Japanese Tree Frogs Led the New Way of Studying 'Swarmalators'

The mating activity of male Japanese tree frogs became an inspiration for researchers. They are using this method of exploration of 'swarmalators' (a term for systems in which both synchronization and swarming occur hand in hand). It’s very much interesting to know that Japanese tree frogs form patterns in space and time. Often it is done for the process of reproduction. On the basis of the croaking of other fellows, they decide where to stay because they do not want to be around another one that's croaking at the same time to avoid any jamming. If we take the example of the male tree frogs, it is observed that they only try to croak in exact anti-phase. In that process one croaks while the other remains silent while moving away from a contestant so that it could be heard by their female counterparts. The mathematician Steven Strogatz stated that swarming and synchronization both involve large, self-organizing groups of individuals. They interact by simple rules, but swarming and synchronization have never been studied together. They both go in a parallel way and lead to rich patterns in terms of time and space. They can lead to further study of systems that show the dual behaviour. The researchers have tried to utilize the anti-phase mating pattern of Japanese frog to make equations for exploration of swarmalators.

By: Anita Aishvarya

Content: www.sciencedaily.com