The Integration of Flight Behavior

迪金森9723424 昆虫的飞行是一种复杂的运动形式， 一系列的生理和形态学特化。在这个奖项下要做的研究 PI将专注于肌肉，骨骼和大脑如何共同发挥作用以实现飞行 动物来完成复杂的空中动作。该提案中的研究重点是苍蝇， 虽然使用相对 简单的大脑，却能做出复杂的飞行行为苍蝇在所有飞行动物中是独一无二的，它拥有称为笼头的特殊感觉结构，在飞行过程中充当陀螺仪。研究的第一个目标是研究如何使用吊带来增加飞行稳定性。这些实验将采用机械振荡飞行竞技场来表征角扰动引起的行为反应。该项目的第二个目标是使用扑翼苍蝇的大比例模型来确定翅膀运动的变化如何影响空气动力的产生。 这项研究的第三个目标是将联合收割机电生理学与高速视频成像结合起来，以描述飞行过程中操纵肌肉如何改变翅膀的运动。前三组实验将确定动物如何使用矫正反射来保持稳定的飞行。该项目的最后部分是确定动物在积极寻找食物或配偶的环境时如何发起自愿行动。这项研究将有助于理解产生复杂飞行行为所需的快速神经处理和空气动力学机制。

Dickinson 9723424 Flight in insects is a complex form of locomotion that requires an array of physiological and morphological specializations. The research to be done under this award to the PI will focus on how muscles, skeletons, and brains function together to enable flying animals to perform elaborate aerial maneuvers. The research in this proposal focuses on flies, which although using relatively simple brains, are capable of elaborate flight behavior. Flies are unique among all flying animals in possessing specialized sensory structure called halteres that serve as a gyroscopes during flight. The first goal of the research is to study how the halteres are used to increase flight stability. These experiments will employ a mechanically-oscillating flight arena to characterize the behavioral responses elicited by angular perturbations. The second goal of the project is to use a large scaled model of a flapping fly to determine how changes in wing motion effect the production of aerodynamic forces. The third goal of the research is to combine electrophysiology with high-speed video imaging to characterize how steering muscles act to change the motion of the wings during flight. These first three sets of experiments will determine how animals use corrective reflexes to maintain stable flight. The final portion of the project is to determine how animals initiate voluntary maneuvers when they are actively searching their environment for food or mates. This research will contribute to the understanding of the rapid neural processing and aerodynamic mechanisms that are required to produce sophisticated flight behavior.