What goes up must come down - biomechanical impact analysis of falling locusts [RESEARCH ARTICLE]

In this study we used high-speed recordings to investigate the falling and in particular impact behavior of Schistocerca gregaria locusts, a common model organism for studies on the biomechanics of jumping. Detailed impact analyses of free-falling locusts show that most insects typically crashed onto the substrate. Although free falling locusts tended to spread their legs, they mostly fell onto head and thorax first. The presence of wings did not significantly reduce impact speed, however affected the orientation of the body at impact and significantly reduced the time to recover. Our results also show that alive warm locusts fell significantly faster than inactive or dead locusts. This indicates a possible tradeoff between active control vs. reduced speed. Interestingly, alive insects also tended to perform a characteristic bending movement of the body at impact. This biomechanical adaptation might reduce the rebound and shorten the time to recover. The adhesive pads also play an important role to reduce the time to recover by allowing the insects to anchor itself to the substrate.

Source: Journal of Experimental Biology - June 30, 2019 Category: Biology Authors: Reichel, S. V., Labisch, S., Dirks, J.-H. Tags: RESEARCH ARTICLE Source Type: research