Evidence map›Paper›PMID 25055832›Full record

ArticleScientific reports2014

Route-dependent switch between hierarchical and egalitarian strategies in pigeon flocks.

Hai-Tao Zhang, Zhiyong Chen, Tamás Vicsek, Guanjun Feng, Longsheng Sun, Riqi Su, Tao Zhou

Abstract read
In one paragraph

Article in Scientific reports, 2014. The graph could read no effect estimate from its abstract, so it casts no vote on the map. Cited by 3 papers.

0numbers the graph read from it
0cells of the map it votes in
3citing papers in PubMed
–field-weighted citation impact
1 · What the graph read from it

What it found

Each row is one number read from the abstract, on the scale the paper reported it, with its interval. Left of the dashed line favours the treatment, right favours the comparator. Under each row is the sentence it came from. New to these charts? A ten-minute tutorial.

The abstract states no effect estimate the extractor could read, or names no intervention and outcome on the map, so this paper lights no cell and moves no belief. It is still indexed, cited and linked below.

2 · The registry

The trial behind it

Trials whose registry record cites this paper, or whose number appears in the abstract. A trial that started after this paper was published is citing it as background, not reporting it.

Neither the registry nor the abstract names a trial number. If this is a trial report, that itself is worth knowing.

3 · Its place in the literature

Who cites it

3 citing papers in PubMed.

  1. Dynamic Leadership Mechanism in Homing Pigeon Flocks.Biomimetics (Basel, Switzerland) · 2024
    Article
  2. Article
  3. Article
4 · The record

Corrections and comments

PubMed lists nothing against this paper. Absence here is not a guarantee, only a check that was made.

5 · Who and what money

Authors and funding

7 authors.

Hai-Tao ZhangSchool of Automation, Key Laboratory of Image Processing and Intelligent Control, State Key Laboratory of Digital Manufacturing Equipments and Technology, Huazhong University of Science and Technology, Wuhan 430074, P.R. China.
Zhiyong ChenSchool of Electrical Engineering and Computer Science, The University of Newcastle, Callaghan, NSW 2308, Australia.
Tamás VicsekDepartment of Biological Physics, Eötvös University, Pázmány Péter sétány 1A, H-1117, Budapest, Hungary.
Guanjun FengSchool of Automation, Key Laboratory of Image Processing and Intelligent Control, State Key Laboratory of Digital Manufacturing Equipments and Technology, Huazhong University of Science and Technology, Wuhan 430074, P.R. China.
Longsheng SunSchool of Automation, Key Laboratory of Image Processing and Intelligent Control, State Key Laboratory of Digital Manufacturing Equipments and Technology, Huazhong University of Science and Technology, Wuhan 430074, P.R. China.
Riqi SuDepartment of Modern Physics, University of Science and Technology of China, Hefei 230026, PR China.
Tao ZhouWeb Sciences Center, University of Electronics Science and Technology of China, Chengdu 610054, P.R. China.

Funding

No grant is acknowledged in the PubMed record.

6 · The paper itself

Abstract

The mechanisms that underlie fascinating inter-individual interactions among animal groups have attracted increasing attention from biologists, physicists, and system scientists. There are two well-known types of interaction patterns: hierarchical and egalitarian. In the former type, individuals follow their leaders, whereas they follow their neighbors in the latter. Using high-resolution spatiotemporal data derived from the free flights of a flock of pigeons, we show that pigeon flocks actually adopt a mode that switches between the two aforementioned strategies. To determine its flight direction, each pigeon tends to follow the average of its neighbors while moving along a smooth trajectory, whereas it switches to follow its leaders when sudden turns or zigzags occur. By contrast, when deciding how fast to fly, each pigeon synthesizes the average velocity of its neighbors. This switching mechanism is promising for possible industrial applications in multi-robot system coordination, unmanned vehicle formation control, and other areas.

Indexed as

AlgorithmsAnimal CommunicationAnimal DistributionAnimalsColumbidaeFlight, AnimalModels, Biological

Identifiers

PMID25055832
PMCPMC4108945

What OpenQuestion holds

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Registered trials

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Read under generation 80e0d062 · epoch 390. Bibliography from PubMed, PubMed Central and OpenAlex; grants from NIH RePORTER; trial links from ClinicalTrials.gov; estimates, votes and beliefs from the OpenQuestion graph.