Society for Science & the Public, which publishes Science News, uses cookies to personalize your experience and improve our services. For more information on how we use cookies on our websites, visit our Cookie Policy.
News Ecosystems

Long-ignored, high-flying arthropods could make up largest land migrations

Each year, 3.5 trillion aphids, moths, flies and their kin fly over southern United Kingdom

ladybug

OVERLOOKED OVERHEAD  Adding up ladybugs (seven-spotted species shown) and other high-flying insects and their kin that travel overhead each year reveals what could be the biggest migration of land animals on the planet.

Leviathan1983/wikimedia commons (CC BY-SA 3.0)

By Susan Milius

This article is only available to Science News subscribers.

Subscribers, enter your e-mail address to access our archives.

Not a subscriber?

Science News is a nonprofit.

Support us by subscribing now.

More Stories from Science News on Ecosystems

  1. snowy owls, sanderlings, cactus wrens and Western meadowlarks
    Life

    We’ve lost 3 billion birds since 1970 in North America

    By Jonathan Lambert
  2. spiders in a tree
    Animals

    Why one biologist chases hurricanes to study spider evolution

    By Susan Milius
  3. Asian carp jumping
    Life

    A mussel poop diet could fuel invasive carp’s spread across Lake Michigan

    By Carolyn Wilke
  4. plants
    Neuroscience

    Plants don’t have feelings and aren’t conscious, a biologist argues

    By Laura Sanders
  5. Fenrow Experimental Forest
    Earth

    Decades of dumping acid suggest acid rain may make trees thirstier

    By Carolyn Wilke
  6. zombie ant
    Animals

    A deadly fungus gives ‘zombie’ ants a case of lockjaw

    By Carolyn Wilke
  7. forest
    Ecosystems

    Planting trees could buy more time to fight climate change than thought

    By Susan Milius
  8. maze corals with lesions
    Oceans

    A mysterious coral disease is ravaging Caribbean reefs

    By Cassie Martin

From the Nature Index

Paid Content