Background

Introduction

I am interested in how nerve cells work to control behaviour, and the focus of my research is insect vision and flight.

In 2010, 'Nerve Cells and Animal Behaviour' , co-authored by David Young of Melbourne University, was published in its third edition by Cambriadge University Press. It is aimed primarily at final year undergraduates, providing an introduction to current research in Neuroethology.

Google Scholar page: http://scholar.google.co.uk/citations?user=uijLEJcAAAAJ&hl=en

Research

Research Interests

My research focuses on insects - particularly how dragonflies and locusts fly, how cicadas sing, and how locusts use their eyes. Locusts have two types of eye: compound eyes, which are used for seeing shapes and movmenets; and ocelli or simple eyes, which register movements of the visual horizon to act as a kind of stabilising system for attitude during flight.   I am interested in synapses, and the roles they play in transforming signals - the locust ocellar system is an extremely good subject for studying the Natural History of synapses.  One of my most recent discoveries is that neurons in the ocellar pathway can deliver extremely precisely timed signals, and I am investigating how those are generated and used.   In working on the compound eye I collaborate with Claire Rind. We investigate a unique, identifiable nerve cell that  responds to approaching objects, and can warn of collision or capture by a predator. Currenlty I am performing experiments to find out how well that neuron works in young locusts compared with mature adults.

Teaching

Undergraduate Teaching

Stage 1: Animal Kingdom

Stage 2: Animal Physiology

Stage 3: Mechanisms of Behaviour

Publications

• Simmons PJ, van Steveninck RD. Intrinsic variability in transmission at excitatory synapses between ocellar L-neurons in the locust, Schistocerca gregaria. In: Journal of Physiology: Conference of the Physiological Society. 2002, Liverpool: Wiley-Blackwell Publishing Ltd.
• Simmons PJ. Presynaptic depolarization rate controls transmission at an invertebrate synapse. Neuron 2002, 35(4), 749-758.
• Simmons PJ. Signal processing in a simple visual system: The locust ocellar system and its synapses. Microscopy Research and Technique 2002, 56(4), 270-280.
• Leitinger G, Simmons PJ. The organization of synaptic vesicles at tonically transmitting connections of locust visual interneurons. Journal of Neurobiology 2002, 50(2), 93-105.
• Leitinger G, Simmons PJ. Cytochemical evidence that acetylcholine is a neurotransmitter of neurons that make excitatory and inhibitory outputs in the locust ocellar visual system. Journal of Comparative Neurology 2000, 416(3), 345-355.
• Leitinger G, Simmons PJ. Three-dimensional features of synapses that tonically release neurotransmitter. In: EUROPEAN JOURNAL OF NEUROSCIENCE. 2000.
• Leitinger G, Masich S, Neumüller J, Pabst MA, Pavelka M, Rind FC, Shupliakov O, Simmons PJ, Kolb D. Structural organization of the presynaptic density at identified synapses in the locust central nervous system. Journal of Comparative Neurology 2012, 520(2), 384-400.
• Simmons PJ. The effects of temperature on signalling in ocellar neurons of the desert locust, Schistocerca gregaria. Journal of Comparative Physiology A 2011, 197(11), 1083-1096.
• Simmons PJ, Rind FC, Santer RD. Escapes with and without preparation: The neuroethology of visual startle in locusts. Journal of Insect Physiology 2010, 56(8), 876–883.
• Simmons P, Young D. Nerve Cells and Animal Behaviour. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press, 2010.
• Simmons PJ, de Ruyter van Steveninck RR. Sparse but specific temporal coding by spikes in an insect sensory-motor ocellar pathway. Journal of Experimental Biology 2010, 213(15), 2629-2639.
• Santer RD, Yamawaki Y, Rind FC, Simmons PJ. Preparing for escape: An examination of the role of the DCMD neuron in locust escape jumps. Journal of Comparative Physiology A 2008, 194(1), 69-77.
• Santer RD, Rind FC, Stafford R, Simmons PJ. Role of an identified looming-sensitive neuron in triggering a flying locust's escape. Journal of Neurophysiology 2006, 95(6), 3391-3400.
• Simmons PJ, De Ruyter Van Steveninck R. Reliability of signal transfer at a tonically transmitting, graded potential synapse of the locust ocellar pathway. Journal of Neuroscience 2005, 25(33), 7529-7537.
• Leitinger G, Pabst MA, Rind FC, Simmons PJ. Differential expression of synapsin in visual neurons of the locust Schistocerca gregaria. Journal of Comparative Neurology 2004, 480(1), 89-100.
• Simmons PJ. Intrinsic noise at synapses between a wing hinge stretch receptor and flight motor neurons in the locust. Journal of Experimental Biology 2001, 204(1), 127-138.
• Pérez M, Simmons PJ. Localización de motoneuronas de dos músculos de vuelo en el ganglio mesothorácico de cucarachas hembras. Revista Biologia 2000, 14, 182-184.
• Leitinger G, Simmons PJ. Acetylcholine as a neurotransmitter of locust visual neurones. Journal of Physiology 1999, 520, 39-40.
• Simmons, Peter. Young, David. Cambridge University Press, 1999.
• F. C. Rind and P. J. Simmons. Local circuit for the computation of object approach by an identified visual neuron in the locust. Journal of Comparative Neurology 1998, 395, 405-415.
• G. Leitinger and P. J. Simmons. Synaptic sites on lateral ocellar L-neurones of the locust Schistocerca gregaria stain for acetylcholinesterase. European Journal of Neuroscience 1998, 10, 18001.
• P. J. Simmons and F. C. Rind. Responses to object approach by a wide field visual neurone, the LGMD2 of the locust: Characterization and image cues. Journal of Comparative Physiology a-Sensory Neural and Behavioral Physiology 1997, 180, 203-214.
• F. C. Rind and P. J. Simmons. Signalling of object approach by the DCMD neuron of the locust. Journal of Neurophysiology 1997, 77, 1029-1033.
• Simmons P.J. The transfer of signals from photoreceptor cells to large, second-order neurones in the ocellar visual system of the locust, Locusta migratoria. J. Exp. Biology 1995, 198, 537-549.
• Simmons PJ, Sztarker J, Rind FC. Looming detection by identified visual interneurons during larval development of the locust Locusta migratoria. Journal of Experimental Biology 2013, 216, 2266-2275.
• Santer RD, Rind FC, Simmons PJ. Predator versus Prey: Locust Looming-Detector Neuron and Behavioural Responses to Stimuli Representing Attacking Bird Predators. PloS One 2012, 7(11), e50146.
• Simmons PJ. The effects of temperature on signalling in ocellar neurons of the desert locust, Schistocerca gregaria. Journal of Comparative Physiology A 2011, 197(11), 1083-1096.
• Rind FC, Simmons PJ. Seeing what is coming: Building collision-sensitive neurones. Trends in Neurosciences 1999, 22(5), 215-220.
• Rind FC, Simmons PJ. The many ways of building collision-sensitive neurons - Reply. Trends in Neurosciences 1999, 22(10), 438-438.
• Simmons PJ. The performance of synapses that convey discrete graded potentials in an insect visual pathway. Journal of Neuroscience 1999, 19(23), 10584-10594.