title: Obstacle avoidance in social groups: new insights from asynchronous models.
abstract: For moving animals, the successful avoidance of hazardous obstacles is an important capability. Despite this, few models of collective motion have addressed the relationship between behavioural and social features and obstacle avoidance. We develop an asynchronous individual-based model for social movement which allows social structure within groups to be included. We assess the dynamics of group navigation and resulting collision risk in the context of information transfer through the system. In agreement with previous work, we find that group size has a nonlinear effect on collision risk. We implement examples of possible network structures to explore the impact social preferences have on collision risk. We show that any social heterogeneity induces greater obstacle avoidance with further improvements corresponding to groups containing fewer influential individuals. The model provides a platform for both further theoretical investigation and practical application. In particular, we argue that the role of social structures within bird flocks may have an important role to play in assessing the risk of collisions with wind turbines, but that new methods of data analysis are needed to identify these social structures.
authors.affiliation: Department of Biology, University of York, Heslington, York YO10 5DD, UK National Wildlife Management Centre, Animal and Plant Health Agency (APHA), Sand Hutton Campus, York YO41 1LZ, UK.
authors.forename: Simon
authors.initials: S
authors.lastname: Croft
authors.affiliation: National Wildlife Management Centre, Animal and Plant Health Agency (APHA), Sand Hutton Campus, York YO41 1LZ, UK.
authors.forename: Richard
authors.initials: R
authors.lastname: Budgey
authors.affiliation: Department of Biology, University of York, Heslington, York YO10 5DD, UK Department of Mathematics, University of York, Heslington, York YO10 5DD, UK.
authors.forename: Jonathan W
authors.initials: JW
authors.lastname: Pitchford
authors.affiliation: Department of Biology, University of York, Heslington, York YO10 5DD, UK Department of Mathematics, University of York, Heslington, York YO10 5DD, UK jamie.wood@york.ac.uk.
authors.forename: A Jamie
authors.initials: AJ
authors.lastname: Wood
mesh_terms: D000818:Animals; D003198:Computer Simulation; D003299:Cooperative Behavior; D005684:Gait / Q000502:physiology*; D006801:Humans; D015233:Models, Statistical; D017711:Nonlinear Dynamics; D060756:Social Networking; D065854:Spatial Navigation / Q000502:physiology*
keywords: bird; collision risk; individual-based model; obstacle avoidance; social network; wind turbine
references.citation: Ecology. 2007 Jul;88(7):1864-70
references.pmid: 17645033
references.citation: J Theor Biol. 2002 Sep 7;218(1):1-11
references.pmid: 12297066
references.citation: Nature. 2005 Feb 3;433(7025):513-6
references.pmid: 15690039
references.citation: Science. 2012 Jan 6;335(6064):108-11
references.pmid: 22157081
references.citation: Proc Natl Acad Sci U S A. 2007 May 1;104(18):7471-6
references.pmid: 17452634
references.citation: J R Soc Interface. 2012 Sep 7;9(74):2120-30
references.pmid: 22552921
references.citation: Phys Rev Lett. 2013 Jun 7;110(23):238101
references.pmid: 25167531
references.citation: Proc Natl Acad Sci U S A. 2012 Jan 3;109(1):227-32
references.pmid: 22184210
references.citation: J Theor Biol. 2002 Feb 7;214(3):371-87
references.pmid: 11846596
references.citation: J R Soc Interface. 2011 Feb 6;8(55):301-4
references.pmid: 20826476
references.citation: Proc Biol Sci. 2010 Oct 22;277(1697):3065-70
references.pmid: 20504810
references.citation: Proc Natl Acad Sci U S A. 2013 Aug 6;110(32):13049-54
references.pmid: 23878247
references.citation: Anim Behav. 2013 Oct;86(4):685-696
references.pmid: 24109147
references.citation: Ann N Y Acad Sci. 2008;1134:233-66
references.pmid: 18566097
references.citation: PLoS One. 2010;5(4):e10047
references.pmid: 20383280
references.citation: Proc Natl Acad Sci U S A. 2008 Jan 29;105(4):1232-7
references.pmid: 18227508
references.citation: Interface Focus. 2012 Dec 6;2(6):726-37
references.pmid: 24312726
references.citation: J Theor Biol. 2010 Dec 7;267(3):292-9
references.pmid: 20816990