In partial fulfillment of the requirements for the degree of 

Doctor of Philosophy in Quantitative Biosciences

in the School of Biological Sciences

Benjamin Seleb

Will defend his dissertation

The fast and the furriest: phase and amplitude dynamics of collective locomotion in sled dogs

Friday November 21st, 2025

At 1:00pm ET

IBB Petit Institute for Bioengineering and Bioscience, Suddath Seminar Room 1128

Meeting URL: https://gatech.zoom.us/j/95175123913?pwd=ZGSaeeuFbafef32RdLSUyUyeyX7BHx.1
Meeting ID: 951 7512 3913

Thesis Advisors:

Dr. Saad Bhamla

School of Chemical and Biomolecular Engineering

Georgia Institute of Technology

Dr. William C. Ratcliff

School of Biological Sciences

Georgia Institute of Technology

Committee Members:

Dr. Young-Hui Chang

School of Biological Sciences

Georgia Institute of Technology

Dr. Zeb Rocklin

School of Physics

Georgia Institute of Technology

Dr. Heather Huson

Department of Animal Science

Cornell University

Summary/Abstract: 
Complex systems, from animal groups to evolving landscapes, exhibit collective behaviors that emerge from local interactions and shared constraints. When those interactions are mediated through physical or environmental coupling, coordination can arise without centralized control or explicit communication. This dissertation explores these interactions through the lenses of locomotion and landscape modification, reaching across biomechanics, nonlinear dynamics, and spatial ecology.

In harnessed animal teams, the interplay between individual locomotion and network geometry offers a window into mechanically coupled coordination and cooperative transport. High-resolution field measurements from racing sled dogs, collected using animal-borne sensors, are used to quantify stride timing, gait variability, and interaction dynamics within the team. These analyses draw from oscillator theory and computational ethology to interpret collective dynamics, revealing a robust system that tolerates individual autonomy.

At the landscape scale, agent-based simulations of grazing animals reveal how individual movement decisions, constrained by energetic cost and resource availability, can reorganize the terrain itself. Through repeated feedback between movement and environment, spatially ordered features emerge from the simple behavioral rules of inconspicuous grazers.

Using a varied toolkit of sensors, theory, and computation, this work shows how coupling and feedback manifest uniquely in collectives across scales. Ironically, whereas the coordinated team hides underlying disorder, haphazard grazers leave behind quiet order.