Flash Expansion Threshold in Whirligig Swarms

In the selfish herd hypothesis, prey animals move toward each other to avoid the likelihood of being selected by a predator. However, many grouped animals move away from each other the moment before a predator attacks. Very little is known about this phenomenon, called flash expansion, such as whether it is triggered by one individual or a threshold and how information is transferred between group members. We performed a controlled experiment with whirligig beetles in which the ratio of sighted to unsighted individuals was systematically varied and emergent flash expansion was measured. Specifically, we examined: the percentage of individuals in a group that startled, the resulting group area, and the longevity of the flash expansion. We found that one or two sighted beetles in a group of 24 was not enough to cause a flash expansion after a predator stimulus, but four sighted beetles usually initiated a flash expansion. Also, the more beetles that were sighted the larger the resulting group area and the longer duration of the flash expansion. We conclude that flash expansion is best described as a threshold event whose adaptive value is to prevent energetically costly false alarms while quickly mobilizing an emergent predator avoidance response. This is one of the first controlled experiments of flash expansion, an important emergent property that has applications to understanding collective motion in swarms, schools, flocks, and human crowds. Also, our study is a convincing demonstration of social contagion, how the actions of one individual can pass through a group.