大型自然发生的椋鸟群的实证研究：集体动物行为的基准
An empirical study of large, naturally occurring starling flocks: a benchmark in collective animal behaviour
摘要：
群鸟是动物集体行为的一个显著例子。这一现象的一个生动的例证是空中显示的大量椋鸟群在黄昏时聚集在栖息地上空，并以非凡的空间一致性旋转。由于缺乏关于大型鸟群的数据，人们对鸟群的进化理由和机械定律都知之甚少。在这里，我们报告的定量研究空中显示。我们测量了多达2700只鸟的紧凑群中的个体三维位置。我们研究了群体作为一个整体的主要特征-形状，运动，密度和结构-并讨论这些作为分组现象的新兴属性。我们发现，羊群是相对较薄的，具有可变的大小，但恒定的比例。它们倾向于平行于地面滑动，并且在转弯期间，它们的取向相对于运动方向而改变。每只鸟之间保持的最小距离与它们的翼展相当。集群内的密度是不均匀的，因为鸟类在边界比在集群中心挤得更紧。这些结果构成了第一组关于三维动物聚集的大规模数据。目前的集体动物行为模型和理论现在可以根据这些结果进行测试。
英文摘要：
Bird flocking is a striking example of collective animal behaviour. A vivid illustration of this phenomenon is provided by the aerial display of vast flocks of starlings gathering at dusk over the roost and swirling with extraordinary spatial coherence. Both the evolutionary justification and the mechanistic laws of flocking are poorly understood, arguably because of a lack of data on large flocks. Here, we report a quantitative study of aerial display. We measured the individual three-dimensional positions in compact flocks of up to 2700 birds. We investigated the main features of the flock as a whole - shape, movement, density and structure - and discuss these as emergent attributes of the grouping phenomenon. We find that flocks are relatively thin, with variable sizes, but constant proportions. They tend to slide parallel to the ground and, during turns, their orientation changes with respect to the direction of motion. Individual birds keep a minimum distance from each other that is comparable to their wingspan. The density within the aggregations is non-homogeneous, as birds are packed more tightly at the border compared to the centre of the flock. These results constitute the first set of large-scale data on three-dimensional animal aggregations. Current models and theories of collective animal behaviour can now be tested against these results.
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