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Scientific Meeting - From Despotism to Democracy: leadership and coordination in animal groups
Dates: 9 Oct 2007
Times: 6:00 pm - 7:45 pm
Take any human society, past or present, and you’ll find some form of leadership or authority structure, located on a spectrum stretching from despotism to democracy. Such leadership is a means by which groups can gain from cooperation and achieve a common goal. But we still know surprisingly little about how groups of animals make decisions as a group.
© Andrew KingHow does a swarm of bees choose a new nest site? A flock of birds decide when to leave a foraging patch? Or a group of primates decide on their direction of travel?
In each of these examples, unless group members decide on the same action, the group will split up and individuals will forfeit many of the advantages gained from being in that group.
© Alex RogersScientists working on the evolution and behaviour of decision-making in animal groups on a range of species, and at different scales, will talk on this topical subject. Implications for our understanding of how large-scale biological patterns result from the actions and interactions of the individual components of a system will then be discussed.
Organised by Andrew J. King and Dr Guy Cowlishaw, Institute of Zoology, ZSL
Speakers
- Larissa Conradt Department of Biology & Environmental Sciences, University of Sussex, Brighton
- Sean A. Rands School of Clinical Veterinary Science, University of Bristol, Bristol
- Andrew J. King University College London & Institute of Zoology, ZSL, London
Guest Chair: Professor Jens Krause, Faculty of Biological Sciences, University of Leeds
Further Reading: "Swarm theory" - a National Geographic article by Peter Miller.
From Despotism to Democracy Scientific Meeting abstracts (44 KB)
Please note that this event was part of the 2007-08 Scientific Meetings programme
Further Information: please contact Joy Hayward, Scientific Meetings Coordinator, Zoological Society of London, Regents Park, London NW1 4RY.
Tel:+44 (0)20 7449 6227. Fax: +44 (0)20 7449 6411. E-mail: joy.hayward@zsl.org.
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