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The effect of size on the height of flight of migrant moths

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  10 July 2009

L. R. Taylor
Affiliation:
Rothamsted Experimental Station, Harpenden, Herts. UK.
E. S. Brown
Affiliation:
Formerly Commonwealth Institute of Entomology, 56 Queen's Gate, London, UK.
S. C. Llttlewood
Affiliation:
Rothamsted Experimental Station, Harpenden, Herts. UK.

Abstract

Moths migrating at Muguga, Kenya, were sampled at 24·5 m and 0·6 m above the ground by light-trap. The larger the species, the greater proportion of the sample it represented at the higher level. This effect was independent of family and morphological type. This result is important in considering the evolution of size with respect to orientation and migratory ambit and the role of downwind migration in population dynamics.

Type
Original Articles
Copyright
Copyright © Cambridge University Press 1979

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