My lab is interested in how flying insects perform complex behaviors in unpredictable environments. Our overall goal is to integrate the study of insect physiology and biomechanics into the context of the complex behaviors that flying insects perform to survive and reproduce in the wild.
Research in the lab encompasses a wide range of questions about the biomechanics and behavioral ecology of flying insects, which can be grouped into three main areas: (1) biomechanics of flexible wings and implications of wing damage, (2) flight performance in complex aerial and physical environments, and (3) complex behaviors of flying insects.
Many of our newest discoveries have been facilitated by use of emerging “big data” techniques for studying biomechanics and behavior, including automated video capture, blob detection and data association algorithms for quantifying multiple, simultaneous flight trajectories, automated detection and identification of individuals via BEEtags (custom QR-code tags), and deep learning/neural network approaches to automating digitization of high-speed videos.
