Ballooning dispersal in arthropod taxa: conditions at take-off
- 27 March 2007
- journal article
- Published by The Royal Society in Biology Letters
- Vol. 3 (3), 237-240
- https://doi.org/10.1098/rsbl.2007.0109
Abstract
We have solved a long-standing and seemingly paradoxical set of questions that relate to the conditions which govern spider ballooning. We show that observations of spider ballooning excursions are best explained by meteorological conditions which maximize dispersal. Dispersal is predicted to be most effective in terms of distance when the stability of the atmosphere is non-ideally convective and is less effective during purely convective or neutrally stable conditions. Ballooners are most likely to travel a few hundred metres, but dispersal distances of several hundred kilometres are possible.This publication has 18 references indexed in Scilit:
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