The Ecology of Collective Behavior

Deborah M. Gordon

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Hardback

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English

Princeton University Press
31 January 2024

Social, group or collective psychology; Ecological science, the Biosphere

A groundbreaking new perspective on collective behavior across biological systems

Collective behavior is everywhere in nature, from gene transcription and cancer cells to ant colonies and human societies. It operates without central control, using local interactions among participants to allow groups to adjust to changing conditions. The Ecology of Collective Behavior brings together ideas from evolutionary biology, network science, and dynamical systems to present an ecological approach to understanding how the interactions of individuals generate collective outcomes.

Deborah Gordon argues that the starting point for explaining how collective behavior works in any natural system is to consider how it changes in relation to the changing world around it. She shows how feedback use—the means by which networks of interactions operate—and the organization of interaction networks evolve to reflect the stability and demands of the environment. Ant colonies function collectively, and the enormous diversity of species in different habitats provides opportunities to look for general ecological patterns. Through an in-depth comparison of ant species, Gordon identifies broad trends in how the diversity of collective behavior in many other collective systems reflects the dynamics of the environment.

Shedding light on how individual actions give rise to group behavior, The Ecology of Collective Behavior explains the evolution of collective behavior through innovation in participant interactions, offering new insights into how collective responses function in changing conditions.

By: Deborah M. Gordon
Imprint: Princeton University Press
Country of Publication: United States
Dimensions: Height: 235mm, Width: 156mm,
ISBN: 9780691232140
ISBN 10: 0691232148
Pages: 184
Publication Date: 31 January 2024
Audience: General/trade , ELT Advanced
Format: Hardback
Publisher's Status: Active

Deborah M. Gordon is professor of biology at Stanford University. She is the author of Ant Encounters: Interaction Networks and Colony Behavior (Princeton) and Ants at Work: How an Insect Society Is Organized.

Reviews for The Ecology of Collective Behavior

"""Based on her many years of work with two ant colonies, one in an arid desert and one in a lush tropical forest, Deborah M. Gordon has written a detailed, incisive account of the differences in their collective behaviours, and the extent to which behavioural patterns are influenced by their environment.""---David M. Gascoigne, Travels With Birds"