Data from: Mass seasonal bioflows of high-flying insect migrants

Migrating animals have an impact on ecosystems directly via influxes of predators, prey, and competitors and indirectly by vectoring nutrients, energy, and pathogens. Although linkages between vertebrate movements and ecosystem processes have been established, the effects of mass insect “bioflows” have not been described. We quantified biomass flux over the southern United Kingdom for high-flying (>150 meters) insects and show that ~3.5 trillion insects (3200 tons of biomass) migrate above the region annually. These flows are not randomly directed in insects larger than 10 milligrams, which exploit seasonally beneficial tailwinds. Large seasonal differences in the southward versus northward transfer of biomass occur in some years, although flows were balanced over the 10-year period. Our long-term study reveals a major transport process with implications for ecosystem services, processes, and biogeochemistry.迁徙动物可通过捕食者、猎物与竞争者的种群迁入直接作用于生态系统，亦可通过传播营养物质、能量与病原体，对生态系统产生间接影响。尽管脊椎动物的移动与生态系统过程之间的关联已得到证实，但大规模昆虫“生物流（bioflows）”的生态效应尚未被系统阐明。我们针对英国南部飞行高度超过150米的昆虫开展了生物量通量量化研究，结果显示该区域每年约有3.5万亿只昆虫（总生物量达3200吨）在该区域上空进行迁徙。体重超过10毫克的昆虫并非随机定向飞行，它们会利用季节性的有利顺风调整迁徙方向。部分年份中，生物量向南与向北迁移的规模存在显著季节性差异，但在整个10年的观测周期内，整体迁移通量保持平衡。本长期研究揭示了一种重要的生态传输过程，其对生态系统服务、生态过程及生物地球化学循环均具有重要影响。