Cover image: Pictured are 14 migratory monarch butterflies feeding on blooming butterfly milkweed in Ames, IA USA. Because the size of the eastern North American monarch butterfly population has significantly declined over the past two decades, observations captured in the photograph are becoming uncommon. In December 2020, the North American monarch was determined to be a candidate species for listing under the U.S. Endangered Species Act due, in part, to the loss of breeding habitat in agricultural landscapes of the Midwest United States. The female monarch is not a habitat patch resident, but instead flies extensively across the landscape, laying eggs in numerous patches. Consequently, monarch egg densities in a landscape are influenced by the amount of habitat and the size and spatial patterns of patches. Understanding monarch movement behavior is critical to employing biologically relevant conservation strategies. Limitations in the ability to directly track flight paths of large insects, like the monarch, was the motivation for the study in this issue by Fisher et al., describing an automated radio telemetry system to track female monarchs beyond human visual range on a fine temporal scale. As technology improves, this system provides a benchmark for automated systems to track insects. Photo credit: ©K. E. Fisher.

中文翻译：

---

封面图片和发行信息

封面图片：图为美国爱荷华州埃姆斯市以盛开的蝴蝶乳草为食的14只mon蝶。由于在过去的二十年中，北美东部君主蝶类种群的数量已大大减少，因此照片中捕获的观测结果变得罕见。在2020年12月，根据美国《濒危物种法》，北美君主被确定为候选物种，部分原因是美国中西部农业景观的繁殖栖息地丧失。女君主不是栖息地的居民，而是在整个景观中广泛飞行，在众多地方产卵。因此，景观中君主卵的密度受栖息地数量以及斑块大小和空间格局的影响。了解帝王运动行为对于采用生物学相关的保护策略至关重要。Fisher等人在本期研究中的动机是，直接跟踪大型昆虫（如帝王）的飞行路径的能力受到限制，该研究描述了一种自动无线电遥测系统，可以在良好的时间范围内跟踪人类视力范围之外的雌性帝王。规模。随着技术的进步，该系统为跟踪昆虫的自动化系统提供了基准。图片来源：©KE Fisher。描述了一种自动无线电遥测系统，可以在精细的时间范围内跟踪超出人类视觉范围的女君主。随着技术的进步，该系统为跟踪昆虫的自动化系统提供了基准。图片来源：©KE Fisher。描述了一种自动无线电遥测系统，可以在精细的时间范围内跟踪超出人类视觉范围的女君主。随着技术的进步，该系统为跟踪昆虫的自动化系统提供了基准。图片来源：©KE Fisher。