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BEHAVIORAL ECOLOGY LAB AT THE UNIVERSITY OF GEORGIA

Our research focuses on collective animal behavior





OUR INTERESTS

Our lab focuses on the phenomenon ‘collective intelligence,’ the ability of
groups to make better decisions than individuals. Although collective
intelligence has been the subject of scientific study for over a century, we
still know little the circumstances under which animals achieve higher (or
indeed worse) cognitive abilities by pooling information in nature. We
investigate this question using homing pigeons and acorn ants as model
organisms. To understand ‘how’ collective intelligence emerges, we often develop
mathematical models and computer simulations based on rich empirical data,
thanks to cutting-edge GPS devices and high resolution video cameras. Our
research ultimately tackles the longstanding question: why some animals make
decisions as a group and some don’t. Please see ‘research‘ for more details of
our ongoing research.


ORGANISMS OF STUDY

HOMING PIGEONS (COLUMBA LIVIA)

Homing pigeons are well known for their ability to "home", to be able to return
to their nest after traveling great distances (up to 1,000 miles!). Researchers
have been looking at different types of information that they use during homing.
We mainly look at how they use information from others, known as social
information, when they fly as a flock. We ask questions such as: Is it better to
fly in a flock or to fly solo? Is Information shared during homing? If so, how
do they fly home as a flock if members have different preferred routes. We look
at navigational homing routes of individual pigeons and flocks using miniature
GPS devices.

ACORN ANTS (TEMNOTHORAX CURVISPINOSUS)


These acorn ants are native in Athens, GA. As you may have gathered from the
picture, they typically live in acorns, or other nuts. During foraging and
emigrating, these ants use a pair recruitment system called ‘tandem running’ and
choose the best option as a colony. We ask questions such as: Does colonies
always pick the best option among several using tandem-running recruitment? Do
followers learn routes from leaders during tandem running? Do certain
individuals recruit more than others? If so, are these hard-working recruiters
use more efficient routes? Because the colony size is small (approx. 100
workers), we can track each ants by painting ants or putting tracking tags on
them.


JOIN US. WE ARE CURRENTLY LOOKING FOR GRADUATE STUDENTS AND POSTDOCS.

Research Opportunities


TWEETS



University of Georgia, Ecology Bldg., Room 194D, Athens, GA 30602

takao.sasaki@uga.edu

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