A - Papers appearing in refereed journals
Reynolds, A. M. 2018. Fluctuating environments drive insect swarms into a new state that is robust to perturbations. EPL. 124, p. 38001. https://doi.org/10.1209/0295-5075/124/38001
Authors | Reynolds, A. M. |
---|---|
Abstract | In contrast with laboratory insect swarms, wild insect swarms display significant coordinated behaviour. Here it is hypothesised that the presence of a fluctuating environment drives the formation of transient, local order (synchronized subgroups), and that this local order pushes the swarm as a whole into a new state that is robust to environmental perturbations. The hypothesis finds support in a theoretical analysis and in an analysis of pre-existing telemetry data for swarming mosquitoes. I suggest that local order is sufficient to make swarms fault-tolerant and that the swarm state and structure may be tuneable with environmental noise as a control parameter. The new theory opens a window onto thermodynamic descriptions of swarm behaviours and extends a long-standing analogy with self-gravitating systems. |
Keywords | Insect swarms |
Year of Publication | 2018 |
Journal | EPL |
Journal citation | 124, p. 38001 |
Digital Object Identifier (DOI) | https://doi.org/10.1209/0295-5075/124/38001 |
Open access | Published as ‘gold’ (paid) open access |
Funder | Biotechnology and Biological Sciences Research Council |
Funder project or code | BBSRC Strategic Programme in Smart Crop Protection |
Publisher's version | Copyright license CC BY |
Accepted author manuscript | Copyright license CC BY |
Output status | Published |
Publication dates | |
Online | 06 Dec 2018 |
Publication process dates | |
Accepted | 07 Nov 2018 |
Publisher | IOP Publishing Ltd |
ISSN | 0295-5075 |
Permalink - https://repository.rothamsted.ac.uk/item/84v45/fluctuating-environments-drive-insect-swarms-into-a-new-state-that-is-robust-to-perturbations