Predatory Fish Select for Coordinated Collective Motion in Virtual Prey

Ioannou, Christos C.; Guttal, Vishwesha; Couzin, Iain D.

doi:10.1126/science.1218919

Cited by 298 publications

(273 citation statements)

References 37 publications

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“…For example, it is possible that less social fish within groups of a given size may be less likely to follow conspecifics into a trap. Additional work, in which individual sociability and vulnerability are quantified is needed to resolve these issues, and the extent to which selection on sociability may have evolutionary effects on collective behaviors associated with foraging, energy‐saving during group locomotion (Couzin & Krause, 2003), reducing risk of predation (Ioannou, Guttal, & Couzin, 2012; Landeau & Terborgh, 1986) and migration (De Luca, Mariani, MacKenzie, & Marsili, 2014). …”

Section: Discussionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Shoal size as a key determinant of vulnerability to capture under a simulated fishery scenario

Thambithurai

Hollins

Leeuwen

et al. 2018

Ecology and Evolution

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Group living is widespread among animals and has a range of positive effects on individual foraging and predator avoidance. For fishes, capture by humans constitutes a major source of mortality, and the ecological effects of group living could carry‐over to harvest scenarios if fish are more likely to interact with fishing gears when in social groups. Furthermore, individual metabolic rate can affect both foraging requirements and social behaviors, and could, therefore, have an additional influence on which fish are most vulnerable to capture by fishing. Here, we studied whether social environment (i.e., social group size) and metabolic rate exert independent or interactive effects on the vulnerability of wild zebrafish (Danio rerio) to capture by a baited passive trap gear. Using video analysis, we observed the tendency for individual fish to enter a deployed trap when in different shoal sizes. Fish in larger groups were more vulnerable to capture than fish tested individually or at smaller group sizes. Specifically, focal fish in larger groups entered traps sooner, spent more total time within the trap, and were more likely to re‐enter the trap after an escape. Contrary to expectations, there was evidence that fish with a higher SMR took longer to enter traps, possibly due to a reduced tendency to follow groupmates or attraction to conspecifics already within the trap. Overall, however, social influences appeared to largely overwhelm any link between vulnerability and metabolic rate. The results suggest that group behavior, which in a natural predation setting is beneficial for avoiding predators, could be maladaptive under a trap harvest scenario and be an important mediator of which traits are under harvest associated selection.

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Section: Discussionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Shoal size as a key determinant of vulnerability to capture under a simulated fishery scenario

Thambithurai

Hollins

Leeuwen

et al. 2018

Ecology and Evolution

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“…Aggregations are particularly common during seasonal migration [50] for breeding purposes [51] and environmental factors, such as limiting food or water availability [52] or high predation risk [53], may all contribute to the formation of groups.…”

Section: Resultsmentioning

confidence: 99%

Decision accuracy in complex environments is often maximized by small group sizes

2014

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Individuals in groups, whether composed of humans or other animal species, often make important decisions collectively, including avoiding predators, selecting a direction in which to migrate and electing political leaders. Theoretical and empirical work suggests that collective decisions can be more accurate than individual decisions, a phenomenon known as the 'wisdom of crowds'. In these previous studies, it has been assumed that individuals make independent estimates based on a single environmental cue. In the real world, however, most cues exhibit some spatial and temporal correlation, and consequently, the sensory information that near neighbours detect will also be, to some degree, correlated. Furthermore, it may be rare for an environment to contain only a single informative cue, with multiple cues being the norm. We demonstrate, using two simple models, that taking this natural complexity into account considerably alters the relationship between group size and decision-making accuracy. In only a minority of environments do we observe the typical wisdom of crowds phenomenon (whereby collective accuracy increases monotonically with group size). When the wisdom of crowds is not observed, we find that a finite, and often small, group size maximizes decision accuracy. We reveal that, counterintuitively, it is the noise inherent in these small groups that enhances their accuracy, allowing individuals in such groups to avoid the detrimental effects of correlated information while exploiting the benefits of collective decision-making. Our results demonstrate that the conventional view of the wisdom of crowds may not be informative in complex and realistic environments, and that being in small groups can maximize decision accuracy across many contexts.

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“…Yet, because research questions and techniques often vary among different scales, there is a strong tendency to study the processes at these different scales separately [10][11][12] . For instance, some studies focus on the spatial patterns that result from the movement of individuals, for example, for shelter, improved mate choice or the sharing of information 5,[13][14][15][16][17] . Other studies focus on large-scale ecosystem processes that create spatial variation in predation pressure, resource availability 8,12,[18][19][20] and other environmental conditions [21][22][23][24] .…”

mentioning

confidence: 99%

Pattern formation at multiple spatial scales drives the resilience of mussel bed ecosystems

et al. 2014

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Self-organized complexity at multiple spatial scales is a distinctive characteristic of biological systems. Yet, little is known about how different self-organizing processes operating at different spatial scales interact to determine ecosystem functioning. Here we show that the interplay between self-organizing processes at individual and ecosystem level is a key determinant of the functioning and resilience of mussel beds. In mussel beds, self-organization generates spatial patterns at two characteristic spatial scales: small-scale net-shaped patterns due to behavioural aggregation of individuals, and large-scale banded patterns due to the interplay of between-mussel facilitation and resource depletion. Model analysis reveals that the interaction between these behavioural and ecosystem-level mechanisms increases mussel bed resilience, enables persistence under deteriorating conditions and makes them less prone to catastrophic collapse. Our analysis highlights that interactions between different forms of self-organization at multiple spatial scales may enhance the intrinsic ability of ecosystems to withstand both natural and human-induced disturbances.

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Predatory Fish Select for Coordinated Collective Motion in Virtual Prey

Cited by 298 publications

References 37 publications

Shoal size as a key determinant of vulnerability to capture under a simulated fishery scenario

Shoal size as a key determinant of vulnerability to capture under a simulated fishery scenario

Decision accuracy in complex environments is often maximized by small group sizes

Pattern formation at multiple spatial scales drives the resilience of mussel bed ecosystems

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