Sumpter David, Buhl Camille, Biro Dora, Couzin Iain
Department of Zoology, University of Oxford, Oxford, OX1 3PS, UK.
Theory Biosci. 2008 Jun;127(2):177-86. doi: 10.1007/s12064-008-0040-1. Epub 2008 May 6.
Moving animal groups provide some of the most intriguing and difficult to characterise examples of collective behaviour. We review some recent (and not so recent) empirical research on the motion of animal groups, including fish, locusts and homing pigeons. An important concept which unifies our understanding of these groups is that of transfer of directional information. Individuals which change their direction of travel in response to the direction taken by their near neighbours can quickly transfer information about the presence of a predatory threat or food source. We show that such information transfer is optimised when the density of individuals in a group is close to that at which a phase transition occurs between random and ordered motion. Similarly, we show that even relatively small differences in information possessed by group members can lead to strong collective-level decisions for one of two options. By combining the use of self-propelled particle and social force models of collective motion with thinking about the evolution of flocking we aim to better understand how complexity arises within these groups.
移动的动物群体提供了一些最引人入胜且难以描述的集体行为示例。我们回顾了一些近期（以及不那么近期的）关于动物群体运动的实证研究，包括鱼类、蝗虫和信鸽。一个统一我们对这些群体理解的重要概念是方向信息传递。个体根据其近邻所采取的方向改变自身行进方向，能够迅速传递有关捕食性威胁或食物来源存在的信息。我们表明，当群体中个体的密度接近随机运动和有序运动之间发生相变时的密度时，这种信息传递得到优化。同样，我们表明，即使群体成员所拥有的信息存在相对较小的差异，也会导致针对两种选择之一做出强烈的集体层面决策。通过将自驱动粒子和集体运动的社会力模型的使用与对群体行为演变的思考相结合，我们旨在更好地理解这些群体中复杂性是如何产生的。
