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Abstract

        Animal collectives must adapt to changing environments in order to survive.  In this talk, I will present two systems for probing the collective behavior under external fluid flows.  Fire ant rafts elongate and deform in water currents. Collectives of black soldier fly larvae loosen and become more porous as they are subjected to the airflow in fluidized beds. In both cases, we find that the behaviors of these collectives are strikingly different from traditional soft materials placed under the same conditions. We present experiments and simulations of these active materials and conclude that the active movement of the constituents is crucial to the response of the collectives.