Skip to main content

Discovery of Parameters for Animation of Midge Swarms

  • Conference paper
  • First Online:
Discovery Science (DS 2015)

Part of the book series: Lecture Notes in Computer Science ((LNAI,volume 9356))

Included in the following conference series:

  • 945 Accesses

Abstract

We describe a method of discovering suitable parameters for simulating and animating the swarming behaviour of non-biting midges (Diptera: Chironomidae). A characteristic of animal aggregations that can be emulated by software is the emergence of complex behaviours from simple rules. Here the well-characterized swarming behaviour of non-biting midges is used to create a rule-based behaviour model for them. To test the effectiveness of this model in creating the emergent qualities of real swarms, success criteria are derived from quantitative swarm data. We propose using a genetic algorithm to automate the identification of parameter settings that optimize the effectiveness of the model.

This is a preview of subscription content, log in via an institution to check access.

Access this chapter

Chapter
USD 29.95
Price excludes VAT (USA)
  • Available as PDF
  • Read on any device
  • Instant download
  • Own it forever
eBook
USD 39.99
Price excludes VAT (USA)
  • Available as EPUB and PDF
  • Read on any device
  • Instant download
  • Own it forever
Softcover Book
USD 54.99
Price excludes VAT (USA)
  • Compact, lightweight edition
  • Dispatched in 3 to 5 business days
  • Free shipping worldwide - see info

Tax calculation will be finalised at checkout

Purchases are for personal use only

Institutional subscriptions

References

  1. Ballerini, M., et al.: Empirical investigation of starling flocks: a benchmark study in collective animal behaviour. Anim. Behav. 76, 201–215 (2008)

    Article  Google Scholar 

  2. Couzin, I.D., Krause, J., James, R., Ruxton, G.D., Franks, N.R.: Collective memory and spatial sorting in animal groups. J. Theor. Biol. 218(1), 1–11 (2002)

    Article  MathSciNet  Google Scholar 

  3. Encarnação, J., Dietz, M.: Estimation of food intake and ingested energy in Daubenton’s bats during pregnancy and spermatogenesis. Eur. J. Wildl. Res. 52, 221–227 (2006)

    Article  Google Scholar 

  4. Gibson, N.H.E.: On the mating swarms of certain Chironomidae (Diptera). Trans. Roy. Entomol. Soc. London. 95(6), 263–294 (1945)

    Article  Google Scholar 

  5. Hala, S., Hamilton, H.J., Domenici, P., Bjorndahl, J.: Simulating the bubble net hunting behaviour of humpback whales to aid in evaluating biological theories. Unpublished manuscript (2014)

    Google Scholar 

  6. Kelley, D.H., Ouellette, N.T.: Emergent dynamics of laboratory insect swarms. Sci. Rep. 3, 1073 (2013)

    Article  Google Scholar 

  7. Lindeberg, B.: The swarm of males as a unit for taxonomic recognition in the Chironomids (Diptera). Ann. Zool. Fenn. 1(1), 72–76 (1964)

    MathSciNet  Google Scholar 

  8. Neems, R.M., Lazarus, J., Mclachlan, A.J.: Swarming behaviour in male chironomid midges: a cost-benefit analysis. Behav. Ecol. 3, 285–290 (1992)

    Article  Google Scholar 

  9. Puckett, J.G., Kelley, D.H., Ouellette, N.T.: Searching for effective forces in laboratory insect swarms. Sci. Rep. 4, 4766 (2014)

    Article  Google Scholar 

  10. Puckett, J.G., Ouellette, N.T.: Determining asymptotically large population sizes in insect swarms. J. R. Soc. Interface 11, 99 (2014)

    Article  Google Scholar 

  11. Reynolds, C.: Flocks, herds and schools: a distributed behavioral model. Comput. Graph. 21, 25–34 (1987)

    Article  Google Scholar 

  12. Reynolds, C.W.: Steering behaviors for autonomous characters. In: Proceeding Game Developers Conference 1999, San Jose, California, pp. 763–782 (1999)

    Google Scholar 

  13. Wang, X., Jin, W., Deng, Z., Zhou, L.: Inherent noise-aware insect swarm simulation. Comput. Graph. Forum. 33(6), 51–62 (2014)

    Article  Google Scholar 

Download references

Author information

Authors and Affiliations

Authors

Corresponding author

Correspondence to Howard J. Hamilton .

Editor information

Editors and Affiliations

Rights and permissions

Reprints and permissions

Copyright information

© 2015 Springer International Publishing Switzerland

About this paper

Cite this paper

Bjorndahl, J., Herman, A., Hamilton, R., Hamilton, H.J., Brigham, M. (2015). Discovery of Parameters for Animation of Midge Swarms. In: Japkowicz, N., Matwin, S. (eds) Discovery Science. DS 2015. Lecture Notes in Computer Science(), vol 9356. Springer, Cham. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-319-24282-8_3

Download citation

  • DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-319-24282-8_3

  • Published:

  • Publisher Name: Springer, Cham

  • Print ISBN: 978-3-319-24281-1

  • Online ISBN: 978-3-319-24282-8

  • eBook Packages: Computer ScienceComputer Science (R0)

Publish with us

Policies and ethics