ArticleScientific reports2016
Bumblebees minimize control challenges by combining active and passive modes in unsteady winds.
Article in Scientific reports, 2016. The graph could read no effect estimate from its abstract, so it casts no vote on the map. Cited by 13 papers.
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Who cites it
13 citing papers in PubMed.
- Passive mechanisms in flying insects and applications in bio-inspired flapping-wing micro air vehicles.Proceedings. Biological sciences · 2025Review
- Landscape-Wide Metabarcoding Shows Interactions Among the Gut Microbiome and Pollen Diversity in the Invasive Bumblebee,Ecology and evolution · 2025Article
- Patterns and Drivers of Bumblebee Diversity in Gansu.Insects · 2024Article
- Bumblebees compensate for the adverse effects of sidewind during visually guided landings.The Journal of experimental biology · 2024Article
- An Aerial-Wall Robotic Insect That Can Land, Climb, and Take Off from Vertical Surfaces.Research (Washington, D.C.) · 2023Article
- Bumblebees display characteristics of active vision during robust obstacle avoidance flight.The Journal of experimental biology · 2022Article
- Wind and route choice affect performance of bees flying above versus within a cluttered obstacle field.PloS one · 2022Article
- Flexibility Effects of a Flapping Mechanism Inspired by Insect Musculoskeletal System on Flight Performance.Frontiers in bioengineering and biotechnology · 2021Article
- Bumblebees perceive the spatial layout of their environment in relation to their body size and form to minimize inflight collisions.Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences of the United States of America · 2020Article
- From Paths to Routes: A Method for Path Classification.Frontiers in behavioral neuroscience · 2020Article
- Analysing Head-Thorax Choreography During Free-Flights in Bumblebees.Frontiers in behavioral neuroscience · 2020Article
- Insect and insect-inspired aerodynamics: unsteadiness, structural mechanics and flight control.Current opinion in insect science · 2018Article
- Bees with attitude: the effects of directed gusts on flight trajectories.Biology open · 2018Article
Corrections and comments
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Authors and funding
7 authors.
Funding
No grant is acknowledged in the PubMed record.
Abstract
The natural wind environment that volant insects encounter is unsteady and highly complex, posing significant flight-control and stability challenges. It is critical to understand the strategies insects employ to safely navigate in natural environments. We combined experiments on free flying bumblebees with high-fidelity numerical simulations and lower-order modeling to identify the mechanics that mediate insect flight in unsteady winds. We trained bumblebees to fly upwind towards an artificial flower in a wind tunnel under steady wind and in a von Kármán street formed in the wake of a cylinder. Analysis revealed that at lower frequencies in both steady and unsteady winds the bees mediated lateral movement with body roll - typical casting motion. Numerical simulations of a bumblebee in similar conditions permitted the separation of the passive and active components of the flight trajectories. Consequently, we derived simple mathematical models that describe these two motion components. Comparison between the free-flying live and modeled bees revealed a novel mechanism that enables bees to passively ride out high-frequency perturbations while performing active maneuvers at lower frequencies. The capacity of maintaining stability by combining passive and active modes at different timescales provides a viable means for animals and machines to tackle the challenges posed by complex airflows.
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