Although swarm theories of self-propelled agents have become of
great interest to theoretical physicists and mathematicians lately, well-defined
swarming experiments using real biological agents have been problematic up to
now. We present the results of lab experiments with the zooplankton Daphnia
that show the entire range of behaviors from single agent to collective motions of a
swarm within a single animal. Under certain circumstances we can observe a
fascinating vortex-swarm to emerge. We interpret our results with a theory of
the motions of self-propelled agents in a field, focussing on the question what
are the essential simulation ingredients to result in the experimentally observed
dynamics.
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