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Flight initiation distance in Lepidopterans is species-specific and positively related to starting distance
journal contribution
posted on 2019-03-01, 00:00 authored by Danah Harbour, Ella Henson, Chelsea Boers, Darcy Truman, Chandima Fernando, Patrick GuayPatrick Guay, Mike WestonMike WestonEscape behaviour is a critical component of invertebrate life history but is poorly studied. Flight initiation distance (FID) indexes escape propensity, and is wellstudied in vertebrates but is entirely unstudied in Lepidopterans, despite their obvious escape behaviour. Here we test two general principles regarding FID as derived
from studies of vertebrates to examine if they apply to Sri Lankan butterflies: 1) that FID is a species-specific trait and 2) that FID increases with Starting Distance, the
distance at which the experimenter begins an approach. We collected 295 FIDs from 17 species and find that 1) FIDs are a tractable way of indexing butterfly escape
and 2) both the general principles tested apply to butterfly escape. We also present FIDs of these species to encourage further data collection and comparative analysis
of butterfly escape.
from studies of vertebrates to examine if they apply to Sri Lankan butterflies: 1) that FID is a species-specific trait and 2) that FID increases with Starting Distance, the
distance at which the experimenter begins an approach. We collected 295 FIDs from 17 species and find that 1) FIDs are a tractable way of indexing butterfly escape
and 2) both the general principles tested apply to butterfly escape. We also present FIDs of these species to encourage further data collection and comparative analysis
of butterfly escape.
