John Fryxell (University of Guelph)
Abstract. Classic ecological theory is based on mass action principles derived from the ideal gas law. While the simplicity of this approach has been very useful, it is clear that the biology of living organisms violates several of the key central assumptions. At the same time, there is also growing recognition that active non-living particles can have interesting emergent properties not predicted by the ideal gas law. In this presentation, I will consider several ways in which social behavior influences the population ecology of free-living organisms, with emphasis on properties that might have important dynamical influence on the stability of consumer-resource interactions. Topics will include the role of density- and resource-dependent motility, phase separation, fission-fusion group kinetics, collective decision-making, and human decision-making in the context of resource exploitation. I will conclude by considering how the social properties of top consumers might influence the general structure of food-webs.