How many birds does it take to put a flock to flight?
Article Abstract:
A new study investigates the composition of foraging flocks and the effects of disturbance on flocks. The investigation of a flight of sanderlings examines the flying decisions of individuals and their effect on the behaviour of the flock as a whole. It is shown that flocks of sanderlings do not always fly together, although an increase in flock size increases the number of birds that fly without the whole flock taking flight. Disturbance results in a more cohesive flock departure.
Publication Name: Animal Behaviour
Subject: Zoology and wildlife conservation
ISSN: 0003-3472
Year: 1997
User Contributions:
Comment about this article or add new information about this topic:
Testing mutualism: a commentary on Clements & Stephens
Article Abstract:
Gilbert & Stephens' (1995) experiments testing non-kin cooperation between pairs of captive blue jays pecking for food show no evidence that one bird's behaviour is modified by the presence of the other and the results do not show true mutualism. Mutualistic behaviour must show some evidence of cooperation between the two birds, which in Clements & Stephens' tests is lacking. Cooperation should be defined in terms of behaviour rather than rewards.
Publication Name: Animal Behaviour
Subject: Zoology and wildlife conservation
ISSN: 0003-3472
Year: 1997
User Contributions:
Comment about this article or add new information about this topic:
Cooperation through interdependence
Article Abstract:
The extent to which cooperation might be explained by individuals being interdependent is explained. The interdependencies are highlighted as an integral part of social behavior, and are formalized in terms of stakes that individuals have in each other.
Publication Name: Animal Behaviour
Subject: Zoology and wildlife conservation
ISSN: 0003-3472
Year: 2005
User Contributions:
Comment about this article or add new information about this topic:
- Abstracts: How many grizzlies in Yellowstone? Using the Lotka-Leslie model for sea otters. What should we do about hypothesis testing?
- Abstracts: Picosecond discharges and stick-slip friction at a moving meniscus of mercury on glass. Mechanical detection of magnetic resonance
- Abstracts: Russian waste goes to ground. $6bn package to cut US carbon emissions comes under attack. US launches probe into sales of unapproved transgenic corn
- Abstracts: Community Markets for Conservation. The greatest living thing on earth. It takes guts
- Abstracts: A massive black hole at the centre of the quiescent galaxy M32. Energy input from quasars regulates the growth and activity of black holes and their host galaxies