Active navigation and meteorological selectivity drive insect migration patterns through the Levant

A - Papers appearing in refereed journals

Werber, Y., Adin, E., Chapman, J. W., Reynolds, D. R. and Sapir, N. 2025. Active navigation and meteorological selectivity drive insect migration patterns through the Levant. Proceedings of the Royal Society B: Biological Sciences. 292, p. 2025.0587. https://doi.org/10.1098/rspb.2025.0587

AuthorsWerber, Y., Adin, E., Chapman, J. W., Reynolds, D. R. and Sapir, N.
Abstract

Insect migration is crucial to many natural processes and human activities, yet large-scale patterns remain poorly understood. On the Mediterranean’s eastern shores lies a 70 km-wide stretch of hospitable habitat between the sea and the Arabian Desert, which we term the Levantine Corridor,
extending ~400 km south from Turkey to the edge of the Sahara. We deployed 7 biological radars over 8 years, recording 6.3 million individual large insects (>10 mg) and revealing an important migration route at the nexus of three continents, with over 700 million large insects estimated to
cross annually. However, a comparison with European insect migration flows suggests that Levantine insect fluxes are lower than at higher latitudes, challenging the conjecture that the Levantine Corridor acts as a funnel for insect migration as reported for birds. Insects showed strong migratory directionality differing from prevailing wind direction in spring and autumn, with mass migrations separated by periods of weaker movements. Migration intensity strongly depended on the weather, with insects preferentially migrating in seasonally beneficial tailwinds when possible and in warmer temperatures. The study reveals an unexplored
insect migration route with implications for food webs, pollination, disease transmission, pest outbreaks and species invasions across West Asia, East Europe and Northeast Africa.

KeywordsMeteorological effects; Flight behaviour; Insect migration; Radar monitoring; Israel; Levantine Corridor; Eastern Mediterranean
Year of Publication2025
JournalProceedings of the Royal Society B: Biological Sciences
Journal citation292, p. 2025.0587
Digital Object Identifier (DOI)https://doi.org/10.1098/rspb.2025.0587
Open accessPublished as ‘gold’ (paid) open access
FunderBiotechnology and Biological Sciences Research Council
Accepted author manuscript
Output statusPublished
Publication dates
Online25 Jun 2025
Publication process dates
Accepted19 May 2025
ISSN0962-8452
PublisherRoyal Society Publishing

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