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BP: Fachverband Biologische Physik
BP 14: Poster Session II
BP 14.90: Poster
Dienstag, 10. März 2026, 18:00–21:00, P2
From Individuals to Waves: Mechanisms Shaping Collective Responses in Sulphur Mollies — •Bianca Pacini1, Yunus Sevinchan1,3, David Bierbach2,3, Korbinian Pacher2,3, Jens Krause2,3, and Pawel Romanczuk1,3 — 1Institute for Theoretical Biology, HU Berlin, Berlin, Germany — 2Leibniz-Institute of Freshwater Ecology and Inland Fisheries, Berlin, Germany — 3Science of Intelligence, TU Berlin, Berlin, Germany
Collective biological systems, from neuronal networks to animal groups, exhibit the remarkable ability to rapidly modify their collective behaviour in response to changing environmental cues. By integrating local interactions with external information, they achieve flexible and coordinated group-level responses.
We investigated large fish shoals of sulphur mollies (Poecilia sulphuraria) in Southern Mexico, which perform collective diving cascades as a response to predation, producing wave-like patterns on the water surface. Interestingly, as a form of collective perception, we found that the group responds as a unified entity, showing a gradual stimulus-response pattern in their initial reaction.
Informed by empirical patterns extracted from a large video dataset of surface waves triggered by synthetic stimuli or bird attacks, we developed an agent-based model which captures the system’s essential features. Systematic exploration of the model identifies the key individual-level mechanisms driving collective dynamics and shows how changes in local behaviour can drive collective adaptations across ecological contexts.
Keywords: collective behaviour; agent-based modelling