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SUMMARY:Do "selfish-herd" mechanics select for coordinated collective moti
 on? - Daniel Sankey (University of Exeter)
DTSTART:20230808T141000Z
DTEND:20230808T143000Z
UID:TALK203125@talks.cam.ac.uk
DESCRIPTION:The 'Selfish-herd' hypothesis suggests that cover-seeking with
 in the flock can reduce individual risk of predation at the expense of the
 ir neighbours. Perhaps surprisingly then\, I found that in flocking simula
 tions\, individuals which try to crowd to the centre paradoxically were mo
 re likely to be captured\, because they end up at the back of a fleeing he
 rd. 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 t
 he opposite to my study: that 'selfish-herd' mechanics can favour the evol
 ution of collective motion. I will get in touch with these authors and pre
 sent the story of our interaction to your audience. I will present our two
  models &ndash\; the virtues and pitfalls of each &ndash\; and a pathway t
 owards their resolution reached through our collaboration. My presentation
  will be interlaced with footage and data from my first-author empirical w
 ork recently published in Current Biology in which 'selfish-herd' dynamics
  were found to be absent in GPS tagged pigeons chased by a robotic peregri
 ne falcon model. These data were the inspiration for my modelling of 'self
 ish-herd' in collective motion in the first place\, and makes for a compel
 ling narrative that highlights where the intersection of animals\, technol
 ogy\, and modelling can converge for the purpose of testing scientific hyp
 otheses.
LOCATION:Seminar Room 1\, Newton Institute
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