Published on: March 11, 2025 / update from: March 11, 2025 - Author: Konrad Wolfenstein
Blackening and swarm research with virtual reality: German scientists analyze grasshoppers - Image: Xpert.digital
VR research reveals new structures in grasshoppers
Breakthrough in grasshoppers: long -term theories refuted
The desert grasshopper has had a terrifying reputation for biblical times. With raves of up to 50 million individuals, this type of insect can cause devastating damage by eating entire areas of bare and thus endangering nutritional safety. Now researchers from the University of Konstanz and the Max Planck Institute for Behavioral Biology have gained groundbreaking knowledge about the organization of these swarms and have refuted many years of theories. With the help of innovative virtual reality technology, the scientists were able to demonstrate that grasshopper swarms are fundamentally different than previously assumed. This study published in the renowned specialist journal “Science” turns previous explanatory models upside down and provides important insights that could contribute to the better prediction and combat of grasshoppers.
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The phenomenon of grasshoppers and their global meaning
Desert grasshoppers (Schistocerca Gregaria) are among the most impressive examples of collective behavior in the wildlife. The flight that is unable to fly, so -called nymphs, initially live as local individuals. Under certain conditions, however, they come together to form enormous raves and begin to hike - not aimlessly, but in a coordinated movement, as if they were controlled centrally. These huge insect collectives can include up to 50 million animals and thus represent one of the largest animal collectives in our planet.
The effects of such grasshoppers are devastating. According to the researchers, they threaten the livelihood of around every tenth person worldwide. A concrete example of this provided the massive grasshopper plague on the Horn of Africa between 2019 and 2020, which devastated agricultural production and triggered a famine. The scientific research of the mechanisms that lead to the formation and movement of such swarms is therefore not only of theoretical interest, but also has considerable practical importance for global nutritional security.
The previous theory: grasshoppers as a “self-driven particle”
For decades, the collective behavior of grasshoppers has been explained with the help of a concept from theoretical physics. In this model, the insects are viewed as “self-propelled participants” (self-driven particles), which align their positions and directions of movement on their immediate neighbors. This theory assumes that it is sufficient if the individuals only “get into a row” with their direct neighbors in order to create a coherent movement across the entire swarm.
Another central element of this previous explanation was the assumption that the density of the animals is a decisive factor for the transition of disordered float movement. According to this hypothesis, the transition to a coordinated movement begins as soon as there are enough animals in a limited space. This theory seemed so convincing that it served for decades as a standard model for explaining collective movements in the wildlife.
Interestingly, previous research led by Iain Couzin, who is also involved in the current study, had already provided other surprising findings on the swarm behavior of grasshoppers. His team discovered that cannibalism could be a driving factor for the hiking movements - the grasshoppers move forward so as not to be eaten from behind. This realization already indicated that more complex behavior could play a role than mere physical reactions.
The innovative research approach: Virtual Reality reveals the secrets of the swarm
In order to better understand the complex interactions in the credits of the grasshopper, the research team around Iain Couzin from the Cluster of Excellence Collective at the University of Constance and the Max Planck Institute for Behavioral Biology on a revolutionary approach: Virtual Reality (VR). "As is known, it is difficult to recognize the mechanisms of interaction in mobile groups of animals," explains Couzin. "The individuals influence each other and are also influenced by the behavior of the others, in a complex interplay."
To solve this problem, the researchers developed a sophisticated VR setup. Individual living grasses were placed on a movable ball, similar to a treadmill so that they could move freely. Around them, the scientists projected up to 64 photo -realistic virtual grasshoppers, so that the real insects believed that they were in a natural swarm. This innovative method enabled researchers to check precisely which information from the living grass was available - how many other animals were in their surroundings and in which direction they were.
In a particularly revealing experiment, the researchers placed real grasshoppers between two virtual, three -dimensional swarms. This test arrangement allowed them to test whether the animals actually react to the behavior of their direct neighbors, as previously assumed, and would move with them as a uniform crush.
Surprising results: a paradigm shift in swarm research
The results of the experiments were surprising and fundamentally questioned the previous theory. Contrary to the expectation of the researchers, the real grasshoppers did not move as part of a large, uniform swarm in the same direction. Instead, they turned in the direction of one of the virtual swarms and ran specifically to them.
This observation showed the scientists that the so -called “optomotor reaction” - an innate reflex that causes grasshoppers to follow the sensory impressions of movement - is not the cause of the coordinated collective movement. In fact, the researchers found no evidence that grasshoppers align their position and direction of movement based on their neighbors.
"Individual animals are not particles," explains Iain Couzin. "We have to see the grasshoppers as cognitive, acting subjects that observe their surroundings and, on this basis, make their decisions where they go next." The researchers now assume that the development of a swarm depends much more on each individual grasshopper than previously assumed.
The experiments also showed that the animals sometimes deviated from the joint course, even if they had two swarms next to them that ran in the same direction. In addition, the team found no evidence that the density of individuals, as previously assumed, was the triggering factor for the swarm movement.
Practical importance for combating grasshoppers
The new findings have far -reaching practical implications. A better understanding of the fundamental mechanisms of swarm formation and movement could help to predict the behavior of the insects and to develop more effective strategies to combat grass ranges.
In view of the fact that grasshoppers threaten the livelihood of all tenth people, the importance of this research should not be underestimated. The devastating effects of the grasshopper plague on the horn of Africa between 2019 and 2020, which led to harvest failures and famines, illustrate the urgent need for better prediction and control mechanisms.
Through the realization that grasshoppers do not simply act as a physical particle, but as individual cognitive actors with their own decision -making processes, new approaches to control the ravages open up. Instead of relying exclusively on large -scale control measures, future strategies could be geared towards understanding and influencing individual decision -making processes.
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Future research directions and the “Center for Visual Computing of Collective”
The groundbreaking findings only represent the beginning of a new understanding of collective behavior. In order to further advance this research area, Iain Couzin in Constance initiated the “Center for Visual Computing of Collective”. This center, which will be among the most modern facilities for researching group behavior, is intended to observe animal swarms in virtual holographic 3D environments and analyze their movements.
At the same time, the team around Couzin also researches spatial decision -making for various animal species. A study recently published in PNAS shows how animals process the complexity of their environment by reducing the world to successive decisions between just two options. These findings indicate that basic geometric principles could explain how and why animals move as they do - an approach that may also be applied to the understanding of grasshoppers.
A new era in researching collective behavior
The research of the scientists at the University of Konstanz and the Max Planck Institute for Behavioral Biology marks a turning point in understanding collective behavior in the wildlife. By questioning the long-established theory of “self-driven particles”, they open up a new perspective, the grasshoppers and other animals as individual decision-makers, whose collective behavior results from complex cognitive processes.
The use of innovative virtual reality technology has proven to be the key to success. It enabled the researchers to decipher the previously impenetrable complexity of animal collectives and to gain fundamental insights into the organization of swarms. These findings could not only revolutionize our theoretical understanding of collective behavior, but also offer practical solutions for combating grasshoppers that threaten nutritional security worldwide.
The work of the team around Iain Couzin, which has already been awarded the prestigious Gottfried Wilhelm Leibniz Prize for his research in the field of collective behavior, underlines the importance of interdisciplinary research at the interface of biology, computer science and physics. It impressively shows how modern technologies can help us to decipher the fascinating secrets of nature and at the same time develop practical solutions for pressing global problems.
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