Related Experiment Video
Updated: Jun 25, 2026
07:42
A Simple Flight Mill for the Study of Tethered Flight in Insects
Published on: December 10, 2015
Flower tracking in hawkmoths: behavior and energetics
Jordanna D H Sprayberry1, Thomas L Daniel
1Arizona Research Laboratories, Division of Neurobiology, University of Arizona, Gould-Simpson Building Room 611, 1040 E. 4th Street, Tucson, AZ 85721, USA. jspray@neurobio.arizona.edu
The Journal of Experimental Biology
|December 16, 2006
Summary
Hawkmoths (Manduca sexta) track flower movements to feed, performing best at 1 Hz. Flower motion direction significantly impacts feeding success, with looming motions posing the greatest challenge.
Area of Science:
- Entomology
- Biomechanics
- Animal Energetics
Background:
- Hovering insects like hawkmoths must actively track floral movements to access nectar.
- Understanding how motion affects feeding performance is crucial for insect-flower interactions.
Purpose of the Study:
- To investigate the tracking, feeding, and energetic performance of Manduca sexta when feeding from flowers with varied motion frequencies and directions.
- To determine the impact of motion frequency and direction on hawkmoth feeding efficiency and energy gain.
Main Methods:
- Hawkmoths (Manduca sexta) were presented with artificial flowers moving at different frequencies (0-5 Hz) and directions (horizontal, vertical, looming).
- Tracking ability, feeding rates, and net energy gain were measured for each condition.
Main Results:
- Tracking performance decreased with increasing frequency, with optimal tracking at 1 Hz.
- Feeding rates remained relatively constant across tested frequencies but were lower for looming motion.
- Energy expenditure for tracking was minimal compared to energy intake, with net energy gain mirroring feeding rates.
- Hawkmoths struggled to track looming motion, resulting in reduced feeding and net energy gain.
Conclusions:
- Manduca sexta exhibits frequency-dependent tracking, with 1 Hz being optimal.
- Looming motion presents a significant challenge for hawkmoth feeding and energy acquisition.
- Floral motion direction has a greater impact on hawkmoth performance than motion frequency.
Related Concept Videos
00:53Migration
Migration is long-range, seasonal movement from one region or habitat to another. This common strategy, carried out by many different organisms around the world, is an adaptive response that typically corresponds to changes in an organism’s environment, like resource availability or climate. Migrations can involve huge groups of thousands of animals as well as single individuals traveling alone and can range from thousands of kilometers to just a few hundred meters.
01:20Mate Choice
Mate choice—the decision about whom to mate with—is a type of natural selection, since animals must reproduce to pass down their genes. Mate choice is also called intersexual selection because the behavior occurs between the sexes.
00:48Optimal Foraging
How animals obtain and eat their food is called foraging behavior. Foraging can include searching for plants and hunting for prey and depends on the species and environment.
02:39Predator-Prey Interactions
Predators consume prey for energy. Predators that acquire prey and prey that avoid predation both increase their chances of survival and reproduction (i.e., fitness). Routine predator-prey interactions elicit mutual adaptations that improve predator offenses, such as claws, teeth, and speed, as well as prey defenses, including crypsis, aposematism, and mimicry. Thus, predator-prey interactions resemble an evolutionary arms race.Although predation is commonly associated with carnivory, for...
02:40Pollination and Flower Structure
Flowers are the reproductive, seed-producing structures of angiosperms. Typically, flowers consist of sepals, petals, stamens, and carpels. Sepals and petals are the vegetative flower organs. Stamens and carpels are the reproductive organs.