Collective Response in Biological Groups

Response is a defining feature of living collectives. Even more than order itself, it provides a genuine signature of collective behaviour, reflecting the ability of a group to maintain global coherence when exposed to external stimuli or threats.
In this talk, I will explore the mechanisms of response in flocking systems, combining empirical observations with theoretical insights. I will first summarise experimental findings from natural swarms and flocks, and then discuss how far minimal models of collective motion can reproduce the behaviour observed in real data.