A - Papers appearing in refereed journals
Reynolds, A. M. 2019. On the emergence of gravitational-like forces in insect swarms. Journal of the Royal Society Interface. 16 (160), p. 20190404. https://doi.org/10.1098/rsif.2019.0404
Authors | Reynolds, A. M. |
---|---|
Abstract | Okubo [1986] was the first to propose that insect swarms are analogous to self-gravitating systems. In the intervening years striking similarities between insect swarms and self-gravitating systems have been uncovered. Nonetheless, experimental observations of laboratory swarms provide no conclusive evidence of long-range forces acting between swarming insects. The insects appear somewhat paradoxically to be tightly bound to the swarm while at the same time weakly coupled inside it. Here I show how resultant centrally-attractive gravitational-like forces can emerge from the observed tendency of insects to continually switch between two distinct flight modes: one that consists of low-frequency maneuvers and one that consists of higher-frequency nearly harmonic oscillations conducted in synchrony with another insect. The emergent dynamics are consistent with ‘adaptive’ gravity models of swarming and with variants of the stochastic models of Okubo and Reynolds for the trajectories of swarming insects: models that are in close accord with a plethora of observations of unperturbed and perturbed laboratory swarms. The results bring about a radical change of perspective as swarm properties can now be attributed to known biological behaviours rather than to elusive physical influences. |
Keywords | Insect flight patterns; Stochastic modelling |
Year of Publication | 2019 |
Journal | Journal of the Royal Society Interface |
Journal citation | 16 (160), p. 20190404 |
Digital Object Identifier (DOI) | https://doi.org/10.1098/rsif.2019.0404 |
Open access | Published as ‘gold’ (paid) open access |
Funder | Biotechnology and Biological Sciences Research Council |
Funder project or code | Pathogen surveillance and monitoring |
Publisher's version | |
Accepted author manuscript | |
Supplemental file | |
Output status | Published |
Publication dates | |
Online | 13 Nov 2019 |
Publication process dates | |
Accepted | 29 Oct 2019 |
Publisher | Royal Society Publishing |
ISSN | 1742-5689 |
Permalink - https://repository.rothamsted.ac.uk/item/96xq0/on-the-emergence-of-gravitational-like-forces-in-insect-swarms