Context-dependent changes in strength and efficacy of leg coordination mechanisms

@article{Drr2005ContextdependentCI,
  title={Context-dependent changes in strength and efficacy of leg coordination mechanisms},
  author={Volker D{\"u}rr},
  journal={Journal of Experimental Biology},
  year={2005},
  volume={208},
  pages={2253 - 2267}
}
  • V. Dürr
  • Published 15 June 2005
  • Biology
  • Journal of Experimental Biology
SUMMARY Appropriate coordination of stepping in adjacent legs is crucial for stable walking. Several leg coordination rules have been derived from behavioural experiments on walking insects, some of which also apply to arthropods with more than six legs and to four-legged walking vertebrates. Three of these rules affect the timing of stance–swing transition [rules 1 to 3 (sensu Cruse)]. They can give rise to normal leg coordination and adaptive responses to disturbances, as shown by kinematic… 
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Perturbation of leg protraction causes context-dependent modulation of inter-leg coordination, but not of avoidance reflexes
TLDR
The immediate compensatory response of the perturbed leg is not adapted to the behavioural context in spite of strongly differing step kinematics, whereas the compensatory effect on inter-limb coupling is context-dependent.
A load-based mechanism for inter-leg coordination in insects
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This work shows that load sensors at the proximal leg joints are well suited to encode the unloading of the leg in individual steps, and proposes that mechanically mediated load-based coordination is used across insects analogously to mammals.
Effect of Thoracic Connective Lesion on Inter-Leg Coordination in Freely Walking Stick Insects
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It is concluded that insects with disrupted neural information transfer through one connective adjust to this disruption differently if they experience naturalistic load distribution, while mechanical load transfer cannot compensate for lesion-induced effects on temporal inter-leg coordination.
The behavioural transition from straight to curve walking: kinetics of leg movement parameters and the initiation of turning
TLDR
Turning is a behavioural transition that involves a characteristic orchestration of events rather than synchronous parallel actions with a single time constant and was triggered reliably at a known instant in time by means of the optomotor response to large-field visual motion.
Theoretical and experimental investigations of intra- and inter-segmental control networks and their application to locomotion of insects and crustaceans
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The 3-CPG-MN network model, which has been developed based on stick insect data, was extended to serve as a basic module for eight-legged locomotion in walking crustaceans and leads to hypotheses about the neuronal control of the musculo-skeletal system that can reveal details of stop and starting in the walking animals.
Straight walking and turning on a slippery surface
TLDR
A slippery surface setup is used to understand the role the local neuronal processing in the thoracic ganglia plays in the ability of the animal to show turning movements and suggests that the single stepping legs perform given motor programs on the slippery surface in a fashion that is highly independent not only of mechanical coupling between but also of the presence of the other legs.
Motor flexibility in insects: adaptive coordination of limbs in locomotion and near-range exploration
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It is argued that the variability of unrestrained motor behaviour should be considered a sign of behavioural flexibility, and it is proposed that this interplay, through continuous integration of distributed, multimodal sensory feedback, is key to locomotor flexibility.
Joint torques in a freely walking insect reveal distinct functions of leg joints in propulsion and posture control
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It is demonstrated that despite strong differences in morphology and posture, stick insects show a functional division of joints similar to other insect model systems, and parallel propulsive mechanisms described in other walking, jumping and flying insects, and challenge current control models of insect walking.
Quadrupedal gaits in hexapod animals – inter-leg coordination in free-walking adult stick insects
TLDR
The coordination of middle leg amputees was maladapted, with front legs and hindlegs performing multiple steps or ipsilateral legs being in simultaneous swing, so afferent information from middle legs might be necessary for a regular hindleg stepping pattern.
How to find home backwards? Locomotion and inter-leg coordination during rearward walking of Cataglyphis fortis desert ants
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Examination of backward walking Cataglyphis fortis ants reveals remarkable flexibility of inter-leg coordination.
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