Repository logo
 

Information can explain the dynamics of group order in animal collective behaviour.

Published version
Peer-reviewed

Type

Article

Change log

Authors

MacGregor, Hannah EA  ORCID logo  https://orcid.org/0000-0001-5379-8392
Herbert-Read, James E  ORCID logo  https://orcid.org/0000-0003-0243-4518
Ioannou, Christos C  ORCID logo  https://orcid.org/0000-0002-9739-889X

Abstract

Animal groups vary in their collective order (or state), forming disordered swarms to highly polarized groups. One explanation for this variation is that individuals face differential benefits or costs depending on the group's order, but empirical evidence for this is lacking. Here we show that in three-spined sticklebacks (Gasterosteus aculeatus), fish that are first to respond to an ephemeral food source do so faster when shoals are in a disordered, swarm-like state. This is because individuals' visual fields collectively cover more of their environment, meaning private information is more readily available in disordered groups. Once social information becomes available, however, the arrival times of subsequent group members to the food are faster in more ordered, polarized groups. Our data further suggest that first responding individuals (those that benefit from group disorder) maintain larger differences in heading angle to their nearest neighbours when shoaling, thereby explaining how conflict over whether private or social information is favoured can drive dynamic changes in collective behaviour.

Description

Keywords

Algorithms, Animals, Behavior, Animal, Group Processes, Models, Biological, Population Dynamics, Smegmamorpha, Social Behavior

Journal Title

Nat Commun

Conference Name

Journal ISSN

2041-1723
2041-1723

Volume Title

11

Publisher

Springer Science and Business Media LLC