Why do bugs fly around aimlessly like complete idiots in circles for absurd amounts of time?
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Full Question: Why do bugs fly around aimlessly like complete idiots in circles for absurd amounts of time? Are they actually complete idiots or is there some science behind this?
Answer compiled from Reddit.
I just studied behavioral entomology in one of my courses, and essentially it came down to detecting chemicals or pheremones in their environments. Also, insects are programmed to be random in their movements. It is thought that this would be the best way to scavange for food and other insects as the way they move actually covers more ground over a period of time. I wish I had this program for you that we looked at, as it was completely focused on insect movement and behavior and simulated these movements in response to inputs (like placement of bad/good pheremones). Pretty interesting!
What about other light sources?
Artificial lights are a problem. The reason why is they developed and evolved in a natural world. at night the only natural LIGHT SOURCE of any consequence is well ..the moon. By keeping the moon in a single spot (which is always relatively stationary) you can navigate and follow straight lines using simple bug algorythms to keep the moon in the same relative spot.
Now if you add artificial lights which are ...by comparison to the moon ...appear to MOVE relative to you ...then when you try to keep the light in the same orientation to your primitive bug eyes what happens? you fly a CIRCLE.
its actually trying to navigate in a straight line, and the natural way for it to do that is keep the light source (the moon or sun for example) in the same position.
Can't they evolve?
but artificial light has been around in some form or another for tens of thousands of years, maybe half that if you only want to consider stationary, consistent light sources like mounted torches and candles and lamps. Still, given the lifespan of the average house fly that's (probably) millions of generations they have had to adapt. I think "bugs have evolved to be random" makes more sense/is a much more important factor than " bugs have not evolved to adapt to artificial light yet"
No need for it:
Bugs havent evolved much for millions of years it SEEMS...according to the data and its interpretation.
Also its not a huge evolutionary problem because the insects who succumb to areas with artificial light to a level it impacts their reproductive ability and life cycle are a very small percent of the population when you consider any individual bug species pretty much out numbers us a trillion to 1. Even if 1,500 gnats and house flies die every night PER purpose built bug zapper thats like 0.0000001 percent of their total population.
There is no selection pressure and no reason for them to adapt, so they die. Big deal. there are trillions more to take their place the next day. Even given this major flaw to the INDIVIDUAL bug with artificial lighting it does not affect the species survival the a point where it would select "Artificial light resistance bugs" to take over the gene pool. there is no reason to because even given this flaw it doesnt eliminate enough genetic competition.
Which means ..bugs as a lifeform are still succeding quite well! its still a flaw though.
-At any time, it is estimated that there are some 10 quintillion (10,000,000,000,000,000,000) individual insects alive.
Source http://www.si.edu/encyclopedia_si/nmnh/buginfo/bugnos.htm
The selection pressure acts on the gene distribution, rather than the species, and unless there are alleles that don't suffer from that behavior that are more effective among the breeding population that those alleles are found in, selection pressures will prevent those alleles from increasing in their population distribution.
and more:
If you accept that basic assumption too it also explains bio luminescense and its influence on mating behavior. If we look at bug behavior as "Code" driven and the code is based on the assumption
"Bright thingie = keep it in the same spot"
"Bright thingie in same spot = fly straight line"
This would be "default mode" Purpose being, to cover ground until certain triggers are met. Flying in a straight line is the best way to cover distance.
Covering distance is the best way to encounter "new" triggers. if you dont have complex reason.
So essentially the bug is trying to cover ground so it can execute more specific programming. Using light source as point of reference it will cover the most ground until it ..picks up a chemical or a pheremone. Which overrides and takes precedence ..it snaps out of default/ travel mode and takes on other behaviors as qued by the chemicals.
So if you were a fire fly for example ... you would be quite advantageous. Since you are by default hardwired to cover distance by keeping a light source stationary to yourself until otherwise instructed ...a MATE releasing their own light has an interesting consequence.
you begin to "circle" the mate because its just a light source ..and you are trying to fly in a straight line.
but this keeps you in the vicinity long enough to activate other chemical triggers, since evryone is operating on a set of programming where they want to maintain a constant orientation to light, it forces or rather arbitrarily results in congregations of light emitting creatures to STAY together ...
Its fascinating. Life ..is fascinating. Btw im just a high school drop out. Im not qualified to be giving any actual opinions. I dont even study bugs, I do love studying human behavior though and bugs just seem like a cake walk by comparison.
Thanks to http://www.reddit.com/user/dirtywhitehat
Lets get more info on it:
Hello im an entomologist. I want to address a couple things. 1. Insect eyes are not shitty, they are evolved to address the concerns of each spp. For example, Odonates (dragonflies etc) eyes plug so directly into their head-brain they can react really fast to movement eg predator or prey. 2. We do not know why many nocturnal insects are positively phototaxic, but the hypothesis is moon related. 3. Insects never do anything aimlessly unless they are dying. They are assessing their environment, in a number of really surprising ways considering their complexity. Catch them and put them in your freezer and make a nice display out of them. Thats what I would do.
Thanks to http://www.reddit.com/user/PM_ME_YER_THIGH_GAP
Answer compiled from Reddit.
I just studied behavioral entomology in one of my courses, and essentially it came down to detecting chemicals or pheremones in their environments. Also, insects are programmed to be random in their movements. It is thought that this would be the best way to scavange for food and other insects as the way they move actually covers more ground over a period of time. I wish I had this program for you that we looked at, as it was completely focused on insect movement and behavior and simulated these movements in response to inputs (like placement of bad/good pheremones). Pretty interesting!
What about other light sources?
Artificial lights are a problem. The reason why is they developed and evolved in a natural world. at night the only natural LIGHT SOURCE of any consequence is well ..the moon. By keeping the moon in a single spot (which is always relatively stationary) you can navigate and follow straight lines using simple bug algorythms to keep the moon in the same relative spot.
Now if you add artificial lights which are ...by comparison to the moon ...appear to MOVE relative to you ...then when you try to keep the light in the same orientation to your primitive bug eyes what happens? you fly a CIRCLE.
its actually trying to navigate in a straight line, and the natural way for it to do that is keep the light source (the moon or sun for example) in the same position.
Can't they evolve?
but artificial light has been around in some form or another for tens of thousands of years, maybe half that if you only want to consider stationary, consistent light sources like mounted torches and candles and lamps. Still, given the lifespan of the average house fly that's (probably) millions of generations they have had to adapt. I think "bugs have evolved to be random" makes more sense/is a much more important factor than " bugs have not evolved to adapt to artificial light yet"
No need for it:
Bugs havent evolved much for millions of years it SEEMS...according to the data and its interpretation.
Also its not a huge evolutionary problem because the insects who succumb to areas with artificial light to a level it impacts their reproductive ability and life cycle are a very small percent of the population when you consider any individual bug species pretty much out numbers us a trillion to 1. Even if 1,500 gnats and house flies die every night PER purpose built bug zapper thats like 0.0000001 percent of their total population.
There is no selection pressure and no reason for them to adapt, so they die. Big deal. there are trillions more to take their place the next day. Even given this major flaw to the INDIVIDUAL bug with artificial lighting it does not affect the species survival the a point where it would select "Artificial light resistance bugs" to take over the gene pool. there is no reason to because even given this flaw it doesnt eliminate enough genetic competition.
Which means ..bugs as a lifeform are still succeding quite well! its still a flaw though.
-At any time, it is estimated that there are some 10 quintillion (10,000,000,000,000,000,000) individual insects alive.
Source http://www.si.edu/encyclopedia_si/nmnh/buginfo/bugnos.htm
The selection pressure acts on the gene distribution, rather than the species, and unless there are alleles that don't suffer from that behavior that are more effective among the breeding population that those alleles are found in, selection pressures will prevent those alleles from increasing in their population distribution.
and more:
If you accept that basic assumption too it also explains bio luminescense and its influence on mating behavior. If we look at bug behavior as "Code" driven and the code is based on the assumption
"Bright thingie = keep it in the same spot"
"Bright thingie in same spot = fly straight line"
This would be "default mode" Purpose being, to cover ground until certain triggers are met. Flying in a straight line is the best way to cover distance.
Covering distance is the best way to encounter "new" triggers. if you dont have complex reason.
So essentially the bug is trying to cover ground so it can execute more specific programming. Using light source as point of reference it will cover the most ground until it ..picks up a chemical or a pheremone. Which overrides and takes precedence ..it snaps out of default/ travel mode and takes on other behaviors as qued by the chemicals.
So if you were a fire fly for example ... you would be quite advantageous. Since you are by default hardwired to cover distance by keeping a light source stationary to yourself until otherwise instructed ...a MATE releasing their own light has an interesting consequence.
you begin to "circle" the mate because its just a light source ..and you are trying to fly in a straight line.
but this keeps you in the vicinity long enough to activate other chemical triggers, since evryone is operating on a set of programming where they want to maintain a constant orientation to light, it forces or rather arbitrarily results in congregations of light emitting creatures to STAY together ...
Its fascinating. Life ..is fascinating. Btw im just a high school drop out. Im not qualified to be giving any actual opinions. I dont even study bugs, I do love studying human behavior though and bugs just seem like a cake walk by comparison.
Thanks to http://www.reddit.com/user/dirtywhitehat
Lets get more info on it:
Hello im an entomologist. I want to address a couple things. 1. Insect eyes are not shitty, they are evolved to address the concerns of each spp. For example, Odonates (dragonflies etc) eyes plug so directly into their head-brain they can react really fast to movement eg predator or prey. 2. We do not know why many nocturnal insects are positively phototaxic, but the hypothesis is moon related. 3. Insects never do anything aimlessly unless they are dying. They are assessing their environment, in a number of really surprising ways considering their complexity. Catch them and put them in your freezer and make a nice display out of them. Thats what I would do.
Thanks to http://www.reddit.com/user/PM_ME_YER_THIGH_GAP
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