Summary
1. A re-examination of fast stepping in free-walking cockroaches showed that there was considerable variation in the alternating tripod gait.
2. Small load increments applied to the whole animal significantly reduced this variability and concentrated the range and speed of movements used.
3. Animals suspended above oiled glass surfaces moved their legs in normal gait patterns indicating that mechanical coupling via the substrate was not a critical factor for normal high-speed coordination.
4. Increasing the viscosity of the oil produced the same reduction in variability found with load increment so the change cannot be due to increased mechanical coupling.
5. Increasing the viscosity of the oil under one leg alone resulted in concentration over the whole pattern so the result was not considered to be due to viscosity changes.
6. The changes seen in artificial loading situations were mimicked in natural loading situations such as walking up a slight incline.
7. The functional significance of the phenomenon for the stability of the rapidly moving animal is considered and the role of load afference in biasing central pattern generators to produce a continuous range of functional output is discussed.
- © 1986 by Company of Biologists
Article navigation
Related articles
Cited by...
More in this TOC section
Similar articles
Other journals from The Company of Biologists
Welcome to JEB’s new Editor Monica Daley
We are pleased to welcome Monica Daley to JEB’s Editorial team. Monica has had a long association with JEB before taking up her new role, overseeing peer review of neuromuscular physiology, terrestrial biomechanics and integrative physiology of locomotion.
In the field with Robyn Hetem
Continuing our fieldwork series, Robyn Hetem reflects on working with species ranging from aardvark to zebra, and the impact COVID-19 has had on fieldwork.
Read & Publish participation continues to grow
“It is particularly encouraging for early career researchers, as it allows them to display their research globally without the need to find costs to cover the open access option.”
Professor Fernando Montealegre-Z (University of Lincoln) shares his experience of publishing Open Access as part of our growing Read & Publish initiative. We now have over 150 institutions in 15 countries and four library consortia taking part – find out more and view our full list of participating institutions.
Nocturnal reef residents have deep-sea-like eyes
Fanny de Busserolles and colleagues from The University of Queensland have discovered that the eyes of nocturnal reef fish have multibank retinas, layers of photoreceptors, similar to the eyes of deep-sea fish that live in dim light conditions.
Mechanisms underlying gut microbiota–host interactions in insects
In their Review, Konstantin Schmidt and Philipp Engel summarise recent findings about the mechanisms involved in gut colonisation and the provisioning of beneficial effects in gut microbiota–insect symbiosis.