Dataset Information

Route-dependent switch between hierarchical and egalitarian strategies in pigeon flocks.

ABSTRACT: The mechanisms that underlie fascinating inter-individual interactions among animal groups have attracted increasing attention from biologists, physicists, and system scientists. There are two well-known types of interaction patterns: hierarchical and egalitarian. In the former type, individuals follow their leaders, whereas they follow their neighbors in the latter. Using high-resolution spatiotemporal data derived from the free flights of a flock of pigeons, we show that pigeon flocks actually adopt a mode that switches between the two aforementioned strategies. To determine its flight direction, each pigeon tends to follow the average of its neighbors while moving along a smooth trajectory, whereas it switches to follow its leaders when sudden turns or zigzags occur. By contrast, when deciding how fast to fly, each pigeon synthesizes the average velocity of its neighbors. This switching mechanism is promising for possible industrial applications in multi-robot system coordination, unmanned vehicle formation control, and other areas.

SUBMITTER: Zhang HT

PROVIDER: S-EPMC4108945 | biostudies-literature | 2014 Jul

REPOSITORIES: biostudies-literature

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Publications

Route-dependent switch between hierarchical and egalitarian strategies in pigeon flocks.

Zhang Hai-Tao HT Chen Zhiyong Z Vicsek Tamás T Feng Guanjun G Sun Longsheng L Su Riqi R Zhou Tao T

Scientific reports 20140724

The mechanisms that underlie fascinating inter-individual interactions among animal groups have attracted increasing attention from biologists, physicists, and system scientists. There are two well-known types of interaction patterns: hierarchical and egalitarian. In the former type, individuals follow their leaders, whereas they follow their neighbors in the latter. Using high-resolution spatiotemporal data derived from the free flights of a flock of pigeons, we show that pigeon flocks actually ...[more]

PMID: 25055832

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Project description:Bird flocks under predation demonstrate complex patterns of collective escape. These patterns may emerge by self-organization from local interactions among group-members. Computational models have been shown to be valuable for identifying what behavioral rules may govern such interactions among individuals during collective motion. However, our knowledge of such rules for collective escape is limited by the lack of quantitative data on bird flocks under predation in the field. In the present study, we analyze the first GPS trajectories of pigeons in airborne flocks attacked by a robotic falcon in order to build a species-specific model of collective escape. We use our model to examine a recently identified distance-dependent pattern of collective behavior: the closer the prey is to the predator, the higher the frequency with which flock members turn away from it. We first extract from the empirical data of pigeon flocks the characteristics of their shape and internal structure (bearing angle and distance to nearest neighbors). Combining these with information on their coordination from the literature, we build an agent-based model adjusted to pigeons' collective escape. We show that the pattern of turning away from the predator with increased frequency when the predator is closer arises without prey prioritizing escape when the predator is near. Instead, it emerges through self-organization from a behavioral rule to avoid the predator independently of their distance to it. During this self-organization process, we show how flock members increase their consensus over which direction to escape and turn collectively as the predator gets closer. Our results suggest that coordination among flock members, combined with simple escape rules, reduces the cognitive costs of tracking the predator while flocking. Such escape rules that are independent of the distance to the predator can now be investigated in other species. Our study showcases the important role of computational models in the interpretation of empirical findings of collective behavior.

Dataset Information

Route-dependent switch between hierarchical and egalitarian strategies in pigeon flocks.

Publications

Route-dependent switch between hierarchical and egalitarian strategies in pigeon flocks.

Similar Datasets

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