Evolutionary causes and consequences of personality variation in social groups: Do fish schools benefit from individual social personality variation?
Two of biology's most exciting and influential lines of research have emerged from animal behavior in the past decade. First, the study of complex collective behaviors, like shoaling, has shown how these behaviors may emerge from the individual behaviors of independent agents, and the functions they may play. The second emerging line of research, behavioral syndromes or animal personalities, focuses on the causes and consequences of consistent individual behavioral differences. The project will clarify 1) whether individuals vary in their ability to detect and respond to food and predators vs. exploit the information produced by others, 2) whether this tradeoff in use of public vs. private information is related to shoaling behavior, leading to consistent differences in the use of high risk/reward positions within the group (social role specialization), and 3) whether the particular social composition of detectors (private information) vs. responders (public information) affects either the group's ability to respond effectively to food and predators or the relative fitness of different types of individuals.
The Fellow has an extensive mathematical biology background, which will be enhanced by the chosen mentors (Dr. Couzin and Dr. Leonard). The Fellow will be trained to deploy such techniques as real-time video tracking, parallelized simulation of individual based models, analysis with Markov Chain Monte Carlo models, development of robotic fish, and implementation of adaptive dynamics models. Insights gained from the project will be presented at Dr. Couzin's OpenSwarm website, which is being developed to teach the public about collective behavior.
