SUNY Potsdam Professor of Biology Awarded $290,000 NSF Grant to Study Whirligigs

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A selection of whirligig beetles are labeled with colors and filmed to identify swarm behaviors.

POTSDAM, NY (12/06/2011)(readMedia)-- "Mechanisms of Emergent Swarm Behavior" will be the focus of a three-year study conducted by SUNY Potsdam biology professor, Dr. William L. Romey, who was recently awarded $290,000 from the National Science Foundation to explore what bird flocks, fish schools and insect swarms have in common.

According to Romey the way birds, fish and insects move together to avoid predators and escape from enclosed areas is very similar. There may be fundamental rules that they all use to move with respect to each other.

"By studying the simplest kinds of grouping animals (like insects) and developing rules that can be incorporated into generalized simulation models we can make predictions for how other gregarious species move. Not only might this help understand how starlings roost in trees in cities, and how fish schools move past dams, but it may also lead to advances in understanding and improving the way humans escape from buildings during panic situations such as a fire," Romey explains.

The research will look at how individual movement decision rules lead to emergent behaviors of groups by comparing experiments with swarms of aquatic beetles (Gyrinidae) to computer simulations of grouping animals. Some of the tools that will be used and developed during the project will be automated computer tracking software as well as robots.

A large part of the funding will support SUNY Potsdam undergraduate summer research projects related to the study. Romey will be recruiting SUNY Potsdam students to assist in the research and students will have the opportunity to perform experiments with aquatic beetles and computer simulation models.

"This is a unique opportunity because it allows students to develop skills in both animal behavior and computer simulations of individually based models (such as swarms and groups) in which each individual has a separate set of rules and moves within a geographic area."

The grant provides summer research stipends, housing and travel costs to conferences. The funding will also be used to bring cutting-edge research equipment to SUNY Potsdam to be used in many upper-level biology courses.

The research will also include collaboration with faculty and graduate students at Princeton University, the University of Pennsylvania, as well as Clarkson University.

More information can be found on at http://www2.potsdam.edu/romeywl/

Founded in 1816, and located on the outskirts of the beautiful Adirondack Park, The State University of New York at Potsdam is one of America's first 50 colleges. SUNY Potsdam currently enrolls approximately 4,350 undergraduate and graduate students. Home to the world-renowned Crane School of Music, SUNY Potsdam is known for its handcrafted education, challenging liberal arts and sciences core, excellence in teacher training and leadership in the performing and visual arts.

-www.potsdam.edu-