Collective animal navigation and migratory culture: from theoretical models to empirical evidence

Abstract

Animals often travel in groups, and their navigational decisions can be influenced by social interactions. Both theory and empirical observations suggest that such collective navigation can result in individuals improving their ability to find their way and could be one of the key benefits of sociality for these species. Here we provide an overview of the potential mechanisms underlying collective navigation and review the known, and supposed, empirical evidence for such behaviour, and highlight interesting directions for future research. We further explore how both social and collective learning during group navigation could lead to the accumulation of knowledge at the population level, resulting in the emergence of migratory culture.

Changes in group size during resource shifts reveal drivers of sociality across the tree of life

“…Larger groups can more easily disperse from a poor habitat to a new habitat. This benefit may arise because groups move more efficiently while searching for a new environment, such as Mormon crickets that move more ballistically as a swarm 105–107 and slime molds that self-assemble into a dispersal stalk 109 . Alternatively, larger groups may disperse more successfully by accessing one or more of the other collective benefits when traveling (such as storks saving energy by collectively sensing air thermals 112 ) or when they arrive at their new habitat (such as some ant species that exhibit increased survival of new colonies when multiple queens found nests together 114–116 ).…”

Machine learning for active matter

“…Swarming provides several benefits to the individuals: it can reduce the risk of predation, increase the opportunities for feeding, provide chances for reproduction, and reduce energy consumption by optimizing hydrodynamical interactions in schools of fish or flocks of birds 58,68 . However, swarming requires different navigation skills compared to moving alone 69 . Developing such skills entails a cost, so the corresponding strategies can only emerge through Figure adapted with permission from ref.…”

Infected or informed? Social structure and the simultaneous transmission of information and infectious disease

“…For example, Liu et al (), when modelling the synergistic spread of multiple pieces of information transmitted simultaneously, showed that individuals having adopted one piece of information were subsequently more likely to adopt the other piece of information, one enhancing the other. A similar scenario in animal societies may be choosing to follow a particular individual's migratory route leading to an increased likelihood of socially learning a more efficient version of that route (Berdahl et al ). Alternatively, different types of information might compete, with one piece of information overriding/displacing the other (Kostka et al , Trpevski et al ).…”