Signatures of criticality in turning avalanches of schooling fish

Fuente: arXiv
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Autores principales: Puy, Andreu, Gimeno, Elisabet, March-Pons, David, Miguel, M. Carmen, Pastor-Satorras, Romualdo
Formato: Preprint
Publicado: 2023
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author Puy, Andreu
Gimeno, Elisabet
March-Pons, David
Miguel, M. Carmen
Pastor-Satorras, Romualdo
author_facet Puy, Andreu
Gimeno, Elisabet
March-Pons, David
Miguel, M. Carmen
Pastor-Satorras, Romualdo
contents Moving animal groups transmit information through propagating waves or behavioral cascades, exhibiting characteristics akin to systems near a critical point from statistical physics. Using data from freely swimming schooling fish in an experimental tank, we investigate spontaneous behavioral cascades involving turning avalanches, where large directional shifts propagate across the group. We analyze several avalanche metrics and provide a detailed picture of the dynamics associated to turning avalanches, employing tools from avalanche behavior in condensed matter physics and seismology. Our results identify power-law distributions and robust scale-free behaviour through data collapses and scaling relationships, confirming a necessary condition for criticality in fish schools. We explore the biological function of turning avalanches and link them to collective decision-making processes in selecting a new movement direction for the school. We report relevant boundary effects arising from interactions with the tank walls and influential roles of boundary individuals. Finally, spatial and temporal correlations in avalanches are explored using the concept of aftershocks from seismology, revealing clustering of avalanche events below a designated timescale and an Omori law with a faster decay rate than observed in earthquakes.
format Preprint
id arxiv_https___arxiv_org_abs_2309_16455
institution arXiv
publishDate 2023
record_format arxiv
spellingShingle Signatures of criticality in turning avalanches of schooling fish
Puy, Andreu
Gimeno, Elisabet
March-Pons, David
Miguel, M. Carmen
Pastor-Satorras, Romualdo
Biological Physics
Physics and Society
Moving animal groups transmit information through propagating waves or behavioral cascades, exhibiting characteristics akin to systems near a critical point from statistical physics. Using data from freely swimming schooling fish in an experimental tank, we investigate spontaneous behavioral cascades involving turning avalanches, where large directional shifts propagate across the group. We analyze several avalanche metrics and provide a detailed picture of the dynamics associated to turning avalanches, employing tools from avalanche behavior in condensed matter physics and seismology. Our results identify power-law distributions and robust scale-free behaviour through data collapses and scaling relationships, confirming a necessary condition for criticality in fish schools. We explore the biological function of turning avalanches and link them to collective decision-making processes in selecting a new movement direction for the school. We report relevant boundary effects arising from interactions with the tank walls and influential roles of boundary individuals. Finally, spatial and temporal correlations in avalanches are explored using the concept of aftershocks from seismology, revealing clustering of avalanche events below a designated timescale and an Omori law with a faster decay rate than observed in earthquakes.
title Signatures of criticality in turning avalanches of schooling fish
topic Biological Physics
Physics and Society
url https://arxiv.org/abs/2309.16455