{"status":"ok","message-type":"work","message-version":"1.0.0","message":{"institution":[{"name":"bioRxiv"}],"indexed":{"date-parts":[[2026,8,19]],"date-time":"2026-08-19T16:32:14Z","timestamp":1787157134801,"version":"build-2736575974"},"posted":{"date-parts":[[2026,8,16]]},"group-title":"Biophysics","reference-count":31,"publisher":"openRxiv","license":[{"start":{"date-parts":[[2026,8,16]],"date-time":"2026-08-16T00:00:00Z","timestamp":1786838400000},"content-version":"vor","delay-in-days":0,"URL":"http:\/\/creativecommons.org\/licenses\/by-nc-nd\/4.0\/"}],"funder":[{"DOI":"10.13039\/100000001","name":"U.S. National Science Foundation","doi-asserted-by":"crossref","award":["2214020"],"award-info":[{"award-number":["2214020"]}],"id":[{"id":"10.13039\/100000001","id-type":"DOI","asserted-by":"crossref"}]},{"DOI":"10.13039\/100000002","name":"National Institutes of Health","doi-asserted-by":"crossref","award":["1R35GM163569"],"award-info":[{"award-number":["1R35GM163569"]}],"id":[{"id":"10.13039\/100000002","id-type":"DOI","asserted-by":"crossref"}]},{"DOI":"10.13039\/100000002","name":"National Institutes of Health","doi-asserted-by":"crossref","award":["R35GM157104"],"award-info":[{"award-number":["R35GM157104"]}],"id":[{"id":"10.13039\/100000002","id-type":"DOI","asserted-by":"crossref"}]}],"content-domain":{"domain":[],"crossmark-restriction":false},"short-container-title":[],"accepted":{"date-parts":[[2026,8,16]]},"abstract":"<jats:title>Abstract<\/jats:title>\n                <jats:p>\n                  A variety of connected systems, ranging from the cytoskeleton to human organizations, dynamically rearrange themselves in order to move through physical or abstract space. However, our understanding of how systems-level behaviors arise from local restructuring actions remains limited, necessitating comparison of real-world data to models that predict network structure and dynamics. To understand these systems, we study an accessible example, the branching slime mold\n                  <jats:italic>Physarum polycephalum<\/jats:italic>\n                  , by imaging the organism as it travels and extracting key fundamental quantities from its continuously remodeling tubular network. By using these quantities as input parameters to a traveling network model, we find that with no further fitting, the model quantitatively matches key emergent properties from\n                  <jats:italic>P. polycephalum<\/jats:italic>\n                  dynamics including path length, relocation time, and search efficiency at different spatial resolutions. These findings demonstrate how a traveling network model can capture\n                  <jats:italic>P. polycephalum<\/jats:italic>\n                  behaviors, highlighting the potential to use traveling networks more broadly for understanding and predicting connected dynamic systems by linking local measurements to emergent, system-wide behaviors.\n                <\/jats:p>","DOI":"10.64898\/2026.08.13.744445","type":"posted-content","created":{"date-parts":[[2026,8,17]],"date-time":"2026-08-17T04:40:27Z","timestamp":1786941627000},"source":"Crossref","is-referenced-by-count":0,"title":["A traveling network model predicts emergent dynamics and search behavior from local remodeling in\n                  <i>Physarum polycephalum<\/i>"],"prefix":"10.64898","author":[{"ORCID":"https:\/\/orcid.org\/0000-0003-4357-8024","authenticated-orcid":false,"given":"Arnold","family":"Chen","sequence":"first","affiliation":[{"name":"Meinig School of Biomedical Engineering, Cornell University; Ithaca, NY 14853, United States"}],"role":[{"vocabulary":"crossref","role":"author"}]},{"ORCID":"https:\/\/orcid.org\/0009-0007-9750-2777","authenticated-orcid":false,"given":"Shenghao","family":"Tan","sequence":"additional","affiliation":[{"name":"Meinig School of Biomedical Engineering, Cornell University; Ithaca, NY 14853, United States"}],"role":[{"vocabulary":"crossref","role":"author"}]},{"given":"Yash V.","family":"Mundewadi","sequence":"additional","affiliation":[{"name":"Simons Center for Quantitative Biology, Cold Spring Harbor Laboratory; Laurel Hollow, NY 11724, United States"}],"role":[{"vocabulary":"crossref","role":"author"}]},{"ORCID":"https:\/\/orcid.org\/0000-0002-6068-5561","authenticated-orcid":false,"given":"Ingmar H.","family":"Riedel-Kruse","sequence":"additional","affiliation":[{"name":"Department of Molecular and Cellular Biology, Departments of Applied Mathematics, Biomedical Engineering, and Physics; University of Arizona; Tucson, AZ 85721, United States"}],"role":[{"vocabulary":"crossref","role":"author"}]},{"ORCID":"https:\/\/orcid.org\/0000-0002-7818-2962","authenticated-orcid":false,"given":"Nate J.","family":"Cira","sequence":"additional","affiliation":[{"name":"Meinig School of Biomedical Engineering, Cornell University; Ithaca, NY 14853, United States"}],"role":[{"vocabulary":"crossref","role":"author"}]}],"member":"54368","reference":[{"key":"2026081909151061000_2026.08.13.744445v1.1","doi-asserted-by":"publisher","DOI":"10.1093\/beheco\/art032"},{"key":"2026081909151061000_2026.08.13.744445v1.2","doi-asserted-by":"publisher","DOI":"10.1073\/pnas.1215037109"},{"key":"2026081909151061000_2026.08.13.744445v1.3","doi-asserted-by":"publisher","DOI":"10.1088\/1361-6463\/aa87df"},{"key":"2026081909151061000_2026.08.13.744445v1.4","doi-asserted-by":"publisher","DOI":"10.3389\/fcell.2023.1249165"},{"key":"2026081909151061000_2026.08.13.744445v1.5","doi-asserted-by":"publisher","DOI":"10.1038\/npre.2008.2431.1"},{"key":"2026081909151061000_2026.08.13.744445v1.6","doi-asserted-by":"publisher","DOI":"10.1103\/PhysRevLett.100.018101"},{"key":"2026081909151061000_2026.08.13.744445v1.7","doi-asserted-by":"publisher","DOI":"10.1038\/35035159"},{"key":"2026081909151061000_2026.08.13.744445v1.8","doi-asserted-by":"publisher","DOI":"10.1126\/science.1177894"},{"key":"2026081909151061000_2026.08.13.744445v1.9","doi-asserted-by":"publisher","DOI":"10.1109\/TC.2013.229"},{"key":"2026081909151061000_2026.08.13.744445v1.10","doi-asserted-by":"publisher","DOI":"10.1088\/1748-3182\/9\/3\/036006"},{"key":"2026081909151061000_2026.08.13.744445v1.11","doi-asserted-by":"publisher","DOI":"10.1016\/j.biosystems.2011.05.001"},{"key":"2026081909151061000_2026.08.13.744445v1.12","doi-asserted-by":"publisher","DOI":"10.1016\/j.apm.2017.07.032"},{"key":"2026081909151061000_2026.08.13.744445v1.13","doi-asserted-by":"publisher","DOI":"10.1016\/j.jtbi.2006.07.015"},{"key":"2026081909151061000_2026.08.13.744445v1.14","doi-asserted-by":"publisher","DOI":"10.1088\/1748-3190\/ad7083"},{"key":"2026081909151061000_2026.08.13.744445v1.15","doi-asserted-by":"publisher","DOI":"10.1098\/rsif.2024.0720"},{"key":"2026081909151061000_2026.08.13.744445v1.16","doi-asserted-by":"publisher","DOI":"10.1016\/j.jtbi.2008.09.010"},{"key":"2026081909151061000_2026.08.13.744445v1.17","doi-asserted-by":"publisher","DOI":"10.1103\/PhysRevE.60.5879"},{"key":"2026081909151061000_2026.08.13.744445v1.18","doi-asserted-by":"publisher","DOI":"10.1016\/j.jmps.2023.105387"},{"key":"2026081909151061000_2026.08.13.744445v1.19","doi-asserted-by":"publisher","DOI":"10.1007\/s11047-010-9223-z"},{"key":"2026081909151061000_2026.08.13.744445v1.20","doi-asserted-by":"publisher","DOI":"10.1073\/pnas.2312611121"},{"key":"2026081909151061000_2026.08.13.744445v1.21","doi-asserted-by":"publisher","DOI":"10.1140\/epjst\/e2015-02455-2"},{"key":"2026081909151061000_2026.08.13.744445v1.22","doi-asserted-by":"publisher","DOI":"10.1038\/s41467-024-54342-7"},{"key":"2026081909151061000_2026.08.13.744445v1.23","doi-asserted-by":"publisher","DOI":"10.1038\/nrm3861"},{"key":"2026081909151061000_2026.08.13.744445v1.24","doi-asserted-by":"publisher","DOI":"10.1038\/nrm.2016.172"},{"key":"2026081909151061000_2026.08.13.744445v1.25","doi-asserted-by":"publisher","DOI":"10.1126\/science.1254295"},{"key":"2026081909151061000_2026.08.13.744445v1.26","doi-asserted-by":"publisher","DOI":"10.1016\/0304-405X(95)00860-H"},{"key":"2026081909151061000_2026.08.13.744445v1.27","unstructured":"Rubinstein M , Colby RH . 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