Dataset Information

Vortex trapping recaptures energy in flying fruit flies.

ABSTRACT: Flapping flight is one of the most costly forms of locomotion in animals. To limit energetic expenditures, flying insects thus developed multiple strategies. An effective mechanism to reduce flight power expenditures is the harvesting of kinetic energy from motion of the surrounding air. We here show an unusual mechanism of energy harvesting in an insect that recaptures the rotational energy of air vortices. The mechanism requires pronounced chordwise wing bending during which the wing surface momentary traps the vortex and transfers its kinetic energy to the wing within less than a millisecond. Numerical and robotic controls show that the decrease in vortex strength is minimal without the nearby wing surface. The measured energy recycling might slightly reduce the power requirements needed for body weight support in flight, lowering the flight costs in animals flying at elevated power demands. An increase in flight efficiency improves flight during aversive manoeuvring in response to predation and long-distance migration, and thus factors that determine the worldwide abundance and distribution of insect populations.

SUBMITTER: Lehmann FO

PROVIDER: S-EPMC7997922 | biostudies-literature | 2021 Mar

REPOSITORIES: biostudies-literature

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Vortex trapping recaptures energy in flying fruit flies.

Lehmann Fritz-Olaf FO Wang Hao H Engels Thomas T

Scientific reports 20210326 1

Flapping flight is one of the most costly forms of locomotion in animals. To limit energetic expenditures, flying insects thus developed multiple strategies. An effective mechanism to reduce flight power expenditures is the harvesting of kinetic energy from motion of the surrounding air. We here show an unusual mechanism of energy harvesting in an insect that recaptures the rotational energy of air vortices. The mechanism requires pronounced chordwise wing bending during which the wing surface m ...[more]

PMID: 33772058

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Project description:BackgroundThe olive fruit fly (Bactrocera oleae) is the most destructive pest of the olive cultivation worldwide causing significant production losses and olive fruit impoverishment, as its larvae feed exclusively on the olive fruit. Reproductive and sexual behavior, as well as host-plant recognition of the fly, are highly dependent on its chemosensory system. Therefore, exploring the role of genes that play a critical role in olfaction, could reveal potential molecular targets that determine species-specific features on chemical communication and could be used to impair sexual behavior.ResultsIn this study we identified the gene that encodes the conserved olfactory co-receptor Orco (Odorant receptor co-receptor), which interacts with all divergent insect odorant receptors, and investigated how disruption of its expression affects chemoreception. We initially searched the expression profile of Bo-Orco in both sexes during sexual maturation, as well as pre- and post-mating communication by relative quantitative real time PCR (qRT-PCR) analysis suggesting that Bo-Orco was abundantly expressed in sexually mature adults. We further investigated the functional role of Bo-Orco in mating and oviposition behavior via transient gene silencing that was performed through in vivo dsRNA hemolymph injections in sexually mature flies 7 days after eclosion. Orco-knockdown phenotypes in both sexes showed reduced copulation rates in mating competitiveness tests, possibly through impaired olfactory-mediated detection of sex pheromone. In addition, oviposition was significantly inhibited in dsRNA-Orco injected females in a post-mating behavior test.ConclusionsOur results demonstrate that Orco plays a crucial role in the reproductive behavior of the olive fruit fly, since pre- and post-mating processes were affected. This is the first report in the olive fruit fly that links the chemosensory pathway with the mating behavior and the reproductive potential at a molecular basis, rendering this gene a potential target for the improvement of the olive fruit fly population control techniques.

Dataset Information

Vortex trapping recaptures energy in flying fruit flies.

Publications

Vortex trapping recaptures energy in flying fruit flies.

Similar Datasets

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