National Veterinary Institute (DTU VET), Technical University of Denmark, Bülowsvej 27, DK-1870 Frederiksberg C., Denmark.
FaunaPhotonics, Ole Maaloes Vej 3, DK-2200 Copenhagen N., Denmark.
Sci Rep. 2016 Jul 4;6:29083. doi: 10.1038/srep29083.
Insects are fundamental to ecosystem functioning and biodiversity, yet the study of insect movement, dispersal and activity patterns remains a challenge. Here we present results from a novel high resolution laser-radar (lidar) system for quantifying flying insect abundance recorded during one summer night in Sweden. We compare lidar recordings with data from a light trap deployed alongside the lidar. A total of 22808 insect were recorded, and the relative temporal quantities measured matched the quantities recorded with the light trap within a radius of 5 m. Lidar records showed that small insects (wing size <2.5 mm(2) in cross-section) moved across the field and clustered near the light trap around 22:00 local time, while larger insects (wing size >2.5 mm(2) in cross-section) were most abundant near the lidar beam before 22:00 and then moved towards the light trap between 22:00 and 23:30. We could distinguish three insect clusters based on morphology and found that two contained insects predominantly recorded above the field in the evening, whereas the third was formed by insects near the forest at around 21:30. Together our results demonstrate the capability of lidar for distinguishing different types of insect during flight and quantifying their movements.
昆虫对生态系统功能和生物多样性至关重要，但昆虫运动、扩散和活动模式的研究仍然具有挑战性。本文展示了一种新型高分辨率激光雷达（lidar）系统的结果，该系统用于量化瑞典一个夏夜的飞行昆虫丰度。我们将激光雷达的记录与放置在激光雷达旁边的光陷阱的数据进行了比较。总共记录了 22808 只昆虫，并且在 5 米半径范围内，测量的相对时间数量与光陷阱记录的数量相匹配。激光雷达记录显示，小昆虫（翼展<2.5mm(2)）在夜间 22 点左右穿过田野并聚集在光陷阱附近，而较大的昆虫（翼展>2.5mm(2)）在夜间 22 点之前在激光雷达波束附近最为丰富，然后在夜间 22 点到 23 点 30 分之间向光陷阱移动。我们可以根据形态区分出三个昆虫群，发现其中两个群包含的昆虫主要在晚上记录在田野上方，而第三个群则是在晚上 21 点 30 分左右由森林附近的昆虫组成。总之，我们的结果证明了激光雷达在飞行过程中区分不同类型昆虫并量化其运动的能力。
