Intermittent behavior across scales in biology
Time
Monday, 3. June 2019
11:45 - 12:45
Location
M627
Organizer
Centre for the Advanced Study of Collective Behaviour
Speaker:
Fernando Peruani, Université de Nice Sophia Antipolis
This event is part of an event series „Summer Seminar Series“.
View the recording of Fernando's talk here
Fernando Peruani, Université de Nice Sophia Antipolis, will speak at the Summer Seminar Series on "Intermittent behavior across scales in biology"
Intermittent behavior is observed in biological systems at all scales, from bacterial systems to sheep herds. First, I will discuss how Escherichia coli explores surfaces by alternating stop and moving phases. Specifically, I will show that a stochastic three behavioral state model is consistent with the empirical data. The model reveals that the stop frequency of bacteria is tuned at the optimal value that maximizes the diffusion coefficient. These results provide a new perspective on how evolution may have reshaped the bacterial motility apparatus. Intermittent motion is also observed in Merino sheep, where again a stochastic three behavioral state model provides a quantitative understanding of the empirical data. However, in sheep, individual transition rates depend on the behavioral state of other individuals and collective behaviors emerge. Specifically, I will show that small sheep herds display highly synchronized intermittent collective motion, with the herd behaving as a self-excitable system. Based on the analysis of these two biological systems (bacteria and sheep), we will discuss the need of three behavioral states to describe intermittent motion in biological systems, providing a unified picture of such behavior across scales.