Biologically inspired herding of animal groups by robots

A single sheepdog can bring together and manoeuvre hundreds of sheep from one location to another. Engineers and ecologists are fascinated by this sheepdog herding because of the potential it provides for ‘bio-herding’: a biologically inspired herding of animal groups by robots. Although many herding algorithms have been proposed, most are studied via simulation. There are a variety of ecological problems where management of wild animal groups is currently impossible, dangerous and/or costly for humans to manage directly, and which may benefit from bio-herding solutions. Unmanned aerial vehicles (UAVs) now deliver significant benefits to the economy and society. Here, we suggest the use of UAVs for bio-herding. Given their mobility and speed, UAVs can be used in a wide range of environments and interact with animal groups at sea, over the land and in the air. We present a potential roadmap for achieving bio-herding using a pair of UAVs. In our framework, one UAV performs ‘surveillance’ of animal groups, informing the movement of a second UAV that herds them. We highlight the promise and flexibility of a paired UAV approach while emphasising its practical and ethical challenges. We start by describing the types of experiments and data required to understand individual and collective responses to UAVs. Next, we describe how to develop appropriate herding algorithms. Finally, we describe the integration of bio-herding algorithms into software and hardware architecture

Bayesian Inference for Identifying Interaction Rules in Moving Animal Groups

The emergence of similar collective patterns from different self-propelled particle models of animal groups points to a restricted set of “universal” classes for these patterns. While universality is interesting, it is often the fine details of animal interactions that are of biological importance. Universality thus presents a challenge to inferring such interactions from macroscopic group dynamics since these can be consistent with many underlying interaction models. We present a Bayesian framework for learning animal interaction rules from fine scale recordings of animal movements in swarms. We apply these techniques to the inverse problem of inferring interaction rules from simulation models, showing that parameters can often be inferred from a small number of observations. Our methodology allows us to quantify our confidence in parameter fitting. For example, we show that attraction and alignment terms can be reliably estimated when animals are milling in a torus shape, while interaction radius cannot be reliably measured in such a situation. We assess the importance of rate of data collection and show how to test different models, such as topological and metric neighbourhood models. Taken together our results both inform the design of experiments on animal interactions and suggest how these data should be best analysed

Multi-scale Inference of Interaction Rules in Animal Groups Using Bayesian Model Selection

Inference of interaction rules of animals moving in groups usually relies on an analysis of large scale system behaviour. Models are tuned through repeated simulation until they match the observed behaviour. More recent work has used the fine scale motions of animals to validate and fit the rules of interaction of animals in groups. Here, we use a Bayesian methodology to compare a variety of models to the collective motion of glass prawns (Paratya australiensis). We show that these exhibit a stereotypical ‘phase transition’, whereby an increase in density leads to the onset of collective motion in one direction. We fit models to this data, which range from: a mean-field model where all prawns interact globally; to a spatial Markovian model where prawns are self-propelled particles influenced only by the current positions and directions of their neighbours; up to non-Markovian models where prawns have ‘memory’ of previous interactions, integrating their experiences over time when deciding to change behaviour. We show that the mean-field model fits the large scale behaviour of the system, but does not capture fine scale rules of interaction, which are primarily mediated by physical contact. Conversely, the Markovian self-propelled particle model captures the fine scale rules of interaction but fails to reproduce global dynamics. The most sophisticated model, the non-Markovian model, provides a good match to the data at both the fine scale and in terms of reproducing global dynamics. We conclude that prawns' movements are influenced by not just the current direction of nearby conspecifics, but also those encountered in the recent past. Given the simplicity of prawns as a study system our research suggests that self-propelled particle models of collective motion should, if they are to be realistic at multiple biological scales, include memory of previous interactions and other non-Markovian effects

Host Plant Adaptation in Drosophila mettleri Populations

The process of local adaptation creates diversity among allopatric populations, and may eventually lead to speciation. Plant-feeding insect populations that specialize on different host species provide an excellent opportunity to evaluate the causes of ecological specialization and the subsequent consequences for diversity. In this study, we used geographically separated Drosophila mettleri populations that specialize on different host cacti to examine oviposition preference for and larval performance on an array of natural and non-natural hosts (eight total). We found evidence of local adaptation in performance on saguaro cactus (Carnegiea gigantea) for populations that are typically associated with this host, and to chemically divergent prickly pear species (Opuntia spp.) in a genetically isolated population on Santa Catalina Island. Moreover, each population exhibited reduced performance on the alternative host. This finding is consistent with trade-offs associated with adaptation to these chemically divergent hosts, although we also discuss alternative explanations for this pattern. For oviposition preference, Santa Catalina Island flies were more likely to oviposit on some prickly pear species, but all populations readily laid eggs on saguaro. Experiments with non-natural hosts suggest that factors such as ecological opportunity may play a more important role than host plant chemistry in explaining the lack of natural associations with some hosts

Distinct Cytoplasmic and Nuclear Functions of the Stress Induced Protein DDIT3/CHOP/GADD153

DDIT3, also known as GADD153 or CHOP, encodes a basic leucine zipper transcription factor of the dimer forming C/EBP family. DDIT3 is known as a key regulator of cellular stress response, but its target genes and functions are not well characterized. Here, we applied a genome wide microarray based expression analysis to identify DDIT3 target genes and functions. By analyzing cells carrying tamoxifen inducible DDIT3 expression constructs we show distinct gene expression profiles for cells with cytoplasmic and nuclear localized DDIT3. Of 175 target genes identified only 3 were regulated by DDIT3 in both cellular localizations. More than two thirds of the genes were downregulated, supporting a role for DDIT3 as a dominant negative factor that could act by either cytoplasmic or nuclear sequestration of dimer forming transcription factor partners. Functional annotation of target genes showed cell migration, proliferation and apoptosis/survival as the most affected categories. Cytoplasmic DDIT3 affected more migration associated genes, while nuclear DDIT3 regulated more cell cycle controlling genes. Cell culture experiments confirmed that cytoplasmic DDIT3 inhibited migration, while nuclear DDIT3 caused a G1 cell cycle arrest. Promoters of target genes showed no common sequence motifs, reflecting that DDIT3 forms heterodimers with several alternative transcription factors that bind to different motifs. We conclude that expression of cytoplasmic DDIT3 regulated 94 genes. Nuclear translocation of DDIT3 regulated 81 additional genes linked to functions already affected by cytoplasmic DDIT3. Characterization of DDIT3 regulated functions helps understanding its role in stress response and involvement in cancer and degenerative disorders

The shape and dynamics of local attraction

Moving animal groups, such as flocks of birds or schools of fish, exhibit a varity of self-organized complex dynamical behaviors and shapes. This kind of flocking behavior has been studied using self-propelled particle models, in which the “particles” interact with their nearest neighbors through repulsion, attraction and alignment responses. In particular, it has been shown that models based on attraction alone can generate a range of dynamic groups in 2D, with periodic boundary conditions, and in the absence of repulsion. Here we investigate the effects of changing these conditions on the type of groups observed in the model. We show that replacing the periodic boundary conditions with a weak global attaction term in 2D, and extending the model to 3D does not significantly change the type of groups observed. We also provide a description of how attraction strength and blind angle determine the groups generated in the 3D version of the model. Finally, we show that adding repulsion do change the type of groups oberved, making them appear and behave more like real moving animal groups. Our results suggest that many biological instances of collective motion may be explained without assuming that animals explicitly align with each other. Instead, complex collective motion is explained by the interplay of attraction and repulsion forces

Biologically inspired herding of animal groups by robots

A single sheepdog can bring together and manoeuvre hundreds of sheep from one location to another. Engineers and ecologists are fascinated by this sheepdog herding because of the potential it provides for ‘bio-herding’: a biologically inspired herding of animal groups by robots. Although many herding algorithms have been proposed, most are studied via simulation. There are a variety of ecological problems where management of wild animal groups is currently impossible, dangerous and/or costly for humans to manage directly, and which may benefit from bio-herding solutions. Unmanned aerial vehicles (UAVs) now deliver significant benefits to the economy and society. Here, we suggest the use of UAVs for bio-herding. Given their mobility and speed, UAVs can be used in a wide range of environments and interact with animal groups at sea, over the land and in the air. We present a potential roadmap for achieving bio-herding using a pair of UAVs. In our framework, one UAV performs ‘surveillance’ of animal groups, informing the movement of a second UAV that herds them. We highlight the promise and flexibility of a paired UAV approach while emphasising its practical and ethical challenges. We start by describing the types of experiments and data required to understand individual and collective responses to UAVs. Next, we describe how to develop appropriate herding algorithms. Finally, we describe the integration of bio-herding algorithms into software and hardware architecture