CAREER: Individual and Group Animal Flight Dynamics

到目前为止，在理解飞行动物的个体和群体机动方面进展缓慢，这是由于在量化飞行行为和性能方面的技术限制所阻碍的。然而，在现存的鸟类、蝙蝠和昆虫物种中，外形和功能的明显多样性与机动能力有关，特别是为了避免或使猎物被捕获，并在与同类的竞争中获胜——这些活动无法在实验室中充分复制。这项研究将利用低功耗、高分辨率、高速视频技术的最新进展，开发灵活的记录技术，适用于在各种尺寸和时间尺度的自然环境中精确测量个体和群体动物的飞行动作。这些能力将用于解决飞行动物的形状、生物力学和机动性之间的基本关系以及它们的群体行为的假设。基本分组参数的相似性将在已知的不同程度的协调行为的不同鸟类或蝙蝠物种之间进行检查。除了提供对一系列动物物种生物学的深入了解外，该领域的发现还将有助于加速微型飞行器，动物尺度飞行器的发展。最后，这一提议将为其他研究人员带来丰富、免费的数据集和随时可用的软件。作为该提案资助的教育和推广活动的一部分，与北卡罗来纳大学莫尔黑德天文馆和科学中心合作，将把这项研究和其他最近对动物飞行行为和表现的研究成果纳入一个全穹顶天文馆展览和相关的教育材料，供参观北卡罗来纳小学的学生观看。展览和材料也将与世界各地的其他天文馆共享。

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.