Temperature fluctuations significantly affect the perception of dragonflies, studies show.

Researchers from the University of Adelaide and employees of Lund University in Sweden have made a breakthrough in understanding how the brain of dragonflies works.

"Given that biology changes rapidly in response to external factors such as temperature, we need to understand what role it plays in information processing.

"The way the dragonfly brain interprets this changing information to continue to provide a clear perception of what they see (and what they interact with) will be an intriguing direction for future research, both from a biological and engineering point of view."

Associate Professor Wiederman said that so far no one has understood how great the influence of external factors (for example, daily temperature changes) is on the perception of the world by dragonflies (through changes in the impulse activity of neurons).

In the range of elevated temperatures that dragonflies often experience on a summer day, STMD neurons have almost nine times increased their sensitivity to small moving targets.