Sommerakademien der deutschen Stiftung - Studienstiftung.ch

Arbeitsgruppe 2
Swarm intelligence and conflict resolution: When
animals decide collectively
From insects to mammals, animals living in groups need to make vital decisions collectively
(similar to humans). They have to decide together about communal nesting sites;
communal activities; when and where to forage, shelter or rest; communal migration routes;
and communal enterprises. Often, these decisions have important implications for the
survival and fitness of individuals and for group cohesion. As humans we know just how
difficult it can be to make decisions together as a group - how then do animals do it with
their more limited cognitive abilities and without the help of language?
We will look at animal collective decisions from a theoretical and empirical point of view,
and learn how animals resolve conflicts by sharing decisions ‘democratically’, and how
they improve decision outcomes by pooling personal information (‘swarm intelligence’ ,
which is a similar phenomenon to the ‘wisdom of the crowd’ in humans). We plan to (critically)
discuss together the most recent research results in the area, by developing experiments
together and, potentially, by looking at relevant experiments in the field and lab.
Please note that the seminar will be mainly in English.
Leitung
Teilnehmer
Literatur
Prof. Dr. Gerald Kerth
Angewandte Zoologie und Naturschutz, Universität Greifswald
Studierende aller Fachrichtungen
Conradt, L./Roper, T.J., Consensus Decision Making in Animals, in:
Trends in Ecology and Evolution 20, 2005, S. 449-456.
Kerth, G., Group Decision-making in Animal Societies, in: Animal
Behavior. Evolution and Mechanisms, hg. von P. Kappeler, Springer
Verlag 2010, S. 241-265.
Krause, J./Ruxton, G.D./Krause, S., Swarm Intelligence in Animals
and Humans, in: Trends in Ecology and Evolution 25, 2010, S. 28-
34.
A short article for a broad readership:
Conradt, L., Collective Behaviour: When it Pays to Share Decisions,
in: Nature 471, 2011, S. 40-41.
Akademie IV Greifswald 47