Codling, EA and Bode, NWF (2014) Copycat dynamics in leaderless animal group navigation. Movement Ecology, 2 (1). creators-Codling=3AEdward_A=3A=3A. DOI https://doi.org/10.1186/2051-3933-2-11
Codling, EA and Bode, NWF (2014) Copycat dynamics in leaderless animal group navigation. Movement Ecology, 2 (1). creators-Codling=3AEdward_A=3A=3A. DOI https://doi.org/10.1186/2051-3933-2-11
Codling, EA and Bode, NWF (2014) Copycat dynamics in leaderless animal group navigation. Movement Ecology, 2 (1). creators-Codling=3AEdward_A=3A=3A. DOI https://doi.org/10.1186/2051-3933-2-11
Abstract
Background: Many animals are known to have improved navigational efficiency when moving together as a social group. One potential mechanism for social group navigation is known as the 'many wrongs principle', where information from many inaccurate compasses is pooled across the group. In order to understand how animal groups may use the many wrongs principle to navigate, it is important to consider how directional information is transferred and shared within the group. Methods: Here we use an individual-based model to explore the information-sharing and copying dynamics of a leaderless animal group navigating towards a target in a virtual environment. We assume that communication and information-sharing is indirect and arises through individuals partially copying the movement direction of their neighbours and weighting this information relative to their individual navigational knowledge. Results: We find that the best group navigation performance occurs when individuals directly copy the direction of movement of a subset of their neighbours while only giving a small (6%) weighting to their individual navigational knowledge. Surprisingly, such a strategy is shown to be highly efficient regardless of the level of individual navigational error. We find there is little relative improvement in navigational efficiency when individuals copy from more than 7 influential neighbours. Conclusions: Our findings suggest that we would expect navigating group-living animals to predominantly copy the movement of others rather than relying on their own navigational knowledge. We discuss our results in the context of individual and group navigation behaviour in animals.
Item Type: | Article |
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Uncontrolled Keywords: | Many wrongs principle; Collective behaviour; Animal movement; Navigation; Animal group; Individual-based model |
Subjects: | Q Science > QA Mathematics Q Science > QH Natural history > QH301 Biology |
Divisions: | Faculty of Science and Health Faculty of Science and Health > Mathematics, Statistics and Actuarial Science, School of |
SWORD Depositor: | Unnamed user with email elements@essex.ac.uk |
Depositing User: | Unnamed user with email elements@essex.ac.uk |
Date Deposited: | 18 Nov 2014 10:19 |
Last Modified: | 23 Oct 2024 05:04 |
URI: | http://repository.essex.ac.uk/id/eprint/11670 |
Available files
Filename: Codling & Bode 2014 Copycat Dynamics Movement Ecology.pdf
Licence: Creative Commons: Attribution 3.0