Foraging on the move

Description

Many animals forage in groups while moving from one location to another. This means individuals have to simultaneously balance several demands: finding the best resources, maintaining the cohesion of the group, and in some cases moving in a certain direction.

Can we develop an agent-based model with a simple set of individual movement rules that would allow for all these demands to be met? (Then extent to look at how habitat structure affects group movement.)

References

• Planet Earth: Plains: Following the Caribou
• Flocks, herds and schools: A distributed behavioral model
• W. D. Hamilton (1971). "Geometry for the Selfish Herd." JTB. 31 (2): 295-311.

Members

• Allison Shaw
• Andrew Berdahl
• Kate Behrman
• Liliana Salvador
• Steven Lade

Original Discussion

Snapshot of caribou migration.

Allison Shaw: Many animals forage in groups while moving from one location to another. This means individuals have to simultaneously balance several demands: finding the best resources, maintaining the cohesion of the group, and in some cases moving in a certain direction. Can we develop an agent-based model with a simple set of individual movement rules that would allow for all these demands to be met?

This was inspired by a piece of Planet Earth footage on caribou: go to http://dsc.discovery.com/convergence/planet-earth/video-player/video-player.html, scroll down in the video clips to "Planet Earth: Plains: Following the Caribou" and watch the dynamics at about 1:30-2:00. (If anyone has a hard copy of this segment or knows how to get one, please let me know!). In this case each individual caribou pauses to eat along the way but the group never fragments and in fact it seems to almost 'flow' through an area. My guess is that one of the physicists could provide some interesting insight on how to model this.

Daniel Wuellner: Cool idea. Most importantly: I actually brought the Planet Earth DVDs with me which I'll happily lend; maybe we can organize a viewing w/ a projector somewhere.

• Roozbeh Daneshvar: Daniel, I am absolutely in for such a preview. Can you upload it in After Hours so that we all watch it together?

I think there's some swarm literature out there for ideas on rules you could extend to incorporate foraging (or any other caribouish behavior). The one I know is Flocks, herds and schools: A distributed behavioral model (this actually might be the 'original' swarm paper).

Kate Behrman: I also interested in this. One possible extension could be to consider how the structure of the landscape between the two locations affects the movement of the group.

Murad Mithani: It sounds similar to what happens when the cognitive processes are focused on a particular problem to come up with ideas. The initiation of problem solving is a conscious mechanism that flourishes when that initial push is taken away. If you guys are planning to model this in some way, count me in.

Steven Lade: I like the sound of this too. Dare I suggest a meeting, perhaps one lunchtime, to flesh out plans a little more? Allison, since it was your idea, would you like to call it?

Allison Shaw: Sure, that would be great! How about lunch tomorrow (Tuesday the 16th)? Let's try to synchronize sitting together. I talked to JP about doing a Planet Earth showing and he said we could use the projector for the lectures, but we'd need to get a decent set of speakers (as far as I know there isn't a working TV/DVD combination in any of the lounges and we'd have to pay to use the more advanced media system in the lecture room).