CAREER: Individual and Group Animal Flight Dynamics

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Progress in understanding the individual and group maneuvers of flying animals has been slow to date, hampered by technical limitations in quantifying flight behavior and performance in the field. However, the diversity of form and function apparent in living bird, bat and insect species is related to the ability to maneuver, particularly to avoid or enable prey capture and prevail in contests with others of the same species - activities which cannot be adequately replicated in a laboratory. This research will take advantage of recent advances in low power, high-resolution, high-speed video technology to develop flexible recording techniques suitable for precisely measuring individual and group animal flight maneuvers in natural environments over a wide range of sizes and time scales. These capabilities will be used to address hypotheses on the fundamental relationships between shape, biomechanics and maneuverability in flying animals and on their group behavior. Similarities in basic grouping parameters will be examined among different bird or bat species known for varying degrees of coordinated behavior. In addition to providing insight into the biology of a range of animal species, discoveries in this area will also help speed development of micro-air vehicles, animal scale flying machines. Finally, this proposal will lead to rich, freely available data sets and ready-to-use software for other researchers. As part of the education and outreach activities funded by this proposal, a partnership with UNC's Morehead Planetarium and Science Center will incorporate findings from this research and other recent studies of animal flight behavior and performance into a fulldome planetarium show and associated educational materials to be viewed by visiting North Carolina primary school students. The show and materials will also be shared with other planetariums worldwide.