Riding on the wind: a radar perspective of insect flight

The text of a lecture delivered on 5 May 1999, this covers pre-radar studies of insect migration, the beginnings and establishment of radar entomology, basic principles and practicalities of entomological radars, and the contribution of radar to entomology. Originally a method for studying in detail high altitude migratory flight of insect pests, radar has provided a means of inexpensive, long-term routine monitoring of insect migration at altitude, both for pest management purposes and for basic research. Since then the unique flight trajectory measurement capability of radar has been extended to insects engaged in low altitude, non-migratory flight using harmonic radar.