Collective Animal Behaviour

Collective Animal Behavior is a fascinating and inspiring book. Collective phenomena are ubiquitous in physical, biological and social systems and understanding them represents a major issue in several areas of research. Animal groups provide paradigmatic examples of collective phenomena, from bird flocks to fish schools, ant trails and honeybee dances. The aim of this book is to study how and why collective patterns emerge in animal groups. At the mechanistic level, this means unveiling the dynamics leading from interactions between individuals to the collective behaviour of the group. From an evolutionary perspective, this implies investigating whether collective behaviour has functional motivations and why interactions have evolved in a specific way. The approach described in the book is based on mathematical modelling. I would say that an additional objective of the book is to demonstrate how mathematical modelling is indispensable to understanding collective animal behaviour. As the author comments in the conclusions, models are not useless toys for the benefit of theorists but, when used with feedback from experimental data, they represent crucial tools to give quantitative descriptions, test hypotheses and make predictions.