Zebrafish collective behaviour in heterogeneous environment modeled by a stochastic model based on visual perception

摘要

Collective motion is one of the most ubiquitous behaviours displayed bysocial organisms and has led to the development of numerous models. Recentadvances in the understanding of sensory system and information processing byanimals impel to revise classical assumptions made in decisional algorithms. Inthis context, we present a new model describing the three dimensional visualsensory system of fish that adjust their trajectory according to theirperception field. Furthermore, we introduce a new stochastic process based on aprobability distribution function to move in targeted directions rather than ona summation of influential vectors as it is classically assumed by most models.We show that this model can spontaneously transits from consensus to choice. Inparallel, we present experimental results of zebrafish (alone or in group of10) swimming in both homogeneous and heterogeneous environments. We use theseexperimental data to set the parameter values of our model and show that thisperception-based approach can simulate the collective motion of species showingcohesive behaviour in heterogeneous environments. Finally, we discuss theadvances of this multilayer model and its possible outcomes in biological,physical and robotic sciences.