Details of Grant 

EPSRC Reference:	GR/S04765/01
Title:	UNDERSTANDING GROUP FORMATION AND THE COLLECTIVE MOVEMENT OF LOCUSTS
Principal Investigator:	Simpson, Professor SJ
Other Investigators:	Maini, Professor PK
Researcher Co-Investigators:	Professor ID Couzin
Project Partners:
Department:	Zoology
Organisation:	University of Oxford
Scheme:	Standard Research (Pre-FEC)
Starts:	01 March 2003	Ends:	28 February 2006	Value (£):	256,364
EPSRC Research Topic Classifications:	Non-linear Systems Mathematics Population Ecology
EPSRC Industrial Sector Classifications:	No relevance to Underpinning Sectors
Related Grants:
Panel History:	Panel Date Panel Name Outcome 02 Aug 2002 Mathematics Prioritisation Panel (Science) Aug 02 Deferred
Summary on Grant Application Form
The desert locust, Schistocerca gregaria, is notorious for forming large swamis, and plagues can cover over 20% of the Earth's land surface. Despite the Importance of understanding the group dynamics of this species, little is known about the underlying mechanisms of interaction among individual locusts that lead to large-scale patterns. Here we will employ the latest advances in computer vision and mathematical modelling to investigate the pattern-forming processes in this biological system. We will develop an automated computer tracking system to record and quantify locusts' responses to conspecifics and external stimuli. The results from these experiments will be used to parameterise new mathematical models of locust movement. We will develop both individual-based models using techniques from non-equilibrium statistical physics, and a continuum aproach using partial differential equations. The relationship between these modelling approaches will be investigated and formalised. The models will be used to make predictions that we will test both in the laboratory and in the field. This will allow us to address fundamental questions in biology about pattern formation over a large range of spatial scales.
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Organisation Website:	http://www.ox.ac.uk