How environment plays key role in changing movement behavior of animals

Mathematicians develop theory which helps to unravel long-standing mysteries of animal movement

Date:  October 30, 2017

Source:  University of Leicester

Mathematicians from the University of Leicester have developed a theory which explains how small animals, such as bats, insects and birds, adjust their movement behaviour based on cues within their environment.

In a paper published in Scientific Reports, the researchers propose a unified theory of animal movement that relates the movement pattern to an animal's biological traits such as its mass and body shape and to the properties of the environment.

The theory shows how different movement patterns may arise naturally from the interplay between an animal's force, the environmental drag, and an animal's behavioural response to the environmental cues. The cues include information about an animal's movement environment, in particular the information about the location of food sources, predators and mating partners.

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