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Role of projection in the control of bird flocks
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Pearce, Daniel J. G., Miller, A. M., Rowlands, G. (George) and Turner, Matthew S. (2014) Role of projection in the control of bird flocks. Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences of the United States of America, Volume 111 (Number 29). pp. 10422-10426. doi:10.1073/pnas.1402202111 ISSN 0027-8424.
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Official URL: http://dx.doi.org/10.1073/pnas.1402202111
Abstract
Swarming is a conspicuous behavioral trait observed in bird flocks, fish shoals, insect swarms, and mammal herds. It is thought to improve collective awareness and offer protection from predators. Many current models involve the hypothesis that information coordinating motion is exchanged among neighbors. We argue that such local interactions alone are insufficient to explain the organization of large flocks of birds and that the mechanism for the exchange of long-range information necessary to control their density remains unknown. We show that large flocks self-organize to the maximum density at which a typical individual still can see out of the flock in many directions. Such flocks are marginally opaque—an external observer also still can see a substantial fraction of sky through the flock. Although this seems intuitive, we show it need not be the case; flocks might easily be highly diffuse or entirely opaque. The emergence of marginal opacity strongly constrains how individuals interact with one another within large swarms. It also provides a mechanism for global interactions: an individual can respond to the projection of the flock that it sees. This provides for faster information transfer and hence rapid flock dynamics, another advantage over local models. From a behavioral perspective, it optimizes the information available to each bird while maintaining the protection of a dense, coherent flock.
Item Type: | Journal Article | ||||||||||
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Divisions: | Faculty of Science, Engineering and Medicine > Science > Physics | ||||||||||
Journal or Publication Title: | Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences of the United States of America | ||||||||||
Publisher: | National Academy of Sciences | ||||||||||
ISSN: | 0027-8424 | ||||||||||
Official Date: | 22 July 2014 | ||||||||||
Dates: |
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Volume: | Volume 111 | ||||||||||
Number: | Number 29 | ||||||||||
Page Range: | pp. 10422-10426 | ||||||||||
DOI: | 10.1073/pnas.1402202111 | ||||||||||
Status: | Peer Reviewed | ||||||||||
Publication Status: | Published | ||||||||||
Access rights to Published version: | Restricted or Subscription Access |
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