Document Type

Proposal

Publication Date

Fall 2023

Department

Biological & Environmental Sciences

Faculty Advisor

Dr. Brandon Jackson

Abstract

Autotomy is the voluntary release of an appendage, typically to avoid predation or entrapment. Autonomy of a single leg can have minimal effects on locomotion in arthropods with more than six legs. Hexapods, however, use a double-tripod gait which is completely disrupted with the loss of a single leg, thus locomotor performance should be greatly reduced leading to lower survival. Autotomy is so costly to locomotion that some insects regenerate a lost limb in a subsequent molt leading to reduced investment in other important functions (e.g. reproduction). Autotomy persists in adult hexapods with no opportunity for regeneration, which suggests some ability to mitigate the severe effects of autotomy on locomotor performance. We hypothesize that insects have neural plasticity that helps them improve stability and mobility after the loss of a leg. In order to test this hypothesis, we chose to record and measure the effects of autotomy in adult brown marmorated stink bugs (Halyomorpha halys). We used to high-speed cameras (Edgertronic, 100 fps) to record the stink bugs walking pre-autotomy, and at three times post-autotomy: immediately, one hour, and one week. We tracked eight points on the body and four points per leg with Deeplabcut and reconstructed 3D motion with Anipose. Following autotomy, we observed walking speed initially decreases, and variation increases for most metrics of gait.

Download

Share

COinS