Using a national searchlight trap network to monitoring the annual dynamics of the oriental armyworm in China
Author of the article: JIANG Yu-Ying** LIU Jie ZENG Juan
Author's Workplace:1. Beijing Key Laboratory of Bioelectromagnetics, Institute of Electrical Engineering, Chinese Academy of Sciences, Baoding 100190, China; 2. State Key Laboratory for Biology of Plant Diseases and Insect Pests, Institute of Plant Protection, Chinese Academy of Agricultural Sciences, Beijing 100193, China; 3. University of Chinese Academy of Sciences, Beijing 100049, China
Key Words:Mythimna separata, near-zero magnetic field, vertical variable reversed, orientation behavior, magnetic inclination
Abstract: [Objectives] To clarify the effect of magnetic fields on the nocturnal orientation behavior of Mythimna separata
(Walker) and investigate the magnetic orientation mechanisms of aerial migratory insects. [Methods] Oriental armyworms
were raised in geomagnetic and near-zero magnetic fields, and experiments on the orientation behavior of oriental armyworm
moths were carried out in an artificial simulated magnetic field. [Results] M. separata exhibited significant group orientation
with respect to geomagnetic field, which in summer was northward. This common group orientation disappeared under
near-zero magnetic field conditions and the vertical variable of geomagnetic field reversal. The growth environment under
different magnetic fields had little effect on orientation behavior, but the magnetic field environment had a notable influence
on flight direction. [Conclusion] The orientation of M. separata is clearly affected by magnetic field and nocturnal aerial
migratory insects may use magnetic fields for navigation.