Effective Leadership And Decision-Making In Animal Groups On The Move

Complexity Digest 2005.06 - 09.01

07-Feb-2005

Effective Leadership And Decision-Making In Animal Groups On The Move, Nature

Excerpts: Using a simple model we show how information can be transferred within groups both without signalling and when group members do not know which individuals, if any, have information. We reveal that the larger the group the smaller the proportion of informed individuals needed to guide the group, (...). We also demonstrate how groups can make consensus decisions, even though informed individuals do not know whether they are in a majority or minority, (...), or even whether there are any other informed individuals.

Source: Effective Leadership And Decision-Making In Animal Groups On The Move
[ http://www.nature.com/cgi-taf/DynaPage.taf?file=/nature/journal/v433/n7025/full/nature03236_fs.html ], Iain D. Couzin1, Jens Krause, Nigel R. Franks, Simon A. Levin, DOI: 10.1038/nature03236, Nature 433, 513 - 516, 05/02/03