Charlotte Hemelrijk

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Contact

Phone : +31(0)50 3638084 (work) or +31(0)50 5343671 (home)

Email : c.k.hemelrijk (AT: rug.nl)

Room : B 009

Schedule: Mon-Fri 9:00 - 17:00 (at the Biological Centre or at home)

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Research Field: Self-organization in social systems

We are interested in all aspects of self-organisation in social systems. In our models we try to produce complex phenomena by self-organisation as a side-effect of interactions of individuals with their environment. At present our focus is on social systems of primates, fish and birds.

In primates we investigate the emergence of dominance style (Hemelrijk & Wantia 2005, Wantia 2007), of the degree of female dominance relative to males (Hemelrijk et al. 2008), of coalition formation, of patterns of grooming, of exchange of services, of reconciliation and consolation.

In bird flocks, we (with Hanno Hildenbrandt) try to get better understanding of the dynamics of the internal structure of flocks of starlings in terms of the relative locations of individuals, density variations, patterns of coordination and flock shape. We adapt the models to data collected from the enormous flocks and aerial displays of starlings in Rome. In the context of our participation in the project StarFlag of the 6th European framework, these data have been made available by Dr. Claudio Carere and Dr. Andrea Cavagna from the University of Rome.

As regards fish schools we study shape and density of schools that are free-roaming (Hemelrijk & Hildenbrandt 2007) and in aquaria. In aquaria we investigate the coordination in schools of mullets and silversides in a large tank and compare these experimental results to those of our models. Furthermore, we study hydrodynamics of schooling in models (with Daan Reid) and of real fish in a flow tank. This is done in cooperation with Dr. Eize Stamhuis of the Marine Biology group in Groningen.

Furthermore, we make computer models of the emergence of personalities, in particular tuned to fish (with Johanneke Oosten) in cooperation with Prof. Ton Groothuis of Animal Behaviour in Groningen.

We (with Elske van der Vaart) make models of the cognitive mechanisms of corvids during caching. This is done in cooperation with Dr. Rineke Verbrugge of Artificial Intelligence in Groningen.

Many issues of self-organisation are discussed in the class on self-organization of biological phenomena. If you are interested in doing a colloquium, literature study, bachelor or master thesis, you are welcome to contact Charlotte Hemelrijk.

References

C.K. Hemelrijk & H. Hildenbrandt (2008): Self-organised shape and frontal density of fish schools. Ethology 114, 245-254. (PDF [PDF])

C.K. Hemelrijk, J. Wantia & K. Isler (2008): Female dominance over males in primates: Self-organisation and sexual dimorphism. PLoS ONE 3, e2678. (PDF [PDF])

J. Wantia (2007): Self-organised dominance relationships: a model and data of primates. PhD thesis, University of Groningen, The Netherlands. (PDF [PDF])

C.K. Hemelrijk & J. Wantia (2005): Individual variation by self-organisation. Neurosci. Biobehav. Reviews 29, 125-136. (PDF [PDF])

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Publications

Charlotte's publication list

Workshops

Workshop Social Cognition 2009

Workshop Reconciliation 2008