Data from: Escape jumping by three age-classes of water striders from smooth, wavy and bubbling water surfaces

Surface roughness is a ubiquitous phenomenon in both oceanic and terrestrial waters. For insects that live at the air-water interface, such as water striders, non-linear and multi-scale perturbations produce dynamic surface deformations which may impair locomotion. We studied escape jumps of adults, juveniles, and first-instar larvae of the water strider Aquarius remigis on smooth, wave-dominated, and bubble-dominated water surfaces. Effects of substrate on takeoff jumps were substantial, with significant reductions in take-off angles, peak translational speeds, attained heights, and power expenditure on more perturbed water surfaces. Age effects were similarly pronounced, with the first-instar larvae experiencing the greatest degradation in performance; age-by-treatment effects were also significant for many kinematic variables. Although commonplace in nature, perturbed water surfaces thus have significant and age-dependent effects on water strider locomotion, and on behavior more generally of surface-dwelling insects.水体表面粗糙度（surface roughness）是海洋与陆地水域中普遍存在的现象。对于栖息于气水界面（air-water interface）的昆虫，例如水黾（water strider），非线性多尺度扰动会引发动态表面形变，进而可能损害其运动能力。我们针对美洲大黾（Aquarius remigis）的成虫、亚成虫及一龄幼虫，在光滑、波浪主导与气泡主导三种水面环境下的逃逸跳跃行为开展了研究。运动基底对起跳跳跃行为的影响极为显著：在扰动更强的水面环境中，起跳角度、峰值平动速度、腾空高度与能量消耗均出现显著下降。年龄对运动表现的影响同样显著，其中一龄幼虫的运动性能退化程度最为严重；此外，年龄与环境处理的交互效应对多数运动学变量亦具有统计学显著性。尽管扰动水面在自然界中极为常见，但这类水面会对水黾的运动行为，乃至更广泛的栖水昆虫的行为，产生显著且依赖于个体年龄的影响。