Defying Thermal Convection

Thermal convection is a common occurrence, in which a surface heated by solar radiation drives a plume of air upwards until it cools and circles back down. For small insects such as fruit flies that fly over deserts and urban environments, convection may represent an everyday challenge. We reported today in the Journal of the Royal Society Interface that most sampled fruit flies increased both flight time and path sinuosity while moving through convective conditions. Furthermore, one third of sampled individuals were unable to cross the region of convective flow. Our results suggest that thermal convection may have important consequences for a variety of millimeter-sized insects in natural environments.

The College of Biological Sciences at UC Davis published a note untitled “Flight Turbulence: New Study Explores How Flies Navigate Unstable Convective Air” highlighting our recent paper on Drosophila flight performance in convective flows.