Personality and collective decision-making in foraging

(1233 articles) ecology (276 articles) cognition (1086 articles) behaviour Articles on similar topics can be found in the following collections Email alerting service here right-hand corner of the article or click Receive free email alerts when new articles cite this article-sign up in the box at the top The mechanisms by which group-living animals collectively exploit resources, and the role of individuals in group decisions, are central issues for understanding animal distribution patterns. We investigated the extent to which boldness and shyness affect the distribution of social herbivores across vegetation patches, using sheep as a model species. Using an experimental and a theoretical approach, we show that collective choices emerge through the nonlinear dynamics of interactions between individuals, at both short and long distances. Within a range of parameter values derived from the observation of homogeneous groups of each behavioural type, we propose a simple mechanism whereby the same interaction rules can result in different patterns of distribution across patches for bold and shy individuals. We present a mathematical model based on behavioural rules derived from experiments, in which crowding and con-specific attraction affect the probability of entering or leaving patches. Variation in the strength of social attraction is sufficient to account for differences in spatial distribution across patches. The model predicts that resource fragmentation more strongly affects the distribution patterns of shy groups, and suggests that the presence of both bold and shy individuals within groups would result in more flexible behaviour at the population level. 1. INTRODUCTION In group-living species, integrated decisions made by individuals result in collective behaviours which may, in turn, influence interactions between individuals and shape the resulting social system. Since the early 1970s, collective decision-making has been studied in several taxa (Camazine et al. With a few noticeable exceptions, studies carried out with social or gregarious insects and in fishes have provided most of the experimental support for principles underlying collective decisions, while theoretical