Data from: Luminance-dependent visual processing enables moth flight in low light

Animals must operate under an enormous range of light intensities. Nocturnal and twilight flying insects are hypothesized to compensate for dim conditions by integrating light over longer times. This slowing of visual processing would increase light sensitivity but should also reduce movement response times. Using freely hovering moths tracking robotic moving flowers, we showed that the moth’s visual processing does slow in dim light. These longer response times are consistent with models of how visual neurons enhance sensitivity at low light intensities, but they could pose a challenge for moths feeding from swaying flowers. Dusk-foraging moths avoid this sensorimotor tradeoff; their nervous systems slow down but not so much as to interfere with their ability to track the movements of real wind-blown flowers.动物需在跨度极大的光强环境下完成各项行为活动。现有假说认为，夜行性与晨昏性飞行昆虫可通过延长光信号整合时长，以补偿弱光环境下的视觉感知不足。这种视觉处理过程的放缓虽可提升光敏感度，但同时会降低运动响应速度。本研究以自由悬停并追踪仿生移动花朵的蛾类为实验对象，证实蛾类的视觉处理过程确实会在弱光环境下出现放缓。这种更长的响应时长与视觉神经元在低光强下提升敏感度的理论模型相符，但却会给取食摇曳花朵的蛾类带来觅食挑战。而晨昏觅食的蛾类则规避了这一感觉运动权衡：其神经系统虽会发生放缓，但放缓程度并未干扰它们追踪真实风动花朵的能力。