Mathematical modelling of invertebrate movement patterns
Lead Research Organisation:
Rothamsted Research
Department Name: UNLISTED
Abstract
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Technical Summary
The objective of the research is to develop a unified theory of invertebrate movement patterns over field scales. This research will utilise data from harmonic studies of the flight patterns of honeybees, bumbebees and butterflies. Data acquired at the laboratory-scale will also be used. Modelling will draw upon recent advances that have been made in search theory. It is hypothesed that many invertebrate utilize optimal Levy flight searching patterns.
Planned Impact
unavailable
Organisations
People |
ORCID iD |
| Andrew Reynolds (Principal Investigator) |
Publications
Reynolds AM
(2009)
The Lévy flight paradigm: random search patterns and mechanisms.
in Ecology
| Description | During the project mathematical models were developed for predicting the movement patterns of invertebrates of importance in agricultural systems. Models were validated using data collected at Rothamsted using a 'harmonic' radar that tracked the movements of bees and other pollinators at the field-scale, a 'vertical-looking' radar that monitored the passage of high-flying migratory insects, and be-spoke laboratory experiments that recorded the movements patterns of nematodes. We showed that the flight patterns of honeybees closely resemble 'Levy walks'. Levy walks are a specialized forms random walks comprised of clusters of multiple short steps with longer steps between them. Such movements have been seen in a wide variety of organisms, from single cells to humans. During the project we accounted for the occurrence of these movement flights in bees, and for their occurrence more generally. We showed that migratory insects use subtle cues in atmospheric turbulence for orientation. Models developed at Rothamsted explained how migrants can use wind-mediate cues to locate the fastest airstreams and to orientate downwind, a behaviour known as 'common orientation'; two facets of insect migration that have puzzled researchers for more than 40 years. These advances have the potential to improve considerably models of long-range migration and so better predict the arrival of migratory pests and beneficials. We showed how nematodes can use plant volatiles to navigate through the maze of voids in the soils pore spore space to locate host plants. Remarkably, chemotaxis was shown to take a nematode to the host plant via the shortest possible route through the voids in the soil to the host plant. |
| Exploitation Route | The modelling of pollinator flight patterns has led to collaborations with Queen Mary College and with Center for Integrative Biology of Toulouse, University Paul Sabatier. This has led to joint publications, and to a collaborative ECR project. The studies of Levy walks as models of animal movement patterns are widely cited and continue to shape the field. They resulted in a Company Biologists funded workshop (http://www.biologists.com/workshops/current-status-and-future-directions-in-levy-walk-research/) that brought together leading experts from across the world. The studies of insect migratory are highly cited, and continue to shape current research. They were, for example, the topic of doctoral thesis at School of Physical, Environmental and Mathematical Sciences The University of New South Wales. |
| Sectors | Agriculture Food and Drink |
| Description | The findings have been used and cited by researchers across the world. |