In natural environments, the directed flight of ambrosia beetles occurs within forests where wind speed is relatively low, particularly close to the ground where most beetle flight occurs.
However, within large open nurseries, where fewer windbreaks exist, higher wind speeds make directed flight significantly more difficult for small beetles.
In a mark–recapture study, the striped ambrosia beetle, Trypodendron lineatum (Olivier) (Coleoptera: Curculionidae), which is a coniferous forest tree pest in the western United States, only exhibited non-directed flight for distances of 100 m or more, whereas recaptures at 500 m were primarily downwind of the release point.