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Insects Forego Flocks In Favor of Swarms
昆蟲不排隊，更喜歡亂成一團
[Mosquito buzzing sound]
Aha — got ‘im! Yes, the mosquitos are swarming this time of year. Alaskans joke that the bloodsucker is their state bird. But have you ever looked closely at a swarm of mating mosquitos, gnats, or midges? It’s a curious thing. The swarm maintains a kind of shape as it moves around. But the bugs inside it seem to flit about randomly rather than flocking like birds.
啊，抓住它了！沒錯，這個季節蚊子橫行。阿拉斯加人開玩笑說蚊子是他們的州鳥。但是你有沒有近距離觀察過一群交配的蚊子，或者其他種類的蚊子呢？這很讓人好奇。蚊群移動的時候會保持一個形狀。但是蚊群里面的文字隨機飛行而不是像鳥一樣保持隊形。
This collective, yet disordered, flight intrigued physicists in Rome. They shot ultraslow-motion video of swarming midges. Then they mapped the flight of each midge, and did a mathematical analysis of the collective behavior.
蚊子的這種集體無序飛行引起了羅馬物理學家的興趣。他們給蚊群拍攝了超慢速運動錄像。然后他們繪制了每一個蚊子的飛行路線。接著對蚊子的集體行為作了數學分析。
Their finding: the motion of the midges is not random. The bugs stay far enough apart to avoid locking into a formation. The swarm instead expands as needed to stay just below the threshold density. The work appears on the site arXiv.org.
他們發現蚊子的移動不是隨機的。蚊子保持一定距離防止保持一個隊形不變。相反地，蚊群按需擴張低于最大密度。這份報告發表在arXiv.org網站上。
Flocks and schools move in formation only once the group reaches a critical density. Below that threshold, the individuals move—well, like midges. Insect avoidance of full-fledged flocking may be a reproductive strategy: after all, it’s hard to mingle when you’re stuck in a line dance.
當蚊群到達臨界密度的時候，蚊群才會按隊形飛行。在臨界值以下，蚊群自由移動。昆蟲避免完全統一隊形可能是一個生殖策略，畢竟，站成一排的時候可不好亂搞。
—Wayt Gibbs
