October 27, 2021

12:00pm, PST 158 HH and Zoom

Noa Pinter-Wollman
UCLA, Dept of EEB

" Intrinsic and Extrinsic Effects on Social Interactions and Collective Behavior "

Collective outcomes emerge from individual variation among system components, their interactions, and the surrounding environment. Many biological systems are complex aggregates of multiple agents working together towards collective, higher-order goals. There is no central control dictating the activities of members in the assembly. Instead, agents use local rules that determine their behavior. The composition of a group, the way its members interact, and the physical environment in which these interactions occur can all affect the success of the group as a whole. In this talk I will show how extrinsic factors, such as environmental conditions, and intrinsic factors, such as genetics and evolutionary history, shape social interactions and the collective outcomes that emerge from them in honey bees, ants, wasps, and vultures. To study the causes and consequences of sociality my lab combines field and lab studies with computer simulations, theoretical work, image analysis, and social network analysis. We find that both extrinsic and intrinsic factors shape collective behaviors, such as foraging and nest construction, and that individual variation among a system’s components and the interactions among them are fundamental for the functioning of animal societies.

Seminar will be presented live, in-person, in
Hershey Hall, Room 158

Seminar will also be live-streamed via Zoom

 

Host: Dan Blumstein