Award: OPP-1840949

Antarctic krill are essential to high-latitude ecosystems and fisheries. They live in high-density swarms and executing rapid, synchronized maneuvers with minimal physical contact despite their limited individual computational capacity. This suggests that complex group navigation does not require high-level, centralized processing, but rather a set of "simple rules" based on immediate and limited sensory inputs. For the development of autonomous vehicle algorithms, krill provide a robust blueprint for fleet management and collision avoidance. By translating these bio-inspired decision trees into code, self-driving systems could achieve sophisticated collective behavior using localized, low-latency rules, reducing the reliance on massive computational overhead while increasing the safety and scalability of autonomous networks.

This project investigated how individual krill respond to sensory signals, such as water currents, light levels, and the scent of food or predators, and using those observations to model how massive swarms form and function. At the individual level, our data showed that krill use fluid flow as a primary signal for swimming direction and speed.  The presence of predatory signals (penguin guano) and food (chlorophyll) concentration had a modulating effect of speed and direction, with adverse chemical signals having a weighted impact on the krill’s behavior. In collaboration with Dr Murphy (USF), we found that when krill were in a large group, the movement of conspecifics in the immediate vicinity provided key information needed for rapid behavioral responses to oncoming objects.     

To date, the team has published two scientific papers (DOIs-10.3389/fmars.2025.1508287; 10.1101/2025.03.24.645119v1), presented 14 talks/posters at multiple international conferences.  The data has been shared through public repositories to aid future research. Beyond the science, the project significantly advanced the educational landscape by providing a postdoctoral researcher with advanced training in behavioral modeling and mentorship. The project also created hands-on research opportunities for a diverse group of undergraduate students from across the country, including those with learning challenges and limited prior experience. By adapting to both in-person and remote learning, the project helped the research team develop more inclusive teaching strategies that meet students at their individual stage of the learning process. Dr. Fields used information from this grant in course work for Bigelow’s field course (university juniors) and in our high school program.  Drs. Fields and Weissburg live streamed to a group of HS students (~200) and middle school (~50) science students. Dr. Hellessey worked with 15 undergraduate students who helped collected data from the Antarctica field season videos. Drs Fields and Hellessey has also been interviewed by National (CPR) and local radio media, and participated in the Women in Antarctica – “Through Our Eyes” exhibition in 2024 that has been shown in Australia, France, New Zealand and Chile.

Last Modified: 05/08/2026
Modified by: David M Fields