As Professor of Mathematical Biology at Oxford, I combine my teaching interests in Quantitative Biology, Sensory Ecology & Physiology, and Vertebrate Evolution with an ambitious and wide-ranging programme of research as Head of the Oxford Flight Group. We are an internationally-leading biomechanics research team specialising in the dynamics, guidance, and control of flight. Our work combines fundamental research on animal flight with a strong and growing emphasis on applications to bio-inspired engineering. We seek to understand the mechanisms underpinning the biological systems that we study with the same depth and rigour as an engineer developing a technical system. More ambitiously, we aim to use this insight to uncover the functional “design” principles that emerge evolutionarily through the interaction of natural selection and physical constraint. Our applied goal is to identify new sensing algorithms, new control architectures, and new hardware solutions to guide the design of new technologies. More fundamentally we aim to understand – and ultimately predict – how these same organizational principles and algorithms emerge from the interaction of physics and physiology that characterizes all life. We achieve this by combining the output of our state-of-the-art experimental facilities, ground-breaking imaging techniques, and technically challenging fieldwork with advanced mathematical theory in a diverse, inter-disciplinary research programme.
On the morphology and evolution of cicadomorphan tymbal organs.
March 2020
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Journal article
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Arthropod structure & development
Cicadas and many of their relatives (Hemiptera: Cicadomorpha) generate vibroacoustic signals using tymbal organs located on their first two abdominal segments. Although tymbals are well-studied in Cicadidae, their systematic distribution in other Cicadomorpha and their possible homologies to the vibroacoustic mechanisms of other Hemiptera have been debated for more than a century. In the present study, we re-examine the morphology of the musculoskeletal system of cicadomorphan vibroacoustic organs, and we document their systematic distribution in 78 species drawn from across the phylogeny of Cicadomorpha. We also compare their morphology to the recently-described snapping organ of planthoppers (Fulgoromorpha). Based on the structure and innervation of the metathoracic and abdominal musculoskeletal system, we find that several key elements of cicadomorphan vibroacoustic organs that have previously been assigned to the first abdominal segment in fact belong to the second. We find that tymbal organs are nearly ubiquitous in Cicadomorpha, and conclude based on their phylogenetic distribution, that they are likely to be synapomorphic. The unusual tymbal-like organs of the Deltocephalinae and Typhlocybinae, represent derived modifications. Finally, we propose a standardised terminology for sternal components of the cicadomorphan vibrational organs, which can be used in future taxonomic descriptions.
Motor output and control input in flapping flight: a compact model of the deforming wing kinematics of manoeuvring hoverflies.
December 2019
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Journal article
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Journal of the Royal Society, Interface
Insects are conventionally modelled as controlling flight by varying a few summary kinematic parameters that are defined on a per-wingbeat basis, such as the stroke amplitude, mean stroke angle and mean wing pitch angle. Nevertheless, as insects have tens of flight muscles and vary their kinematics continuously, the true dimension of their control input space is likely to be much higher. Here, we present a compact description of the deforming wing kinematics of 36 manoeuvring <i>Eristalis</i> hoverflies, applying functional principal components analysis to Fourier series fits of the wingtip position and wing twist measured over 26 541 wingbeats. This analysis offers a high degree of data reduction, in addition to insight into the natural kinematic couplings. We used statistical resampling techniques to verify that the principal components (PCs) were repeatable features of the data, and analysed their coefficient vectors to provide insight into the form of these natural couplings. Conceptually, the dominant PCs provide a natural set of control input variables that span the control input subspace utilized by this species, but they can also be thought of as output states of the flight motor. This functional description of the wing kinematics is appropriate to modelling insect flight as a form of limit cycle control.
Response to “On the evolution of the tymbalian tymbal organ: Comment on “Planthopper bugs use a fast, cyclic elastic recoil mechanism for effective vibrational communication at small body size” by Davranoglou et al. 2019”
September 2019
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Journal article
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Cicadina
On the morphology and possible function of two putative vibroacoustic mechanisms in derbid planthoppers (Hemiptera: Fulgoromorpha: Derbidae).
September 2019
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Journal article
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Arthropod structure & development
A mechanism involving interaction of the metathoracic wing and third abdominal segment of derbid planthoppers was first discovered over a century ago, and interpreted as a stridulatory organ for sound production. Although referred to occasionally in later taxonomic works, the detailed morphology, systematic distribution, and behavioural significance of this structure have remained unknown, and its proposed use in sound production has never been corroborated. Here we examine the distribution and morphology of the supposed stridulatory organ of Derbidae and the recently-described vibratory mechanism of planthoppers - the snapping organ, across 168 species covering the entire taxonomic spectrum of the family. We find that many derbids possess snapping organs morphologically similar to those of other planthoppers, and find no evidence for the presence of tymbal organs, which were previously thought to generate vibrational signals in derbids. We find the supposed stridulatory mechanism to be widespread in Derbidae, and conclude that it provides several systematically and taxonomically important characters. Nevertheless, its morphology appears unsuitable for the production of sound, and we instead speculate that the mechanism plays a role in spreading chemical secretions or wax. Finally, we observe wax production by tergal glands in derbid larvae, and illustrate their external morphology in adults.
Birds invest wingbeats to keep a steady head and reap the ultimate benefits of flying together.
June 2019
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Journal article
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PLoS biology
Flapping flight is the most energetically demanding form of sustained forwards locomotion that vertebrates perform. Flock dynamics therefore have significant implications for energy expenditure. Despite this, no studies have quantified the biomechanical consequences of flying in a cluster flock or pair relative to flying solo. Here, we compared the flight characteristics of homing pigeons (Columba livia) flying solo and in pairs released from a site 7 km from home, using high-precision 5 Hz global positioning system (GPS) and 200 Hz tri-axial accelerometer bio-loggers. As expected, paired individuals benefitted from improved homing route accuracy, which reduced flight distance by 7% and time by 9%. However, realising these navigational gains involved substantial changes in flight kinematics and energetics. Both individuals in a pair increased their wingbeat frequency by 18% by decreasing the duration of their upstroke. This sharp increase in wingbeat frequency caused just a 3% increase in airspeed but reduced the oscillatory displacement of the body by 22%, which we hypothesise relates to an increased requirement for visual stability and manoeuvrability when flying in a flock or pair. The combination of the increase in airspeed and a higher wingbeat frequency would result in a minimum 2.2% increase in the total aerodynamic power requirements if the wingbeats were fully optimised. Overall, the enhanced navigational performance will offset any additional energetic costs as long as the metabolic power requirements are not increased above 9%. Our results demonstrate that the increases in wingbeat frequency when flying together have previously been underestimated by an order of magnitude and force reinterpretation of their mechanistic origin. We show that, for pigeons flying in pairs, two heads are better than one but keeping a steady head necessitates energetically costly kinematics.
Hawks steer attacks using a guidance system tuned for close pursuit of erratically manoeuvring targets.
June 2019
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Journal article
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Nature communications
Aerial predators adopt a variety of different hunting styles, with divergent flight morphologies typically adapted either to high-speed interception or manoeuvring through clutter, but how are their sensorimotor systems tuned in relation to habitat structure and prey behavior? Falcons intercept prey at high-speed using the same proportional navigation guidance law as homing missiles. This classical guidance law works well in the open, but performs sub-optimally against highly-manoeuvrable targets, and may not produce a feasible path through the cluttered environments frequented by hawks and other raptors. Here we identify the guidance law of n = 5 Harris' Hawks Parabuteo unicinctus chasing erratically manoeuvring artificial targets. Harris' Hawks use a mixed guidance law, coupling low-gain proportional navigation with a low-gain proportional pursuit element. This guidance law promotes tail-chasing and is not thrown off by erratic manoeuvres, making it well suited to the hawks' natural hunting style, involving close pursuit of agile prey through clutter.
