Inferring the rules of social interaction in migrating caribou
Social interactions are a significant factor that influence the decision-making of species ranging from humans to bacteria. In the context of animal migration, social interactions may lead to improved decision-making, greater ability to respond to environmental cues, and the cultural transmission of...
Published in: | Philosophical Transactions of the Royal Society B: Biological Sciences |
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Online Access: | http://dx.doi.org/10.1098/rstb.2017.0385 https://royalsocietypublishing.org/doi/pdf/10.1098/rstb.2017.0385 https://royalsocietypublishing.org/doi/full-xml/10.1098/rstb.2017.0385 |
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crroyalsociety:10.1098/rstb.2017.0385 2024-06-23T07:52:04+00:00 Inferring the rules of social interaction in migrating caribou Torney, Colin J. Lamont, Myles Debell, Leon Angohiatok, Ryan J. Leclerc, Lisa-Marie Berdahl, Andrew M. James S. McDonnell Foundation Division of Integrative Organismal Systems 2018 http://dx.doi.org/10.1098/rstb.2017.0385 https://royalsocietypublishing.org/doi/pdf/10.1098/rstb.2017.0385 https://royalsocietypublishing.org/doi/full-xml/10.1098/rstb.2017.0385 en eng The Royal Society https://royalsociety.org/journals/ethics-policies/data-sharing-mining/ Philosophical Transactions of the Royal Society B: Biological Sciences volume 373, issue 1746, page 20170385 ISSN 0962-8436 1471-2970 journal-article 2018 crroyalsociety https://doi.org/10.1098/rstb.2017.0385 2024-06-04T06:23:09Z Social interactions are a significant factor that influence the decision-making of species ranging from humans to bacteria. In the context of animal migration, social interactions may lead to improved decision-making, greater ability to respond to environmental cues, and the cultural transmission of optimal routes. Despite their significance, the precise nature of social interactions in migrating species remains largely unknown. Here we deploy unmanned aerial systems to collect aerial footage of caribou as they undertake their migration from Victoria Island to mainland Canada. Through a Bayesian analysis of trajectories we reveal the fine-scale interaction rules of migrating caribou and show they are attracted to one another and copy directional choices of neighbours, but do not interact through clearly defined metric or topological interaction ranges. By explicitly considering the role of social information on movement decisions we construct a map of near neighbour influence that quantifies the nature of information flow in these herds. These results will inform more realistic, mechanism-based models of migration in caribou and other social ungulates, leading to better predictions of spatial use patterns and responses to changing environmental conditions. Moreover, we anticipate that the protocol we developed here will be broadly applicable to study social behaviour in a wide range of migratory and non-migratory taxa. This article is part of the theme issue ‘Collective movement ecology’. Article in Journal/Newspaper caribou Victoria Island victoria island The Royal Society Canada Philosophical Transactions of the Royal Society B: Biological Sciences 373 1746 20170385 |
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The Royal Society |
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crroyalsociety |
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English |
description |
Social interactions are a significant factor that influence the decision-making of species ranging from humans to bacteria. In the context of animal migration, social interactions may lead to improved decision-making, greater ability to respond to environmental cues, and the cultural transmission of optimal routes. Despite their significance, the precise nature of social interactions in migrating species remains largely unknown. Here we deploy unmanned aerial systems to collect aerial footage of caribou as they undertake their migration from Victoria Island to mainland Canada. Through a Bayesian analysis of trajectories we reveal the fine-scale interaction rules of migrating caribou and show they are attracted to one another and copy directional choices of neighbours, but do not interact through clearly defined metric or topological interaction ranges. By explicitly considering the role of social information on movement decisions we construct a map of near neighbour influence that quantifies the nature of information flow in these herds. These results will inform more realistic, mechanism-based models of migration in caribou and other social ungulates, leading to better predictions of spatial use patterns and responses to changing environmental conditions. Moreover, we anticipate that the protocol we developed here will be broadly applicable to study social behaviour in a wide range of migratory and non-migratory taxa. This article is part of the theme issue ‘Collective movement ecology’. |
author2 |
James S. McDonnell Foundation Division of Integrative Organismal Systems |
format |
Article in Journal/Newspaper |
author |
Torney, Colin J. Lamont, Myles Debell, Leon Angohiatok, Ryan J. Leclerc, Lisa-Marie Berdahl, Andrew M. |
spellingShingle |
Torney, Colin J. Lamont, Myles Debell, Leon Angohiatok, Ryan J. Leclerc, Lisa-Marie Berdahl, Andrew M. Inferring the rules of social interaction in migrating caribou |
author_facet |
Torney, Colin J. Lamont, Myles Debell, Leon Angohiatok, Ryan J. Leclerc, Lisa-Marie Berdahl, Andrew M. |
author_sort |
Torney, Colin J. |
title |
Inferring the rules of social interaction in migrating caribou |
title_short |
Inferring the rules of social interaction in migrating caribou |
title_full |
Inferring the rules of social interaction in migrating caribou |
title_fullStr |
Inferring the rules of social interaction in migrating caribou |
title_full_unstemmed |
Inferring the rules of social interaction in migrating caribou |
title_sort |
inferring the rules of social interaction in migrating caribou |
publisher |
The Royal Society |
publishDate |
2018 |
url |
http://dx.doi.org/10.1098/rstb.2017.0385 https://royalsocietypublishing.org/doi/pdf/10.1098/rstb.2017.0385 https://royalsocietypublishing.org/doi/full-xml/10.1098/rstb.2017.0385 |
geographic |
Canada |
geographic_facet |
Canada |
genre |
caribou Victoria Island victoria island |
genre_facet |
caribou Victoria Island victoria island |
op_source |
Philosophical Transactions of the Royal Society B: Biological Sciences volume 373, issue 1746, page 20170385 ISSN 0962-8436 1471-2970 |
op_rights |
https://royalsociety.org/journals/ethics-policies/data-sharing-mining/ |
op_doi |
https://doi.org/10.1098/rstb.2017.0385 |
container_title |
Philosophical Transactions of the Royal Society B: Biological Sciences |
container_volume |
373 |
container_issue |
1746 |
container_start_page |
20170385 |
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1802643282411388928 |