By both training and temperament, I consider myself a neuroethologist - I want to understand how nervous systems produce behavior. Since, by definition, causal explanations for the properties of a system at one level must be in terms of the level(s) immediately below, I work at multiple levels. I try to explain animal behavior in terms of the properties of systems of neurons, explain these system properties in terms of connectivity and cellular properties, etc. Reductionism is a powerful tool, but because good science must be integrative, I use modeling to 'close the loop' between the lower-level explanations and the original behavior. Since nervous systems are the products of evolution, I consider ultimate causes as well as proximate ones. This means, wherever possible, I bring a comparative approach to my work, both by examining how different taxa have solved similar problems, and how similar cellular substrates have been used to implement different behaviors in different organisms. (A fairly recent addition to the possibilities of comparative work comes from the field of computational neuroethology; it is now possible to test some hypotheses using artificial organisms, which can be robots or computer simulations.)
My current research has two different thrusts. One project aims to understand how animals adapted to different environments (aquatic, amphibious, and terrestrial) differ in the ways that their neuromuscular systems accommodate changes in load. (As when a crab walks out of the water, where most of its weight is supported by buoyancy, and onto the land.) The second project continues my longtime collaboration with Dr Mark Willis of the University of Arizona. We are combining behavioral and physiological data with robotic and simulation experiments to understand how organisms integrate sensory information with their own activity to locate and track odor plumes. (One goal of this project is to develop guidance systems for robots that can find and remove the millions of mines and artillery shells which wars have left scattered around the world. The "brains" for these robots will be based on what we learn about the brains of animals tracking odor plumes - yet another example of how an esoteric research project can lead to unforseen, immensely practical, benefits for society.)
Belanger JH, and MA Willis (1998) Biologically-inspired search algorithms for locating unseen odor sources. In, Proceedings of the 1998 IEEE ISIS/CIRA/ISAS Joint Conference on the Science and Technology of Intelligent Systems, Gaithersberg, USA, September 1998, pp. 265-270.
Belanger JH, and EA Arbas (1998) Behavioral strategies underlying pheromone-modulated flight in the moth Manduca sexta: Lessons from simulation studies. Journal of Comparative Physiology A 183: 345-360.
Belanger JH, and MA Willis (1996) Centrally-generated and reflexive control strategies in the adaptive behavior of real and simulated animals. In, From animals to animats 4: Proceedings of the Fourth International Conference on Simulation of Adaptive Behavior. P Maes, M Mataric, J-A Meyer, J Pollack and SW Wilson, eds. MIT Press/Bradford Books: Cambridge, MA, pp. 155-162.
Belanger JH, and MA Willis (1996) Adaptive control of odor-guided locomotion: Behavioral flexibility as an antidote to environmental unpredictability. Adaptive Behavior 4: 217-253.
Belanger JH, and I Orchard (1993) The locust ovipositor opener muscle: Proctolinergic central and peripheral neuromodulation in a centrally-driven motor system. Journal of Experimental Biology 174: 343-362.
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