Impact on the collective behaviour of animal groups
Disturbance events such as human interference or predator attacks may negatively affect animal groups. Using an innovative tracking technique, researchers from the University of Konstanz and the Max Planck Institute for Ornithology in Germany have demonstrated how groups of birds become less efficient at foraging together after group members had been separated for just two days. In the paper, published in the current issue of the scientific journal Proceedings of the Royal Society B, the biologists Dr. Adriana Maldonado-Chaparro, Mr Gustavo Alarcon-Nieto, Mr James Klaveras-Irby and Dr. Damien Farine investigated the effect of disturbance events on the ability for animal groups to perform a collective task, and the mechanisms underlying changes in group responses.