Dresden 2014 – scientific programme
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BP: Fachverband Biologische Physik
BP 43: Neurosciences
BP 43.8: Talk
Friday, April 4, 2014, 11:30–11:45, ZEU 250
The fly on a swing- Generation of complex locomotor pattern through nonlinear coupling to a prototypical dynamic environment — •Jan Bartussek1,2,3, Hannah Haberkern3, and Martin Zapotocky2 — 1Department of Animal Physiology,University of Rostock, Albert-Einstein-Str. 3, 18059 Rostock, Germany — 2Institute of Physiology, Academy of Sciences of the Czech Republic, Videnska 1083, 14220 Praha 4, Czech Republic — 3Institute of Neuroinformatics, ETH/Uni Zurich, Winterthurerstr. 190, 8057 Zurich, Switzerland
We investigated the mutual, dynamic coupling of flying flies with their environment. By gluing single fruit flies to a steel tether with defined mechanical properties, we replaced the dynamics of the natural world by a prototypical environment, which can be modelled as a simple harmonic oscillator. We used an interferometer to measure the vibrations of the tether induced by the flying fly. Depending on the tether resonance frequency, the forces from the fly were inducing a large cumulative motion of the tether and activation of the fly's mechanosensors. The fly therefore received delayed feedback dependent on its previous activity. This lead to a variety of observed dynamical locomotor patterns, including locking of the wingbeat to the tether resonance frequency. We were able to reproduce most of the observed dynamical features in a simple nonlinear model of two mutually coupled oscillators. Aerodynamic calculations indicate that even in natural free flight, the wingbeat might be continuously locked to mechanosensory feedback due to body oscillations. We argue how this locking can improve flight control on fast time scales.