Journal
BIOLOGY OPEN
Volume 7, Issue 1, Pages -Publisher
COMPANY BIOLOGISTS LTD
DOI: 10.1242/bio.030106
Keywords
Animal movement patterns; Levy walks; Optimal foraging
Categories
Funding
- Biotechnology and Biological Sciences Research Council
- Grants-in-Aid for Scientific Research [25114003] Funding Source: KAKEN
Ask authors/readers for more resources
Levy walks are a mathematical construction useful for describing random patterns of movement with bizarre fractal properties that seem to have no place in biology. Nonetheless, movement patterns resembling Levy walks have been observed at scales ranging from the microscopic to the ecological. They have been seen in the molecular machinery operating within cells during intracellular trafficking, in the movement patterns of T cells within the brain, in DNA, in some molluscs, insects, fish, birds and mammals, in the airborne flights of spores and seeds, and in the collective movements of some animal groups. Levy walks are also evident in trace fossils (ichnofossils) - the preserved form of tracks made by organisms that occupied ancient sea beds about 252-66 million years ago. And they are utilised by algae that originated around two billion years ago, and still exist today. In September of 2017, leading researchers from across the life sciences, along with mathematicians and physicists, got together at a Company of Biologists' Workshop to discuss the origins and biological significance of these movement patterns. In this Review the essence of the technical and sometimes heated discussions is distilled and made accessible for all. In just a few pages, the reader is taken from a gentle introduction to the frontiers of a very active field of scientific enquiry. What emerges is a fascinating story of a truly inter-disciplinary scientific endeavour that is seeking to better understand movement patterns occurring across all biological scales.
Authors
I am an author on this paper
Click your name to claim this paper and add it to your profile.
Reviews
Recommended
No Data Available