Embracing firefly flash pattern variability with data-driven species classification.

Many nocturnally active fireflies use precisely timed bioluminescent patterns to identify mates, making them especially vulnerable to light pollution. As urbanization continues to brighten the night sky, firefly populations are under constant stress, and close to half of the species are now threatened. Ensuring the survival of firefly biodiversity depends on a large-scale conservation effort to monitor and protect thousands of populations. While species can be identified by their flash patterns, current methods require expert measurement and manual classification and are infeasible given the number and geographic distribution of fireflies. Here we present the application of a recurrent neural network (RNN) for accurate automated firefly flash pattern classification. Using recordings from commodity cameras, we can extract flash trajectories of individuals within a swarm and classify their species with an accuracy of approximately seventy percent. In addition to its potential in population monitoring, automated classification provides the means to study firefly behavior at the population level. We employ the classifier to measure and characterize the variability within and between swarms, unlocking a new dimension of their behavior. Our method is open source, and deployment in community science applications could revolutionize our ability to monitor and understand firefly populations.

Flow-mediated olfactory communication in honeybee swarms.

Honeybee swarms are a landmark example of collective behavior. To become a coherent swarm, bees locate their queen by tracking her pheromones. But how can distant individuals exploit these chemical signals, which decay rapidly in space and time? Here, we combine a behavioral assay with the machine vision detection of organism location and scenting (pheromone propagation via wing fanning) behavior to track the search and aggregation dynamics of the honeybee Apis mellifera L. We find that bees collectively create a scenting-mediated communication network by arranging in a specific spatial distribution where there is a characteristic distance between individuals and directional signaling away from the queen. To better understand such a flow-mediated directional communication strategy, we developed an agent-based model where bee agents obeying simple, local behavioral rules exist in a flow environment in which the chemical signals diffuse and decay. Our model serves as a guide to exploring how physical parameters affect the collective scenting behavior and shows that increased directional bias in scenting leads to a more efficient aggregation process that avoids local equilibrium configurations of isotropic (nondirectional and axisymmetric) communication, such as small bee clusters that persist throughout the simulation. Our results highlight an example of extended classical stigmergy: Rather than depositing static information in the environment, individual bees locally sense and globally manipulate the physical fields of chemical concentration and airflow.

Grasshopper DCMD: An Undergraduate Electrophysiology Lab for Investigating Single-Unit Responses to Behaviorally-Relevant Stimuli.

Avoiding capture from a fast-approaching predator is an important survival skill shared by many animals. Investigating the neural circuits that give rise to this escape behavior can provide a tractable demonstration of systems-level neuroscience research for undergraduate laboratories. In this paper, we describe three related hands-on exercises using the grasshopper and affordable technology to bring neurophysiology, neuroethology, and neural computation to life and enhance student understanding and interest. We simplified a looming stimuli procedure using the Backyard Brains SpikerBox bioamplifier, an open-source and low-cost electrophysiology rig, to extracellularly record activity of the descending contralateral movement detector (DCMD) neuron from the grasshopper's neck. The DCMD activity underlies the grasshopper's motor responses to looming monocular visual cues and can easily be recorded and analyzed on an open-source iOS oscilloscope app, Spike Recorder. Visual stimuli are presented to the grasshopper by this same mobile application allowing for synchronized recording of stimuli and neural activity. An in-app spike-sorting algorithm is described that allows a quick way for students to record, sort, and analyze their data at the bench. We also describe a way for students to export these data to other analysis tools. With the protocol described, students will be able to prepare the grasshopper, find and record from the DCMD neuron, and visualize the DCMD responses to quantitatively investigate the escape system by adjusting the speed and size of simulated approaching objects. We describe the results from 22 grasshoppers, where 50 of the 57 recording sessions (87.7%) had a reliable DCMD response. Finally, we field-tested our experiment in an undergraduate neuroscience laboratory and found that a majority of students (67%) could perform this exercise in one two-hour lab setting, and had an increase in interest for studying the neural systems that drive behavior.