St Andrews Research Repository

St Andrews University Home
View Item 
  •   St Andrews Research Repository
  • University of St Andrews Research
  • University of St Andrews Research
  • University of St Andrews Research
  • View Item
  •   St Andrews Research Repository
  • University of St Andrews Research
  • University of St Andrews Research
  • University of St Andrews Research
  • View Item
  •   St Andrews Research Repository
  • University of St Andrews Research
  • University of St Andrews Research
  • University of St Andrews Research
  • View Item
  • Login
JavaScript is disabled for your browser. Some features of this site may not work without it.

Experience and motivation shape leader-follower interactions in fish shoals

Thumbnail
View/Open
Webster_Leader_follower_PURE.pdf (730.3Kb)
Date
2017
Author
Webster, Michael Munro
Keywords
Leadership
Self-organization
Social foraging
Social information
Social organization
QH301 Biology
QL Zoology
DAS
Metadata
Show full item record
Altmetrics Handle Statistics
Altmetrics DOI Statistics
Abstract
Leadership is an important process shaping collective movement in some species. Recent work has demonstrated that experienced or motivated individuals can emerge as leaders, and provides insight into the mechanisms by which this occurs. Ultimately, leadership depends upon the effectiveness with which would-be leaders can entrain followers, and while the properties of leaders have received much attention, less is known about the factors that affect the propensity of their groupmates to follow them. Here the roles of experience and state (hunger) in shaping leader and follower behavior were investigated using shoals of sticklebacks (Gasterosteus aculeatus). A first experiment revealed that individuals trained to approach a target could entrain and lead their naïve groupmates out of a refuge towards it, and that they did so more effectively when they (the trained fish) were food-deprived. In the second experiment the hunger level of the trained fish was held constant, while that of the naïve fish was varied. Here, leadership by trained fish was only apparent when the hunger levels of the naïve group members were intermediate. When naïve fish were recently fed they took a long time to visit the target and their arrival times were not affected by the presence of a trained individual. Very hungry groups recruited to the target most rapidly, but again with no evidence of influence by their trained groupmates. These experiments demonstrate that leadership in animal groups depends not only upon the state and experience of the leader but also upon that of the potential followers.
Citation
Webster , M M 2017 , ' Experience and motivation shape leader-follower interactions in fish shoals ' , Behavioral Ecology , vol. 28 , no. 1 , pp. 77-84 . https://doi.org/10.1093/beheco/arw133
Publication
Behavioral Ecology
Status
Peer reviewed
DOI
https://doi.org/10.1093/beheco/arw133
ISSN
1045-2249
Type
Journal article
Rights
© 2016, the Author(s). This work is made available online in accordance with the publisher’s policies. This is the author created, accepted version manuscript following peer review and may differ slightly from the final published version. The final published version of this work is available at beheco.oxfordjournals.org / https://dx.doi.org/10.1093/beheco/arw133
Collections
  • University of St Andrews Research
URI
http://hdl.handle.net/10023/11539

Items in the St Andrews Research Repository are protected by copyright, with all rights reserved, unless otherwise indicated.

Advanced Search

Browse

All of RepositoryCommunities & CollectionsBy Issue DateNamesTitlesSubjectsClassificationTypeFunderThis CollectionBy Issue DateNamesTitlesSubjectsClassificationTypeFunder

My Account

Login

Open Access

To find out how you can benefit from open access to research, see our library web pages and Open Access blog. For open access help contact: openaccess@st-andrews.ac.uk.

Accessibility

Read our Accessibility statement.

How to submit research papers

The full text of research papers can be submitted to the repository via Pure, the University's research information system. For help see our guide: How to deposit in Pure.

Electronic thesis deposit

Help with deposit.

Repository help

For repository help contact: Digital-Repository@st-andrews.ac.uk.

Give Feedback

Cookie policy

This site may use cookies. Please see Terms and Conditions.

Usage statistics

COUNTER-compliant statistics on downloads from the repository are available from the IRUS-UK Service. Contact us for information.

© University of St Andrews Library

University of St Andrews is a charity registered in Scotland, No SC013532.

  • Facebook
  • Twitter