Berlin 2024 – scientific programme
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BP: Fachverband Biologische Physik
BP 20: Poster IIIa
BP 20.17: Poster
Wednesday, March 20, 2024, 11:00–14:30, Poster B
Self-organized criticality in animal collectives: the effects of network topology and heterogeneities — •Bianca Pacini2,4, Yunus Sevinchan1,2, Carla Vollmoeller1,2, David Bierbach1,3, Jens Krause1,3, and Pawel Romanczuk1,2 — 1Science of Intelligence, TU Berlin, Berlin, Germany — 2Institute for Theoretical Biology, HU Berlin, Berlin, Germany — 3Leibniz-Institute of Freshwater Ecology and Inland Fisheries, Berlin, Germany — 4Department of applied science and technology, Politecnico di Torino, Torino, Italy
Large-scale collective biological systems – such as large animal groups – have been suggested to operate at or near so-called critical points, at which they show maximum sensitivity towards environmental signals [1]. We have studied large fish shoals of sulphur mollies (Poecilia sulphuraria) in Southern Mexico, which perform collective diving cascades as a response to predation. Through agent-based numerical simulations and analyzing videos and images, we investigated the structure and role of the underlying social interaction network. As changes in spatial structure are strictly local, the resulting network and its changes will strongly depend on the spatial wiring mechanism. Important question remain unanswered: How do local heterogeneities affect how behaviour spreads? What are the effects of changes in the network on the behavioural contagion and discrimination ability of the system? Our results contribute to a better understanding of mechanisms of self-organization and how collectives may self-tune their distance to criticality. [1]Gomez-Nava et al. Fish shoals resemble a stochastic excitable system, Nature Physics 19, 2023
Keywords: self-organized criticality; collective behaviour; local heterogeneities; agent-based modelling