A new framework proposes that moving animals can coordinate through the fluid disturbances they leave behind.
Fish, birds, insects and microorganisms continually modify the water or air surrounding them, creating wakes, pressure gradients and other flow structures that neighbours can sense or exploit. The authors call this “fluid stigmergy”: coordination mediated indirectly through a dynamically altered environment. Examples range from fish detecting hydrodynamic cues to insects manipulating airflow, extending the familiar idea of pheromone trails into three-dimensional, rapidly changing physical media.
https://academic.oup.com/icb/advance-article-abstract/doi/10.1093/icb/icag154/8762554
