
- Swedish Foundation for Strategic Research [FFL09-0056]
- Swedish Research Council [2011-4701]
- Academy of Finland [261080, 269332]
- Academy of Finland (AKA) [261080, 269332, 269332, 261080] Funding Source: Academy of Finland (AKA)
- Swedish Foundation for Strategic Research (SSF) [FFL09-0056] Funding Source: Swedish Foundation for Strategic Research (SSF)
To control flight, insects rely on the pattern of visual motion generated on the retina as they move through the environment. When light levels fall, vision becomes less reliable and flight control thus becomes more challenging. Here, we investigated the effect of light intensity on flight control by filming the trajectories of free-flying bumblebees (Bombus terrestris, Linnaeus 1758) in an experimental tunnel at different light levels. As light levels fell, flight speed decreased and the flight trajectories became more tortuous but the bees were still remarkably good at centring their flight about the tunnel's midline. To investigate whether this robust flight performance can be explained by visual adaptations in the bumblebee retina, we also examined the response speed of the green-sensitive photoreceptors at the same light intensities. We found that the response speed of the photoreceptors significantly decreased as light levels fell. This indicates that bumblebees have both behavioural (reduction in flight speed) and retinal (reduction in response speed of the photoreceptors) adaptations to allow them to fly in dim light. However, the more tortuous flight paths recorded in dim light suggest that these adaptations do not support flight with the same precision during the twilight hours of the day.
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