Each year, trillions of insects make long-range seasonal migrations. These movements are relatively well understood at a population level, but how individual insects achieve them remains elusive. Behavioral responses to conditions en route are little studied, primarily owing to the challenges of tracking individual insects. Using a light aircraft and individual radio tracking, we show that nocturnally migrating death’s-head hawkmoths maintain control of their flight trajectories over long distances. The moths did not just fly with favorable tailwinds; during a given night, they also adjusted for head and crosswinds to precisely hold course. This behavior indicates that the moths use a sophisticated internal compass to maintain seasonally beneficial migratory trajectories independent of wind conditions, illuminating how insects traverse long distances to take advantage of seasonal resources.

中文翻译：

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个体跟踪揭示了夜间迁徙飞蛾的长距离飞行路径控制

每年，数以万亿计的昆虫进行远程季节性迁徙。这些运动在种群水平上相对较好地理解，但个体昆虫如何实现它们仍然难以捉摸。对途中条件的行为反应很少研究，主要是由于追踪个体昆虫的挑战。使用轻型飞机和单独的无线电跟踪，我们表明夜间迁徙的死头天蛾保持对长距离飞行轨迹的控制。飞蛾不只是顺着顺风飞行；在给定的夜晚，他们还调整了头风和侧风以精确保持航向。这种行为表明飞蛾使用复杂的内部指南针来维持季节性有益的迁徙轨迹，而不受风条件的影响，