Data from: Misinformed leaders lose influence over pigeon flocks

In animal groups where certain individuals have disproportionate influence over collective decisions, the whole group's performance may suffer if these individuals possess inaccurate information. Whether in such situations leaders can be replaced in their roles by better-informed group mates represents an important question in understanding the adaptive consequences of collective decision-making. Here, we use a clock-shifting procedure to predictably manipulate the directional error in navigational information possessed by established leaders within hierarchically structured flocks of homing pigeons (Columba livia). We demonstrate that in the majority of cases when leaders hold inaccurate information they lose their influence over the flock. In these cases, inaccurate information is filtered out through the rearrangement of hierarchical positions, preventing errors by former leaders from propagating down the hierarchy. Our study demonstrates that flexible decision-making structures can be valuable in situations where ‘bad’ information is introduced by otherwise influential individuals.在某些个体对群体决策拥有不成比例影响力的动物群体中，若这些个体掌握了不准确的信息，整个群体的表现可能会受到损害。在此类情境下，领导者能否被信息更为充分的群体成员所替代，是理解集体决策适应性后果的关键科学问题。本研究以具有层级结构的信鸽（Columba livia）鸽群为研究对象，通过时钟移位实验范式（clock-shifting procedure）可预测性地操控既定领导者所掌握的导航信息的方向误差。研究表明，在多数情形下，当领导者掌握不准确的信息时，其对鸽群的影响力便会丧失。在此类情境中，不准确的信息会通过层级地位的重新排布被过滤掉，从而避免原领导者的错误沿层级结构扩散。本研究证实，当原本具有影响力的个体带来“错误”信息时，灵活的决策结构能够发挥重要作用。