Irene Vertua
Papers
1
Total Citations
3
H-Index
1
About
Irene Vertua is a behavioural ecologist whose research explores the mechanisms of collective behaviour and personality in animal groups, with a particular focus on how individual variation shapes group dynamics. Her work bridges the gap between personality psychology and social behaviour, using homing pigeons as a model system to investigate how phenotypic composition influences cohesion, decision-making, and responses to environmental challenges like novelty and predation threat. In her most-cited study, she demonstrates that the mix of personalities within a flock directly affects group cohesion and collective responses to risk, offering novel insights into the functional consequences of personality diversity in social species. Though early in her career, her work has already garnered attention for its integration of experimental and observational methods, and it contributes to broader questions in behavioural ecology and conservation. Vertua’s research is particularly impactful for understanding how individual differences scale up to shape group-level outcomes, with implications for animal welfare, management, and the evolution of sociality.
Research Focus
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Top Papers
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