Alex Jordan, Max Planck Institute for Ornithology and University of Konstanz: Mechanisms of social influence in animal groups

Understanding how individuals in social groups and collectives interact and influence each others’ behaviour is a central challenge in modern science, and an analysis of how the nature, frequency, and fine-scale detail of these interactions leads to emergent properties at the level of the collective is essential for achieving progress in fields ranging from the dynamics of information exchange in digital systems, human societies, and social organisms. In this talk I will discuss ongoing research using computational ethological techniques, analyses of neuroanatomy and neural activity, and traditional ecological field observations to understand the evolution of social behaviour. In my lab we leverage the incredible diversity of social behaviours and social systems present in the Lamprologine cichlid fishes of Lake Tanganyika to uncover the mechanisms and evolutionary pathways to complex social behaviour and group structure.