EAGER: Collaborative Research: The Perceptual Basis of Collective Behavior in a Model Vertebrate

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A fundamental problem in biology is understanding how complex systems work from interactions among its components. In many animal groups, such as schooling fish or flocking birds, coordinated movements are thought to result from self-organizing social interactions among individuals. However, little is known about the social cues that the organisms within groups pay attention to and how they integrate them during decision-making, or how these interactions produce collective behavior. The proposed research combines novel experimental and computational approaches to investigate the relationship between sensory input and collective behavior using zebrafish as an experimental model. The research focuses on vision, which is essential in the coordination of many animal groups. The researchers will: (a) characterize key dimensions of the visual system, (b) use this sensory information to model the visual saliency of social cues, (c) incorporate the zebrafish visual information in current models that track the motion of individuals in real shoals, (d) develop and implement new technologies to investigate behavioral responses, and (e) measure these behavioral responses under experimental conditions that manipulate the visual saliency of group mates. Ultimately, this project will increase our understanding of how and why organisms coordinate their behavior in groups. The PI and collaborator will disseminate the results and technologies to the broader scientific community through publications, and give public lectures to broad audiences and schools.