The above video clip shows some of our simulations into how whale navigation may become disrupted due to different forms of ocean noise pollution impact.  

Main article: S.T. Johnston and K.J. Painter (2024). Avoidance, confusion or solitude? Modelling how noise pollution affects whale migration. https://doi.org/10.1186/s40462-024-00458-w

General interest blog here.

The above video clip shows the migration paths in a simulated pod of minke whales, as they attempt to navigate a route through a North Sea subject to significant shipping noise.

Main article: S.T. Johnston and K.J. Painter (2021). Modelling collective navigation via nonlocal communication. http://doi.org/10.1098/rsif.2021.0383.

A general blog can be found here.

The above video clip shows snowmelt estimated from satellite images and snowmelt estimated in a cellular automaton model, for the Colle du Nivolet catchment in Gran Paradiso National Park, Northern Italy. 

Main article: K.J. Painter, A. Gentile and S. Ferraris (2022). Using cellular automata models to predict the drivers of snowmelt in mountain catchments. 

The simulation indicates the impact of flow and rheotaxis on the ability of an animal or cellular population to maintain an aggregated form. Strong flows can splinter and disperse a group, but the addition of rheotaxis (counter-flow swimming) negates this.

Main article: K.J. Painter (2021). The impact of rheotaxis and flow on the aggregation of organisms. https://doi.org/10.1098/rsif.2021.0582. 

The navigation of green turtles to nesting beaches on Ascension Island is a classic parqadigm of animal navigation. Our simulations show that when turtles follow both geomagnetic field information and odours transported by ocean currents, efficient homing to the island can occur.

Main article: K.J. Painter and A. Plochocka (2019). Multimodal navigation strategies for turtle homing. http://doi.org/10.1016/j.ecolmodel.2018.10.025.

A comparison between individual and continuous models for animal movements in a flow. Each point represents a hatchling turtle, while colour indicates the macroscopic density. Adding oriented swimming (bottom) allows more of the population to maintain favourable trajectories.

Main article: K.J. Painter and T. Hillen (2018). From random walks to fully anisotropic diffusion models for cell and animal movement. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-319-96842-1_5.

The combination of cellular contact guidance and ECM remodelling can lead to spatial organisation. The simulation shows matrix fibres become increasingly aligned and high cell density traffic forming along `cellular highways'.

Main article: K.J. Painter (2009). Modelling cell migration strategies in the extracellular matrix. http://doi.org/10.1007/s00285-008-0217-8. Link to PDF. 

Simulation from a mathematical model for differential adhesion in a mixture of two cell types. Initially the populations are mixed, but differential adhesion drives the subsequent "partial sorting" of one cell population by the other. 

Main article: N. Armstrong, K.J. Painter and J. A. Sherratt (2006). A continuum approach to modelling cell-cell adhesion. http://doi.org/10.1016/j.jtbi.2006.05.030. Link to PDF. 

Simulations of a two-species reaction diffusion model reveal the various patterns that can be observed in two-dimensions, where each fram shows the pattern formed as two parameters are progressively varied.

Recent review: K.J. Painter, M. Ptashnyk and D.J. Headon (2021). Systems for intricate patterning of the vertebrate anatomy. Philosophical Transactions of the Royal Society of London A. https://doi.org/10.1098/rsta.2020.0270.

Simulation of a reaction-diffusion model exhibiting Turing pattern formation. Here, a labyrinth pattern forms from the random initial conditions and subsequently rearranges over time. Note that time speeds up as the simulation progresses. 

Recent review: K.J. Painter, M. Ptashnyk and D.J. Headon (2021). Systems for intricate patterning of the vertebrate anatomy. Philosophical Transactions of the Royal Society of London A. https://doi.org/10.1098/rsta.2020.0270.