Sable Systems Contributes to the Study of Butterfly Flight Metabolic Rate

Kristjan Niitepõld, et. al. performed a study that tested butterfly flight metabolic rate and dispersal.

“In the study we first measured the flight metabolic rate of Glanville fritillary butterflies and then released them in the field to be tracked with harmonic radar. Before the release a small wing sample was obtained from each individual for later genotyping.

There were two main results. First, flight metabolic rate correlated positively with mobility.  Second, there was a gene by environment interaction between phosphoglucose isomerase (Pgi) genotype and ambient temperature.  The results are especially valuable for understanding the evolution and population dynamics of species inhabiting fragmented landscapes where dispersal between habitat patches is crucial for population persistence.” - Kristjan Niitepõld

Sable Systems’ equipment and software played a significant role in this study.  Some of the equipment used was: the SS-3, MFC-2, the UI-2 and our software, Expedata.

For the the abstract of the article, visit:

http://www.esajournals.org/doi/abs/10.1890/08-1498.1