Biological Motion

" . . . behavior is not, what an organism does itself, but to what we point. Therefore, whether a type of behavior of an organism is adequate as a certain configuration of movements, will depend on the environment in which we de­ scribe it. " (Humberto Maturana, Francisco Varela: El arbol del conocimiento, 1984) "A thorough analysis of behavior must result in a scheme, that shows all regularities that are to be found between the sensorical input and the motorical output of an animal. This scheme is an abstract representation of the brain. " (Valentin Braitenberg: Gehirngespinste, 1973) During the 70ies, when Biomathematics (beyond Biomedical Statistics and Com­ puting) became more popular at universities and research institutes, the problems dealt with came mainly from the general fields of 'Population Biology' and 'Complex Systems Analysis' such as epidemics, ecosystems analysis, morphogenesis, genetics, immunology and neurology (see the first series of Springer Lecture Notes in Biomathematics). Since then, the picture has not considerably changed, and it seems that "a thorough analysis of behavior" of single organisms and, moreover, of their mutual interactions, is far from being understood. On the contrary, mathematical modellers and analysts have been well­ advised to restrict their investigations to specific aspects of 'biological behavior', one of which is 'biological motion'. Until now, only a few Conference Proceedings or Lecture Notes have paid attention to this important aspect, some of the earlier examples being Vol. 24: 'The measurement of biological shape and shape changes' (1978) or Vol.

Motion of Cell or Body Parts.- Quantifying Cellular Shape Using Moment Invariants.- Analysis of Leucocyte Shape Changes.- Images of Cells Changing Shape: Pseudopods, Skeletons and Motile Behaviour.- Continuity of Movement and Preservation of Architecture during Cell Locomotion.- Periodic Contraction Waves in Cytoplasmic Extracts.- Motion Analysis of Intracellular Objects: Trajectories with and without Visible Tracks.- Centrin-Mediated Cell Motility in Eukariotic Cells.- Descriptive and Mechanistic Models of Flagellar Motility.- Discrete Nature of Flagellar Bending Detected by Digital Image Analysis.- An Approach to Quantitative Analysis and Modelling of Three-Dimensional Ciliary Motion.- Bioelectric Control of the Ciliary Cycle.- Ca-Mg Control of Ciliary Motion: A Quantitative Model Study.- Modelling the Control of Walking in Insects.- Coordination of Contralateral Legs in Walking Crayfish.- Flight Manoeuvres of Locusts.- How a Fish's Brain May Move a Fish's Body.- Locomotion of Single Organisms.- Correlation Analysis of Two-Dimensional Locomotion Paths.- Paths of Carabid Beetles Walking in the Absence of Orienting Stimuli and the Time Structure of their Motor Output.- Microzooplankton Feeding Behavior and the Levy Walk.- Adaptation and Orientation in Animals' Movements: Random Walk, Kinesis, Taxis and Path-Integration.- The Site Independent Information that an Isopod Uses for Homing.- A Simulation Model of Foraging Excursions in Intertidal Chitons.- How to Describe the Search of a Predator for Patchily Distributed Prey?.- Tracking of Flagellates by Image Analysis.- Helical Orientation - A Novel Mechanism for the Orientation of Microorganisms.- Motile Behaviour and Determination of the Magnetic Moment of Magnetic Bacteria in Rotating Magnetic Fields.-Chemokinesis, Chemotaxis and Galvanotaxis Dose-Response Curves and Signal Chains.- Models of Chemical Gradient Sensing by Cells.- Endothelial Cell Chemotaxis in Angiogenesis.- A Model for Trail Following in Ants: Individual and Collective Behaviour.- Definition and Measurement of Cell Migration Coefficients.- Signals for Chemotaxis and Chemokinesis in Cells of Dictyostelium Discoideum.- Distinction Between Kinesis and Taxis in Terms of System Theory.- Collective Motion.- Functional Self-Organisation Illustrated by Inter-Nest Traffic in Ants: The Case of the Argentine Ant.- Simulations of the Gliding Behavior and Aggregation of Myxobacteria.- A One Dimensional Model for the Swarming Behavior of Myxobacteria.- From Cell to Tissue; Contact Mediated Orientation Selection in a Population.- The Movement of Fish Schools: A Simulation Model.