We Are
MOVERS & SHAKERS
Communication and Collective Movement Group
University of Konstanz
From staying together while on the move to banding together against common enemies, social living requires coordination. But how do groups achieve such coordination? What communication strategies do they use? And how might the mechanisms of coordination vary based on social and ecological factors?
Our research combines high-resolution tracking of wild animal groups, field experiments, and computational methods to tackle these questions.
Our approach is highly collaborative: we work with several research groups and long-term studies around the world to investigate these topics across a range of study systems.
Research
Study systems
How do meerkats make use of acoustic communication to coordinate group movement?
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What determines group-level movement decisions?
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Are meerkats collectively sensing their environment?
How do coati groups stay together in visually occluded environments?
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How does consensus decision-making vary depending on resource distribution?​
How do members of a dispersed clan coordinate collective defense?
How does long-distance communication facilitate information flow in fission-fusion groups?
Who has influence over group movement decisions?
How does the spatial structure of animal groups arise?
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How does the environment shape individual decisions and group structure?