Multisensory integration in insect flight

Abstract:
Locomotory behaviors in animals rely critically on feedback from multiple sensory modalities. Each sensory channel relays a specific aspect of their sensory environment, and the brain must then integrate these cues to generate coherent motor responses to environmental perturbations. In flying insects, this task is especially challenging for two reasons. First, the sensory cues during flight are especially complex because flight occurs in three dimensions. Second, the acquisition, encoding, processing of sensory cues and mounting a response to them must occur in extremely short timescales in insects which flap their wings at very rapid rates. Hawkmoths are a particularly compelling system in which to study this phenomenon because they fly under very low light levels that makes vision both slow and harder to process. Moreover, unlike Dipteran insects which can balance using mechanosensory halteres, hawkmoth and other four winged insects do not possess halteres. Our previous research has showed that antennal feedback is essential for balance during flight. How does the brain of a hawkmoth integrate cues from both vision and antennal mechanosensors? How is this information then used for flight control? To answer these questions, my lab has conducted several neurophysiological and behavioral studies in recent years. I will discuss the results of these studies in my seminar.

Short Bio:
Sanjay Sane is a Professor at the National Centre for Biological Sciences, Tata Institute of Fundamental Research in Bangalore, India. He has a bachelor’s degree in Physics, Chemistry and Mathematics from St. Stephen’s College in University of Delhi, and a Master’s degree in Physics from the University of Poona in Pune, India. His doctoral work at University of California, Berkeley in the laboratory of Michael Dickinson focused on the aerodynamics of insect flight, and his post-doctoral work with Tom Daniel at University of Washington investigated the role of antennal mechanosensors in the control and stability of insect flight. In addition to these topics, his laboratory at NCBS focuses on a diverse range of questions arising from the physics to physiology of sensory and motor processes that guide insect wing movements during flight. More recently, they have also begun investigating insect architecture and collective behaviour in termites.

Contact

  Natalie Boyle
  Natalie.Boyle@psu.edu
  +1 814-863-3974