Patchy landscapes promote stability of small groups

TL;DR

This study shows that patchy resource landscapes lead to smaller, more stable groups in active particle systems, offering insights into ecological dynamics and applications in swarm intelligence and crowd control.

Contribution

It introduces a model demonstrating how heterogeneous energy distributions influence group stability and size in active particle systems, with implications for ecology and technology.

Findings

Heterogeneous energy sources produce smaller, more stable groups.

Reduced exchange between clusters under patchy conditions.

Insights applicable to ecological management and swarm algorithms.

Abstract

Group formation and coordination are fundamental characteristics of living systems, essential for performing tasks and ensuring survival. Interactions between individuals play a key role in group formation, and the impact of resource distributions is a vibrant area of research. Using active particles in a tuneable optical environment as a model system, we demonstrate that heterogeneous energy source distributions result in smaller, more stable groups with reduced individual exchange between clusters compared to homogeneous conditions. Reduced group sizes can be beneficial to optimise resources in heterogeneous environments and to control information flow within populations. Devoid of biological complications, our system provides insights into the importance of patchy landscapes in ecological dynamics and holds implications for refining swarm intelligence algorithms and enhancing crowd control techniques.