2021 Fall Seminar Series Presents

DR. DEBORAH GORDON
Stanford University

WHEN:  October 15, 2021, at Noon
WHERE: Seminar will be presented via Zoom
Please complete the RSVP FORM to receive the Zoom Meeting link. Forms can be submitted any time before the Seminar but not after 10:00am the day of the seminar.

Photo Credit: Jacob Davidson

The Ecology of Collective Behavior

Collective behavior operates without central control, using local interactions among participants to allow groups to respond to changing conditions.  Ant colonies function collectively, and the enormous diversity of more than 14K species of ants, in different habitats, provides opportunities to look for general ecological patterns. Comparing how local interactions produce the collective foraging behavior of harvester ants in the desert, and generate the trail networks of turtle ants in the tropical forest, suggest how systems with similar dynamics in their surroundings have evolved to show similar dynamics in their collective behavior.

Everyone is welcome to join the seminar, please complete the RSVP FORM to receive the Zoom link. Forms can be submitted any time before the seminar but not after 10:00am the day of the seminar.