Tracking the Tiny - 3D-recording of odour-mediated upwind flight in insects

The fascination of studying moths flying upwind towards odour sources has been a driving force for research in chemical ecology. The goal is to explore pheromones or other semiochemicals for manipulation of insect behaviour. These chemicals are used for environmentally safe control of insects.
We (at SLU Alnarp, Dept. Crop Science) use two CCD cameras interfaced with an image treatment system to track moths flying in a wind tunnel. The camera coordinates of the insects´ position are written to file and the reconstruction of spatial coordinates is done off-line. The resection software is based on 600x0 Apple Macintosh computers (Lightspeed C). This software should be lifted onto a Power PC platform. Data evaluation software is another point of interest. The field of chemical ecology has been expanding steadily over the past decade and there is a demand for automated bioassay techniques. There is a chance for commercial development of flight tracking.