Physics Commons^™

Vibration Response: Mapping The Behavioral Response Of Fruit Fly Larvae To Mechanical Stimuli, Alexander Berne

2018 Entries

Drosophila larvae are capable of a wide array of simple, quantifiable behavioral responses to stimuli, which makes the organism a useful tool for deconstructing biotic behavior for wider application. To this end, an understanding of the response to mechanical stimulation remains relatively unexplored in this organism, and warrants investigation. This research aims to map the fruit fly’s behavior as a function of a generalized mechanical stimulus, namely, vibration.

Fruit fly larvae are placed in a light and temperature controlled environment, and observed crawling on vibrating agar plates with CCD cameras controlled through LabVIEW. Larvae are monitored for their instantaneous speed, …

Modulation Of The Navigational Strategy Of Insects In Controlled Temperature Environments, Joseph Shomar, Anggie Ferrer, Josh Forer, Tom Zhang, Mason Klein

2018 Entries

With its small size and limited motor tool set, the Drosophila larva is a good system to study how animals alter specific elements of their behavior to search and reach optimal environmental conditions. We aim to understand the larva’s response to temperature across development, in sensory gradients, and to distinguish behavioral modulations based on physical changes from those due to sensory input. PID-controlled instruments drive temporal or spatial temperature gradients; combined with a moat system to replenish gels at high temperature, we can explore the larva’s full behavioral profile. Many larvae are simultaneously observed during free navigation in three different …