Overview
The ability to actively move through the physical environment (run, swim, fly) or to actively manipulate the flow of the surrounding medium is integrated so deeply into animal physiology, morphology and behavior that it affects almost every aspect of their ecology. While the unifying physiological mechanisms that transform chemical energy to mechanical (muscle) work have been the subject of intensive research by biologists, less is known about the bio-mechanical level of converting muscle work to locomotion through the physical environment. Bio-mechanical constraints on locomotion have been shaping animal diversity throughout their evolution. Without understanding these constraints our understanding of the functioning of the organism in its natural environment is lacking.
To study the mechanisms and diversity of animal locomotion we combine field and lab based experiments where we measure the forces, motions or flows associated with various types of locomotion. We compare the results of these experiments with theoretical models of the aero/hydrodynamics involved.
Insects, in particular, are an ideal research models for studying how physiology, morphology, biomechanics
and sensory provide the building blocks for efficient locomotion. Their flight is quite complex from an engineering standpoint and they employ unique aerodynamic mechanisms for lift augmentation. Interestingly, insects perform and control their complex flight with relatively simple brains. How they achieve this is still an open question attracting research by both biologists and engineers.
The ability to actively move through the physical environment (run, swim, fly) or to actively manipulate the flow of the surrounding medium is integrated so deeply into animal physiology, morphology and behavior that it affects almost every aspect of their ecology. While the unifying physiological mechanisms that transform chemical energy to mechanical (muscle) work have been the subject of intensive research by biologists, less is known about the bio-mechanical level of converting muscle work to locomotion through the physical environment. Bio-mechanical constraints on locomotion have been shaping animal diversity throughout their evolution. Without understanding these constraints our understanding of the functioning of the organism in its natural environment is lacking.
To study the mechanisms and diversity of animal locomotion we combine field and lab based experiments where we measure the forces, motions or flows associated with various types of locomotion. We compare the results of these experiments with theoretical models of the aero/hydrodynamics involved.
Insects, in particular, are an ideal research models for studying how physiology, morphology, biomechanics
and sensory provide the building blocks for efficient locomotion. Their flight is quite complex from an engineering standpoint and they employ unique aerodynamic mechanisms for lift augmentation. Interestingly, insects perform and control their complex flight with relatively simple brains. How they achieve this is still an open question attracting research by both biologists and engineers.
Examples of research questions addressed with this approach (see publications for answers to some of these questions)
Insect flight:
- Does sexual selection for long eye stalks limit maneuverability in stalk-eyed flies?
- How do flying locusts avoid aerial collision in a swarm?
- How does optic flow affect locomotion and head turning in flies?
- How do flying damselflies compensate for a loss of one wing?
- Is flight performance affected by conditions during larval growth?
- How do elastic wing deformations during flight scale with insect body size?
- How do miniature insect cope with wind and reduced flight efficiency?
- What are the mechanism enabling long distance flight in some insects?
- Can click-beetles control their jump?
- How do aphids rotate their body in the air during falling to land on their feet?
- How do the natural substrates affect jumping in click-beetles?
- What sensory stimulus triggers aphids to assume an aerial righting posture?
- How do whiteflies manage to stabilize their take-off with closed wings?
- How do mating damselflies manage to fly with eight wings?
- What is the role of ipsilateral wing coupling in flight stability and maneuverability?
- What are the limits to underwater maneuverability when a diving cormorant is chasing a fish?
- Do cormorants get wet underwater?
- How do cormorants counter their buoyancy during diving?
- Is foot-propulsion of cormorants energetically efficient?
- How do ducks hold position during feeding underwater and what are the implications for the energy spent diving?