The Integrative Biology of Animal Flight

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The goal of this research program is to discover the sensory, motor, and decision-making rules that guide dynamic animal behaviours. We focus on animal flight, because it is physiologically challenging and critical for survival. Research on complex flight has broad implications because animals can achieve agility that far surpasses what we can currently achieve technologically. Knowledge of flight behaviour can also inform wildlife conservation for many declining birds, bats, and insects. We use automated 3D tracking to monitor dynamic flight behaviours, and we develop novel computational approaches to analyze high-throughput data. This has resulted in internationally-recognized discoveries of the visual and biomechanical mechanisms of avian flight. The present proposal builds on this success in three main areas. Objective #1 is to determine how flying birds integrate multiple visual cues to perform complex flight behaviour. We know almost nothing about how animals use multiple visual cues simultaneously for motor control. We will develop a virtual reality flight system for birds to test hypotheses about the advantages of using redundant visual control strategies in flight. Complementary studies will also examine how wild birds are influenced by visual cues in suburban environments, where collisions are a major cause of mortality. Objective #2 is to determine the functional consequences of agility for predation and competition. Our recent studies of birds have shown that complex flight maneuvers are influenced by an individual's muscle capacity, morphology, and skill. We will test hypotheses for the functional implications of this variation by comparing diverse hummingbird species, and we will also manipulate an individual's agility through exercise training, to test the consequences for predation and competition. Objective #3 is to establish how insect flight performance determines ecological function. Flying insects are important pollinators, food sources, and pest control agents, but recent data suggest that their populations are declining. We will capitalize on the opportunity to extend our 3D tracking expertise to develop a portable, automated, real-time 3D sensing system to monitor insect communities. We will evaluate whether remotely-sensed flight performance and interaction rates can provide indicators of ecosystem functioning. This research will catalyze a better understanding of current trends in the environment that have major ecological and economic implications. Overall, this research program will advance our knowledge of flight behaviour, physiology, and ecology, with practical applications in autonomous systems and wildlife management. Trainees will develop expertise in behavioural systems as well as the computational skills to analyze high-throughput data, providing key skills to members of groups that are underrepresented in science and technology careers.