Group movement and animal social networks
Group movement and animal social networks
Moving in groups is integral to the life histories of many animals. The term ‘collective motion’ is used to describe the synchronized motion of groups of animals, such as shoals of fish or flocks of birds, that appear to behave as one body, continually changing shape and direction. Social preferences for relatives, familiar conspecifics, or individuals of similar attributes such as size, personality, or sex exist in many animal species. This chapter reviews how such references, which can be encoded in social networks, could affect the collective motion of animal groups. While empirical data on this topic is scarce, a rich theory is in the process of being developed, creating interesting hypotheses and avenues for future research. The chapter begins with describing the importance of social networks for movement dynamics within populations and highlighting the effects social networks could have on the movement of and between distinct groups. The chapter then reviews the role of social networks on within-group movement dynamics. Next, the importance of considering mechanisms at the individual level is highlighted. The chapter ends with a discussion of the challenges in collecting empirical data to test the hypotheses created by theoretical approaches to date.
Keywords: social network, collective motion, group movement, flocks, shoals
Oxford Scholarship Online requires a subscription or purchase to access the full text of books within the service. Public users can however freely search the site and view the abstracts and keywords for each book and chapter.
Please, subscribe or login to access full text content.
If you think you should have access to this title, please contact your librarian.
To troubleshoot, please check our FAQs , and if you can't find the answer there, please contact us .
