Emergent group level navigation: an agent-based evaluation of movement patterns in a folivorous primate.
Abstract
The foraging activity of many organisms reveal strategic movement patterns, showing
efficient use of spatially distributed resources. The underlying mechanisms behind
these movement patterns, such as the use of spatial memory, are topics of considerable
debate. To augment existing evidence of spatial memory use in primates, we generated
movement patterns from simulated primate agents with simple sensory and behavioral
capabilities. We developed agents representing various hypotheses of memory use, and
compared the movement patterns of simulated groups to those of an observed group of
red colobus monkeys (Procolobus rufomitratus), testing for: the effects of memory
type (Euclidian or landmark based), amount of memory retention, and the effects of
social rules in making foraging choices at the scale of the group (independent or
leader led). Our results indicate that red colobus movement patterns fit best with
simulated groups that have landmark based memory and a follow the leader foraging
strategy. Comparisons between simulated agents revealed that social rules had the
greatest impact on a group's step length, whereas the type of memory had the highest
impact on a group's path tortuosity and cohesion. Using simulation studies as experimental
trials to test theories of spatial memory use allows the development of insight into
the behavioral mechanisms behind animal movement, developing case-specific results,
as well as general results informing how changes to perception and behavior influence
movement patterns.
Type
Journal articlePermalink
https://hdl.handle.net/10161/9182Published Version (Please cite this version)
10.1371/journal.pone.0078264Publication Info
Bonnell, Tyler R; Campennì, Marco; Chapman, Colin A; Gogarten, Jan F; Reyna-Hurtado,
Rafael A; Teichroeb, Julie A; ... Sengupta, Raja (2013). Emergent group level navigation: an agent-based evaluation of movement patterns in
a folivorous primate. PLoS One, 8(10). pp. e78264. 10.1371/journal.pone.0078264. Retrieved from https://hdl.handle.net/10161/9182.This is constructed from limited available data and may be imprecise. To cite this
article, please review & use the official citation provided by the journal.
Collections
More Info
Show full item recordScholars@Duke
Julie A Teichroeb
Visiting Assistant Professor in the Department of Evolutionary Anthropology
Julie Teichroeb is a biological anthropologist who studies primate behavioral ecology.
Her research focuses on the evolution of sociality, examining group formation, the
underlying causes of social organization, and group decision-making. She is particularly
interested in the relative influence of social and ecological pressures on the evolution
of social organization; so how male and female reproductive strategies influence each
other and result in the group size and group compositions that
This author no longer has a Scholars@Duke profile, so the information shown here reflects
their Duke status at the time this item was deposited.

Articles written by Duke faculty are made available through the campus open access policy. For more information see: Duke Open Access Policy
Rights for Collection: Scholarly Articles
Works are deposited here by their authors, and represent their research and opinions, not that of Duke University. Some materials and descriptions may include offensive content. More info