Empirical investigation of starling flocks: a benchmark study in collective animal behaviour
Empirical investigation of starling flocks: a benchmark study in collective animal behaviour
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DOI：
10.1016/j.anbehav.2008.02.004
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发表时间：
2008-07-01
期刊：
影响因子：
2.5
通讯作者：
Zdravkovic, Vladimir
中科院分区：
文献类型：
--
作者：
Ballerini, Michele;Cabibbo, Nicola;Zdravkovic, Vladimir
群鸟是动物集体行为的一个显著例子。这一现象的一个生动的例证是空中显示的大量椋鸟群在黄昏时聚集在栖息地上空，并以非凡的空间一致性旋转。由于缺乏关于大型鸟群的数据，人们对鸟群的进化理由和机械定律都知之甚少。在这里，我们报告的定量研究空中显示。我们测量了多达2700只鸟的紧凑群中的个体三维位置。我们调查的主要特点的羊群作为一个整体（形状，运动，密度和结构），我们讨论这些紧急属性的分组现象。鸡群相对较瘦，大小不一，但比例恒定。它们倾向于平行于地面滑动，在转弯时，它们的方向会随着运动方向而改变。每只鸟彼此之间保持的最小距离与它们的翼展相当。集群内的密度是不均匀的，因为鸟类在边缘比在集群中心挤得更紧。这些结果构成了第一组关于三维动物聚集的大规模数据。目前的动物集体行为模型和理论现在可以用这些数据进行检验。(C)2008年，动物行为研究协会。由爱思唯尔有限公司出版。保留所有权利。
Bird flocking is a striking example of collective animal behaviour. A vivid illustration of this phenomenon is provided by the aerial display of vast flocks of starlings gathering at dusk over the roost and swirling with extraordinary spatial coherence. Both the evolutionary justification and the mechanistic laws of flocking are poorly understood, arguably because of a lack of data on large flocks. Here, we report a quantitative study of aerial display. We measured the individual three-dimensional positions in compact flocks of up to 2700 birds. We investigated the main features of the flock as a whole (shape, movement, density and structure) and we discuss these as emergent attributes of the grouping phenomenon. Flocks were relatively thin, of various sizes, but constant proportions. They tended to slide parallel to the ground and, during turns, their orientation changed with respect to the direction of motion. Individual birds kept a minimum distance from each other that was comparable to their wing span. The density within the aggregations was nonhomogeneous, as birds were packed more tightly at the border than the centre of the flock. These results constitute the first set of large-scale data on three-dimensional animal aggregations. Current models and theories of collective animal behaviour can now be tested against these data. (C) 2008 The Association for the Study of Animal Behaviour. Published by Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved.