TY - GEN
T1 - Understanding fission-fusion dynamics in social animals through agent-based modelling
AU - Ramos-Fernández, Gabriel
AU - Boyer, Denis
AU - Miramontes, Octavio
N1 - Publisher Copyright:
© 2016 MIT Press. All rights reserved.
PY - 2016
Y1 - 2016
N2 - This paper describes the way in which we have employed agent-based models to understand fission-fusion dynamics (FFD), a collective pattern of behavior in many social animals. Groups with a high degree of FFD split into subgroups that vary in size, cohesion and composition, often within short temporal scales. These dynamics are thought to be more complex than those of other species with cohesive, stable groups, leading to hypotheses about the origin of social intelligence. Also, a flexible grouping pattern is supposed to be an adaptive solution to the temporal and spatial variation in feeding resources. We have used models where relatively simple agents forage in realistic, heterogenous environments and have shown that, for intermediate levels of heterogeneity in the size of food patches, agents form subgroups that vary in size and composition in a similar fashion as they do in species with a high degree of FFD. We have also explored the idea that by splitting in subgroups that vary in size, animals can exploit a heterogeneous environment with ephemeral food sources more efficiently than cohesive groups. Agent-based models have provided ways to test hypotheses and develop predictions about social and ecological dynamics.
AB - This paper describes the way in which we have employed agent-based models to understand fission-fusion dynamics (FFD), a collective pattern of behavior in many social animals. Groups with a high degree of FFD split into subgroups that vary in size, cohesion and composition, often within short temporal scales. These dynamics are thought to be more complex than those of other species with cohesive, stable groups, leading to hypotheses about the origin of social intelligence. Also, a flexible grouping pattern is supposed to be an adaptive solution to the temporal and spatial variation in feeding resources. We have used models where relatively simple agents forage in realistic, heterogenous environments and have shown that, for intermediate levels of heterogeneity in the size of food patches, agents form subgroups that vary in size and composition in a similar fashion as they do in species with a high degree of FFD. We have also explored the idea that by splitting in subgroups that vary in size, animals can exploit a heterogeneous environment with ephemeral food sources more efficiently than cohesive groups. Agent-based models have provided ways to test hypotheses and develop predictions about social and ecological dynamics.
UR - http://www.scopus.com/inward/record.url?scp=85087104773&partnerID=8YFLogxK
M3 - Contribución a la conferencia
AN - SCOPUS:85087104773
T3 - Proceedings of the Artificial Life Conference 2016, ALIFE 2016
BT - Proceedings of the Artificial Life Conference 2016, ALIFE 2016
A2 - Gershenson, Carlos
A2 - Froese, Tom
A2 - Siqueiros, Jesus M.
A2 - Aguilar, Wendy
A2 - Izquierdo, Eduardo J.
A2 - Hiroki, Sayama
PB - MIT Press Journals
T2 - 15th International Conference on the Synthesis and Simulation of Living Systems, ALIFE 2016
Y2 - 4 July 2016 through 8 July 2016
ER -