Researcher ORCID Identifier
0009-0001-6539-6603
Graduation Year
2025
Document Type
Open Access Senior Thesis
Degree Name
Bachelor of Science
Department
Mathematics
Reader 1
Andrew J. Bernoff
Reader 2
Heather Zinn Brooks
Terms of Use & License Information
Rights Information
© 2025 Nathan S Hasegawa
Abstract
The Australian plague locust (Chortoicetes terminifera) is an agricultural and ecological pest that causes tens of millions of dollars in crop damage each year. In this thesis, we develop mathematical models of hopper bands, dense formations of juvenile locusts that move across a vegetated field and destroy plants in their path. We develop agent-based and PDE models of hopper bands moving through vegetation to examine how recently discovered behavior where locusts slow down to avoid collisions with other locusts may influence the shape, speed, and destructiveness of hopper bands. We find that collision avoidance may cause locusts to aggregate at higher densities in some parameter regimes, making collision avoidance a possible contributing factor to why locusts aggregate at densities as high as 4000 per square meter. Our results may advance scientific understanding of collective structures in locusts and could benefit locust control efforts, which are essential to maintaining food security and economic productivity and will become more crucial in a warming world.
Recommended Citation
Hasegawa, Nathan S., "Collision Avoidance and Vegetation as Drivers of Collective Motion in Australian Plague Locusts" (2025). HMC Senior Theses. 290.
https://scholarship.claremont.edu/hmc_theses/290
