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Time-lapse Imaging of Bacterial Swarms and the Collective Stress Response

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Published on: May 23, 2020

Pair formation in insect swarms driven by adaptive long-range interactions.

Dan Gorbonos¹, James G Puckett², Kasper van der Vaart³

¹Department of Chemical and Biological Physics, Weizmann Institute, Rehovot, Israel.

Journal of the Royal Society, Interface

|October 7, 2020

Summary

Insect swarms exhibit transient pair formation, a phenomenon now explained by acoustic interactions. An adaptive-gravity model shows pairs form naturally as insects move from high to low sound environments, driven by sound-modulated attraction.

Keywords:

adaptivity insect swarm long-range interactions pair formation swarming

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Area of Science:

Collective behavior
Insect swarming dynamics
Bioacoustics

Background:

Insect swarms display uncoordinated motion, contrasting with bird flocks.
Transient synchronized pairs observed in insect swarms, with origins unclear.
Uncertainty exists whether pairing is a distinct behavior or emergent property.

Purpose of the Study:

Investigate the origin of transient pair formation in insect swarms.
Determine if pairing arises from existing swarming dynamics or requires new rules.
Model insect interactions to explain observed pairing phenomena.

Main Methods:

Developed an 'adaptive-gravity' computational model for insect swarming.
Modeled long-range acoustic attractions modulated by background sound (adaptivity).
Simulated insect movement from high-sound swarm centers to low-sound peripheries.

Main Results:

Pair formation occurred robustly without additional behavioral rules in the model.
Pairs formed when insects moved from high to low background sound environments.
Adaptive attraction increased in low sound, creating bound states; high sound disrupted pairs.

Conclusions:

Pair formation in insect swarms can be a natural byproduct of adaptive acoustic interactions.
The 'adaptive-gravity' model successfully reproduces observed insect swarming and pairing.
Suggests similar pairing mechanisms may occur in other systems with long-range attraction and adaptive sensing, like cellular swarming.