Talk centers on butterfly migration, flying robots

Published on Tuesday, April 22, 2008 4:33 PM MDT

In a celebration of spring’s arrival, the final presentation of the 2008 BrownBagger series at the USDA-ARS Northern Plains Agricultural Research Laboratory features fun and fascinating research into butterfly migrations and insects as models for miniaturized flying vehicles.

NPARL ecologist Dr. Robert Srygley is the featured speaker at the Friday session, and he will be discussing work he did with the Smithsonian Tropical Research Institute (in Panama) and the National Geographic Society, prior to coming to Sidney.

The hour-long presentation begins at noon and is open to the public, with Sidney High School physics students and Robotics Club members, and their instructor David McDonald, especially invited because of their related studies and interest in both topics. Students will also participate in a tour of the lab following the talk.

Srygley will discuss his work on butterfly migrations across the Caribbean Sea and the isthmus of Panama and the sophisticated orientation mechanisms the insects use to globally orient themselves for the trip.

He will also discuss how research on insect aerodynamics is contributing to the development of “microaerial vehicles” for use in exploring terrestrial and extraterrestrial planets.

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