Do "selfish-herd" mechanics select for coordinated collective motion?

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• Daniel Sankey (University of Exeter)
• Tuesday 08 August 2023, 15:10-15:30
• Seminar Room 1, Newton Institute.

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MMVW02 - Collective Behaviour

The ‘Selfish-herd’ hypothesis suggests that cover-seeking within the flock can reduce individual risk of predation at the expense of their neighbours. Perhaps surprisingly then, I found that in flocking simulations, individuals which try to crowd to the centre paradoxically were more likely to be captured, because they end up at the back of a fleeing herd. My work thus suggests that ‘selfish-herd’ may only play a limited role in the evolution of collective motion. This solo-author work was recently published in Proceeding of the Royal Society B: Biological Sciences. Soon after, another paper came out in Journal of Theoretical Biology, which suggests that “selfish-herd” can explain many of the emergent patterns of collective movement of flocks or shoals. This latter paper thus suggests the opposite to my study: that ‘selfish-herd’ mechanics can favour the evolution of collective motion. I will get in touch with these authors and present the story of our interaction to your audience. I will present our two models – the virtues and pitfalls of each – and a pathway towards their resolution reached through our collaboration. My presentation will be interlaced with footage and data from my first-author empirical work recently published in Current Biology in which ‘selfish-herd’ dynamics were found to be absent in GPS tagged pigeons chased by a robotic peregrine falcon model. These data were the inspiration for my modelling of ‘selfish-herd’ in collective motion in the first place, and makes for a compelling narrative that highlights where the intersection of animals, technology, and modelling can converge for the purpose of testing scientific hypotheses.

This talk is part of the Isaac Newton Institute Seminar Series series.

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