UNDERSTANDING LOCUSTS
In a joint effort of the centre for the advanced study of collective behaviour we combine expertise to advance the understanding of locust swarms. Why and how do locust swarm? Where are they headed and how? To addressed these questions field observations, lab experiments and virtual reality tools are combined with neurophysiological recordings and pharmacological manipulations.
LAB EXPERIMENTS
FIELD STUDY
Will they still know where to head after Inga's field manipulations?
Answers soon...
CALCIUM IMAGING
Co-labeling olfactory receptor neurons and projection neurons in the locusts antennal lobe
From smelling to movement: SENSORY coding and movement decisions
We are interested in the neural representation and translation of odours to behavioural decisions. Using calcium imaging, intra- and extra- cellular recordings we are studying the neural representations of ecologically relevant olfactory signals in the primary olfactory centre - the antennal lobe as well as their translation into pre-motor commands.
Couzin-Fuchs E. and Ayali A. The social brain of non-social insects (in-press) Curr. Opin. Insect Sci.
Günzel Y., McCollum J., Paoli M., Galizia C.G., Petelski I., and Couzin-Fuchs E. (2021). Social modulation of individual preferences in cockroaches. iScience, 101964.
Paoli M., Nishino H., Couzin-Fuchs E and Galizia G. (2020) Coding of odour and space in the hemimetabolous insect Periplaneta americana, J. Exp. Biol. 223 (3): jeb218032.
From movement to smelling: Active sensing
Compared to touch or vision, olfaction has long been seen as a passive sense. However, throughout the animal kingdom self-generated movement (e.g., sniffing, antenna movement, flight maneuvers) are used to bring new odorants to the olfactory organs. Using computer vision and electrophysiology we study the mechanisms by which insects sample their olfactory environment and make movement decisions.
Pequeno-Zurro A et al., 2018: Modeling active antennal movements of the American cockroach: towards biorobotic models of active sensing.
