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9,152 results for “Networking”
Data from: Frugivore biodiversity and complementarity in interaction networks enhance landscape-scale seed dispersal function
1. Animal biodiversity matters for the provision of ecosystem functions derived from trophic activity. However, the mechanisms underlying this pattern remain elusive since animal abundance and diversity, which are the components commonly used for representing biodiversity, provide poor information about ecological complementarity in species assemblages. An approach based on species interaction networks may overcome this constraint. 2. Here, we relate frugivore biodiversity and frugivore-plant network structure with landscape-scale seed dispersal function. We sampled, for two years, and at fourteen plots with variable assemblages of frugivores and plants in the Cantabrian Range (N Spain), data on the abundance and diversity of frugivorous birds, the consumption of fleshy fruits of woody plants, and the landscape-scale patterns of avian seed deposition. As a measure of interaction complementarity in seed dispersal networks, we estimated the degree to which frugivore and plant species specialize in their interacting partners. 3. Specialization varied strongly across the seed dispersal networks of the different plots, being higher in networks harboring smaller bird species that dispersed mostly small-fruited plants, and also in networks with late-ripening, dominant fruiting species dispersed mostly by wintering birds. 4. Bird abundance markedly affected seed deposition. Plots harboring more birds received a higher density of dispersed seeds, and showed higher probabilities of seed arrival and seed deposition in open microhabitats. Bird diversity also had a positive effect on the density of dispersed seed and, to a lesser extent, seed arrival probability. Independently of frugivore abundance and diversity, the density of dispersed seeds increased in plots where seed dispersal networks showed a higher degree of specialization. 5. This study considers the structure of interaction networks to re-address the relationship between biodiversity and ecosystem functionality, evidencing that specialization in frugivore-plant networks drives the large-scale process of seed dispersal. These results encourage the consideration of interaction complementarity as an underlying mechanism linking animal biodiversity and trophic-related functions.
Data from: Species traits and abundances predict metrics of plant–pollinator network structure, but not pairwise interactions
Plant–pollinator mutualistic networks represent the ecological context of foraging (for pollinators) and reproduction (for plants and some pollinators). Plant–pollinator visitation networks exhibit highly conserved structural properties across diverse habitats and species assemblages. The most successful hypotheses to explain these network properties are the neutrality and biological constraints hypotheses, which posit that species interaction frequencies can be explained by species relative abundances, and trait mismatches between potential mutualists respectively. However, previous network analyses emphasize the prediction of metrics of qualitative network structure, which may not represent stringent tests of these hypotheses. Using a newly documented temporally explicit alpine plant–pollinator visitation network, we show that metrics of both qualitative and quantitative network structure are easy to predict, even by models that predict the identity or frequency of species interactions poorly. A variety of phenological and morphological constraints as well as neutral interactions successfully predicted all network metrics tested, without accurately predicting species observed interactions. Species phenology alone was the best predictor of observed interaction frequencies. However, all models were poor predictors of species pairwise interaction frequencies, suggesting that other aspects of species biology not generally considered in network studies, such as reproduction for dipterans, play an important role in shaping plant–pollinator visitation network structure at this site. Future progress in explaining the structure and dynamics of mutualistic networks will require new approaches that emphasize accurate prediction of species pairwise interactions rather than network metrics, and better reflect the biology underlying species interactions.
Data from: A human subcortical network underlying social avoidance revealed by risky economic choices
Social interactions have a major impact on well-being. While many individuals actively seek social situations, others avoid them, at great cost to their private and professional life. The neural mechanisms underlying individual differences in social approach or avoidance tendencies are poorly understood. Here we estimated people's subjective value of engaging in a social situation. In each trial, more or less socially anxious participants chose between an interaction with a human partner providing social feedback and a monetary amount. With increasing social anxiety, the subjective value of social engagement decreased; amygdala BOLD response during decision-making and when experiencing social feedback increased; ventral striatum BOLD response to positive social feedback decreased; and connectivity between these regions during decision-making increased. Amygdala response was negatively related to the subjective value of social engagement. These findings suggest a relation between trait social anxiety / social avoidance and activity in a subcortical network during social decision-making.
Data from: Effects of hummingbird morphology on specialization in pollination networks vary with resource availability
Specialization of species in interaction networks influences network stability and ecosystem functioning. Spatial and temporal variation in resource availability may provide insight into how ecological factors, such as resource abundance, and evolutionary factors, such as phylogenetically conserved morphological traits, influence specialization within mutualistic networks. We used independent measures of hummingbird abundance and resources (nectar), information on hummingbird traits and plant–hummingbird interactions to examine how resource availability and species' morphology influence the specialization of hummingbirds in three habitat types (forest, shrubs, cattle ranch) sampled over 10 sessions across two years in the southern Andes of Ecuador. Specialization of hummingbird species in the networks was measured by three indices: d' (related to niche partitioning), generality (related to niche width) and PSI (related to pollination services). Specialization indices d', generality and PSI of hummingbird species were influenced by resource availability. All indices indicated that specialization of hummingbirds increased when the availability of resources decreased. Variation in d' was also explained by an interaction between resource availability and bill length; hummingbirds with a long bill switched from being more specialized than other species when resource availability was low to being similarly specialized when availability was high. Overall, our results highlight the importance of ecological and evolutionary factors determining the specialization of species in interaction networks. We demonstrate in particular that ecological gradients in resource availability cause substantial changes in consumers' foraging behavior contingent on their morphology. Changes in pollinator specialization along resource gradients can have impacts on ecosystem functions, such as pollination by animals.
Data from: Plant – herbivorous beetle networks: molecular characterization of trophic ecology within a threatened steppic environment
DNA barcoding facilitates many evolutionary and ecological studies, including the examination of the dietary diversity of herbivores. In this study, we present a survey of ecological associations between herbivorous beetles and host plants from seriously threatened European steppic grasslands. We determined host plants for the majority (65%) of steppic leaf beetles (55 species) and weevils (59) known from central Europe using two barcodes (trnL and rbcL) and two sequencing strategies (Sanger for mono/oligophagous species and Illumina for polyphagous taxa). To better understand the ecological associations between steppic beetles and their host plants, we tested the hypothesis that leaf beetles and weevils differ in food selection as a result of their phylogenetic relations (within genera and between families) and interactions with host plants. We found 224 links between the beetles and the plants. Beetles belonging to seven genera feed on the same or related plants. Their preferences were probably inherited from common ancestors and/or resulted from the host plant's chemistry. Beetles from four genera feed on different plants, possibly reducing intrageneric competition and possibly due to an adaptation to different plant chemical defences. We found significant correlations between the numbers of leaf beetle and weevil species feeding on particular plants for polyphagous taxa, but not for nonpolyphagous beetles. Finally, we found that the previous identifications of host plants based on direct observations are generally concordant with host plant barcoding from insect gut. Our results expand basic knowledge about the trophic relations of steppic beetles and plants and are immediately useful for conservation purposes.
Data from: Selective logging in tropical forests decreases the robustness of liana-tree interaction networks to the loss of host tree species
Selective logging is one of the major drivers of tropical forest degradation, causing important shifts in species composition. Whether such changes modify interactions between species and the networks in which they are embedded remain fundamental questions to assess the 'health' and ecosystem functionality of logged forests. We focus on interactions between lianas and their tree hosts within primary and selectively logged forests in the biodiversity hotspot of Malaysian Borneo. We found that lianas were more abundant, had higher species richness and different species compositions in logged than in primary forests. Logged forests showed heavier liana loads disparately affecting slow-growth tree species, which could exacerbate the loss of timber value and carbon storage already associated to logging. Moreover, simulation scenarios of host tree local species loss indicated that logging might decrease the robustness of liana-tree interaction networks if heavily infested trees (i.e. the most connected ones) are more likely to disappear. This effect is partially mitigated in the short term by the colonization of host trees by a greater diversity of liana species within logged forests, yet this might not compensate for the loss of preferred tree hosts in the long term. As a consequence, species interaction networks may show a lagged response to disturbance, which may trigger sudden collapses in species richness and ecosystem function in response to additional disturbances, representing a new type of "extinction debt".
Data from: Quantifying species contributions to ecosystem processes: a global assessment of functional trait and phylogenetic metrics across avian seed-dispersal networks
Quantifying the role of biodiversity in ecosystems not only requires understanding the links between species and the ecological functions and services they provide, but also how these factors relate to measurable indices, such as functional traits and phylogenetic diversity. However, these relationships remain poorly understood, especially for heterotrophic organisms within complex ecological networks. Here, we assemble data on avian traits across a global sample of mutualistic plant–frugivore networks to critically assess how the functional roles of frugivores are associated with their intrinsic traits, as well as their evolutionary and functional distinctiveness. We find strong evidence for niche complementarity, with phenotypically and phylogenetically distinct birds interacting with more unique sets of plants. However, interaction strengths—the number of plant species dependent on a frugivore—were unrelated to evolutionary or functional distinctiveness, largely because distinct frugivores tend to be locally rare, and thus have fewer connections across the network. Instead, interaction strengths were better predicted by intrinsic traits, including body size, gape width and dietary specialization. Our analysis provides general support for the use of traits in quantifying species ecological functions, but also highlights the need to go beyond simple metrics of functional or phylogenetic diversity to consider the multiple pathways through which traits may determine ecological processes.
Data from: Learning and robustness to catch-and-release fishing in a shark social network
Individuals can play different roles in maintaining connectivity and social cohesion in animal populations and thereby influence population robustness to perturbations. We performed a social network analysis in a reef shark population to assess the vulnerability of the global network to node removal under different scenarios. We found that the network was generally robust to the removal of nodes with high centrality. The network appeared also highly robust to experimental fishing. Individual shark catchability decreased as a function of experience, as revealed by comparing capture frequency and site presence. Altogether, these features suggest that individuals learnt to avoid capture, which ultimately increased network robustness to experimental catch-and-release. Our results also suggest that some caution must be taken when using capture–recapture models often used to assess population size as assumptions (such as equal probabilities of capture and recapture) may be violated by individual learning to escape recapture.
Data from: Downscaling pollen-transport networks to the level of individuals
1. Most plant-pollinator network studies are conducted at species level whereas little is known about network patterns at the individual level. In fact, nodes in traditional species-based interaction networks are aggregates of individuals establishing the actual links observed in nature. Thus, emergent properties of interaction networks might be the result of mechanisms acting at the individual level. 2. Pollen loads carried by insect flower-visitors from two mountain communities were studied to construct pollen-transport networks. For the first time, these community-wide pollen-transport networks were downscaled from species-species (sp-sp) to individuals-species (i-sp) in order to explore specialization, network patterns and niche variation at both interacting levels. We used a null model approach to account for network size differences inherent to the downscaling process. Specifically, our objectives were: (i) to investigate whether network structure changes with downscaling, (ii) to evaluate the incidence and magnitude of individual specialization in pollen use, and (iii) to identify potential ecological factors influencing the observed degree of individual specialization. 3. Network downscaling revealed a high specialization of pollinator individuals, which was masked and unexplored in sp-sp networks. The average number of interactions per node, connectance, interaction diversity and degree of nestedness decreased in i-sp networks, because generalized pollinator species were composed of specialized and idiosyncratic conspecific individuals. An analysis with 21 pollinator species representative of two communities showed that mean individual pollen resource niche was only c. 46% of the total species niche. 4.The degree of individual specialization was associated to inter- and intraspecific overlap in pollen use and it was higher for abundant than for rare species. Such niche heterogeneity depends on individual differences in foraging behaviour and likely has implications for community dynamics and species stability. 5. Our findings highlight the importance of taking inter-individual variation into account when studying higher–order structures such as interaction networks. We argue that exploring individual-based networks will improve our understanding of species-based networks and will enhance the link between network analysis, foraging theory and evolutionary biology.
Data from: Temporal variation in plant-pollinator networks from seasonal tropical environments: higher specialization when resources are scarce
The temporal dynamics of plant phenology and pollinator abundance across seasons should influence the structure of plant-pollinator interaction networks. Nevertheless, such dynamics are seldom considered, especially for diverse tropical networks. Here, we evaluated the temporal variation of four plant-pollinator networks in two seasonal ecosystems in Central Brazil (Cerrado and Pantanal). Data were gathered on a monthly basis over one year for each network. We characterized seasonal and temporal shifts in plant-pollinator interactions, using temporally discrete networks. We predicted that the greater floral availability in the rainy season would allow for finer partitioning of the floral niche by the pollinators, i.e., higher specialization patterns as previously described across large spatial gradients. Contrary to these expectations, we found that dry season networks, although characterized by lower floral resource richness and abundance, showed higher levels of network-wide interaction partitioning (complementary specialization and modularity). For nestedness and species level indices, though, this between-seasons difference was not consistent. Reduced resource availability in the dry season may promote higher interspecific competition among pollinators leading to reduced niche overlap, thus explaining the increase in specialization. Importantly, we also show that targeted data collection during peak flowering generates higher estimates of network specialization. Hence, depending on the period of data collection, different structural values for the networks of interactions may be found. Synthesis: Our study suggests that networks of tropical environments have structural properties that vary according to seasons, which should be taken into account in the description of the complex systems of interactions between plants and their pollinators in these areas.
Data from: Detailed food web networks of three Greater Antillean coral reef systems: the Cayman Islands, Cuba, and Jamaica
Food webs represent one of the most complex aspects of community biotic interactions. Complex food webs are represented as networks of interspecific interactions, where nodes represent species or groups of species, and links are predator-prey interactions. This paper presents reconstructions of coral reef food webs in three Greater Antillean regions of the Caribbean: the Cayman Islands, Cuba, and Jamaica. Though not taxonomically comprehensive, each food web nevertheless comprises producers and consumers, single-celled and multicellular organisms, and species foraging on reefs and adjacent seagrass beds. Species are grouped into trophic guilds if their prey and predator links are indistinguishable. The data list guilds, taxonomic composition, prey guilds/species, and predators. Primary producer and invertebrate richness are regionally uniform, but vertebrate richness varies on the basis of more detailed occurrence data. Each region comprises 169 primary producers, 513 protistan and invertebrate consumer species, and 159, 178, and 170 vertebrate species in the Cayman Islands, Cuba, and Jamaica, respectively. Caribbean coral reefs are among the world's most endangered by anthropogenic activities. The datasets presented here will facilitate comparisons of historical and regional variation, the assessment of impacts of species loss and invasion, and the application of food webs to ecosystem analyses.
Data from: Functional outcomes of mutualistic network interactions: a community-scale study of frugivore gut passage on germination
1. Current understanding of mutualistic networks is grounded largely in data on interaction frequency, yet mutualistic network dynamics are also shaped by interaction quality—the functional outcomes of individual interactions on reproduction and survival. The difficulty of obtaining data on functional outcomes has resulted in limited understanding of functional variation among a network's pairwise species interactions, of the study designs that are necessary to capture major sources of functional variation, and of predictors of functional variation that may allow generalization across networks. 2. In this community-scale study, we targeted a key functional outcome in plant-frugivore networks: the impact of frugivore gut passage on seed germination. We used captive frugivore feeding trials and germination experiments in an island ecosystem, attaining species-level coverage across all extant native frugivores and the plants they consume to 1) assess sources of functional variation, 2) separate effects of pulp removal from those of scarification via gut passage, and 3) test trait-based correlates of gut passage effect sizes. 3. We found antagonistic seed predation effects of a frugivore previously assumed to be a seed disperser, highlighting the need to consider functional outcomes rather than interaction frequency alone. The other frugivores each exhibited similar impacts for individual plant species, with benefits primarily caused by pulp removal rather than scarification, supporting the use of animal functional groups in this context. In contrast, plant species varied widely in impacts of gut passage on germination. Species with smaller seeds and more frugivore partners had larger benefits of gut passage, showing promise for network metrics and functional traits to predict functional variation among plants. 4. Synthesis. Combining network and demographic approaches, we assessed the degree and sources of variation in a key functional outcome of plant-frugivore interactions across an entire network. Using a detailed study design, our work shows how simpler study designs can capture primary sources of functional variation and that functional traits and network metrics may allow generalization across networks. Efficiently measuring and generalizing sources of functional variation within mutualistic networks will strengthen our ability to model network dynamics and predict mutualist responses to global change.
Data from: Social network analysis of psychological morbidity in an urban slum of Bangladesh: a cross-sectional study based on a community census
Background Social ties are believed to play important roles in mitigating depression and anxiety, as well as fostering mental health in the population. We test this association for young urban men in Bangladesh. Methods Using a locally adapted GHQ-12 instrument, we enumerate self-reported mental health outcomes for 824 post-adolescent young men between the ages of 18 and 29 in a low-income urban community in Dhaka, Bangladesh. We further measure the social network for all our subjects and estimate the association of social network of the respondents with self-reported mental health outcomes controlling for possible confounders. Results We find there are considerable variations in both the mental health outcomes and social network across respondents. The GHQ scores (mean = 9.2, SD = 4.9) suggest significant psychological morbidity among the respondents. However, our findings imply better social ties and connections can potentially mitigate negative mental health outcomes (0.05-0.65 lower standardized GHQ score). Among other factors, being married and a recent migrant are also associated with better mental health status (0.17-0.20 and 0.16-0.17 lower standardized GHQ scores respectively). Conclusion Our results underscore the importance of social connection in providing buffer against stress and anxiety through psychosocial support from one's peer in a resource constraint urban setting. Our findings also suggest incorporating social network and ties in designing mental health policies and interventions.
Data from: Argentine ants (Linepithema humile) use adaptable transportation networks to track changes in resource quality
Transportation networks play a crucial role in human and animal societies. For a transportation network to be efficient, it must have adequate capacity to meet traffic demand. Network design becomes increasingly difficult in situations where traffic demand can change unexpectedly. In humans, network design is often constrained by path dependency because it is difficult to move a road once it is built. A similar issue theoretically faces pheromone-trail-laying social insects; once a trail has been laid, positive feedback makes re-routing difficult because new trails cannot compete with continually reinforced pre-existing trails. In the present study, we examined the response of Argentine ant colonies and their trail networks to variable environments where resources differ in quality and change unexpectedly. We found that Argentine ant colonies effectively tracked changes in food quality such that colonies allocated the highest proportion of foragers to the most rewarding feeder. Ant colonies maximised access to high concentration feeders by building additional trails and routes connecting the nest to the feeder. Trail networks appeared to form via a pruning process in which lower traffic trails were gradually removed from the network. At the same time, we observed several instances where new trails appear to have been built to accommodate a surge in demand. The combination of trail building when traffic demand is high and trail pruning when traffic demand is low results in a demand-driven network formation system that allows ants to monopolise multiple dynamic resources.
Data from: From gene trees to a dated allopolyploid network: insights from the angiosperm genus Viola (Violaceae)
Allopolyploidisation acounts for a significant fraction of speciation events in many eukaryotic lineages. However, existing phylogenetic and dating methods require tree-like topologies and are unable to handle the network-like phylogenetic relationships of lineages containing allopolyploids. No explicit framework has so far been established for evaluating competing network topologies, and few attempts have been made to date phylogenetic networks. We used a four-step approach to generate a dated polyploid species network for the cosmopolitan angiosperm genus Viola L. (Violaceae Batch.). The genus contains ca 600 species and both recent (neo-) and more ancient (meso-) polyploid lineages distributed over 16 sections. First, we obtained DNA sequences of three low-copy nuclear genes and one chloroplast region, from 42 species representing all 16 sections. Second, we obtained fossil-calibrated chronograms for each nuclear gene marker. Third, we determined the most parsimonious multilabelled genome tree and its corresponding network, resolved at the section (not the species) level. Reconstructing the 'correct' network for a set of polyploids depends on recovering all homoeologs, i.e. all subgenomes, in these polyploids. Assuming the presence of Viola subgenome lineages that were not detected by the nuclear gene phylogenies ('ghost subgenome lineages'), significantly reduced the number of inferred polyploidisation events. We identified the most parsimonious network topology from a set of five competing scenarios differing in the interpretation of homoeolog extinctions and lineage sorting, based on (1) fewest possible ghost subgenome lineages, (2) fewest possible polyploidisation events, and (3) least possible deviation from expected ploidy as inferred from available chromosome counts of the involved polyploid taxa. Finally, we estimated the homoploid and polyploid speciation times of the most parsimonious network. Homoploid speciation times were estimated by coalescent analysis of gene tree node ages. Polyploid speciation times were estimated by comparing branch lengths and speciation rates of lineages with and without ploidy shifts. Our analyses recognise Viola as an old genus (crown age 31 Ma) whose evolutionary history has been profoundly affected by allopolyploidy. Between 16 and 21 allopolyploidisations are necessary to explain the diversification of the 16 major lineages (sections) of Viola, suggesting that allopolyploidy has accounted for a high percentage – between 67% and 88% – of the speciation events at this level. The theoretical and methodological approaches presented here for (1) constructing networks and (2) dating speciation events within a network, have general applicability for phylogenetic studies of groups where allopolyploidisation has occurred. They make explicit use of a hitherto underexplored source of ploidy information from chromosome counts to help resolve phylogenetic cases where incomplete sequence data hampers network inference. Importantly, the coalescent-based method used herein circumvents the assumption of tree-like evolution required by most techniques for dating speciation events.
Data from: Social network analysis shows direct evidence for social transmission of tool use in wild chimpanzees.
Claims of culture in animals have been stimulated by studies on a wide range of taxa revealing group-specific behavior patterns that remain stable through generations, consistent with different behavioral innovations spreading within groups by social transmission in a manner similar to human culture. In chimpanzees, 39 behaviors have been identified as 'cultural', because alternative genetic and environmental explanations for the observed regional variation appear less plausible. This interpretation is supported by experimental data from captive chimpanzee groups. However, there is no experimental evidence for social learning in the wild, nor has there been direct observation of social diffusion of spontaneously occurring behavioral innovations. Here, we document the spread of two novel tool-use variants, 'moss-sponging' and 'leaf-sponge re-use', in the Sonso chimpanzee community of Budongo Forest, Uganda. We use traditional network-based diffusion analysis (NBDA) to test whether these novel behaviors spread by social learning, as well as a newly developed dynamic version of NBDA, capable of capturing temporal aspects of acquisition, i.e. how each successive personal observations impact the subsequent acquisition of behavior. Both models provide strong evidence that diffusion patterns of moss-sponging, but not leaf-sponge re-use, are significantly better explained by social than asocial learning, therefore showing that wild chimpanzees socially learned moss-sponging from each other. The most conservative estimate of social transmission accounts for 85% of observed events with an estimated 11-fold increase in learning rate for each time a novice observed an informed individual performing moss-sponging. We conclude that group-specific behavioral variants in chimpanzees can be socially learned, suggesting this prerequisite for culture originated in a common ancestor of great apes and humans, long before the advent of modern humans.
Data from: Loss of functional connectivity in migration networks induces population decline in migratory birds
Migratory birds rely on a habitat network along their migration routes by temporarily occupying stopover sites between breeding and non-breeding grounds. Removal or degradation of stopover sites in a network might impede movement, and thereby reduce migration success and survival. The extent to which the breakdown of migration networks, due to changes in land use, impacts the population sizes of migratory birds is poorly understood. We measured the functional connectivity of migration networks of waterfowl species that migrate over the East Asian-Australasian Flyway from 1992-2015. We analysed the relationship between changes in non-breeding population sizes and changes in functional connectivity, while taking into account other commonly-considered species traits, using a Phylogenetic Linear Mixed Model. We found that population sizes significantly declined with a reduction in the functional connectivity of migration networks; no other predictor variables were important. We conclude that the current decrease in functional connectivity, due to habitat loss and degradation in migration networks, can negatively and crucially impact population sizes of migratory birds. Our findings provide new insights into the underlying mechanisms that affect population trends of migratory birds under environmental changes. Establishment of international agreements leading to the creation of systematic conservation networks associated with migratory species' distributions and stopover sites may safeguard migratory bird populations.
Data from: Infection-induced behavioural changes reduce connectivity and the potential for disease spread in wild mice contact networks
Infection may modify the behaviour of the host and of its conspecifics in a group, potentially altering social connectivity. Because many infectious diseases are transmitted through social contact, social connectivity changes can impact transmission dynamics. Previous approaches to understanding disease transmission dynamics in wild populations were limited in their ability to disentangle different factors that determine the outcome of disease outbreaks. Here we ask how social connectivity is affected by infection and how this relationship impacts disease transmission dynamics. We experimentally manipulated disease status of wild house mice using an immune challenge and monitored social interactions within this free-living population before and after manipulation using automated tracking. The immune-challenged animals showed reduced connectivity to their social groups, which happened as a function of their own behaviour, rather than through conspecific avoidance. We incorporated these disease-induced changes of social connectivity among individuals into models of disease outbreaks over the empirically-derived networks. The models revealed that changes in host behaviour frequently resulted in the disease being contained to very few animals, as opposed to becoming widespread. Our results highlight the importance of considering the role that behavioural alterations during infection can have on social dynamics when evaluating the potential for disease outbreaks.
Data from: Wild birds respond to flockmate loss by increasing their social network associations to others
Understanding the consequences of losing individuals from wild populations is a current and pressing issue, yet how such loss influences the social behaviour of the remaining animals is largely unexplored. Through combining the automated tracking of winter flocks of over 500 wild great tits (Parus major) with removal experiments, we assessed how individuals' social network positions responded to the loss of their social associates. We found that the extent of flockmate loss that individuals experienced correlated positively with subsequent increases in the number of their social associations, the average strength of their bonds and their overall connectedness within the social network (defined as summed edge weights). Increased social connectivity was not driven by general disturbance or changes in foraging behaviour, but by modifications to fine-scale social network connections in response to losing their associates. Therefore, the reduction in social connectedness expected by individual loss may be mitigated by increases in social associations between remaining individuals. Given that these findings demonstrate rapid adjustment of social network associations in response to the loss of previous social ties, future research should examine the generality of the compensatory adjustment of social relations in ways that maintain the structure of social organization.
Data from: Contact networks structured by sex underpin sex-specific epidemiology of infection
Contact networks are fundamental to the transmission of infection and host sex often affects the acquisition and progression of infection. However, the epidemiological impacts of sex-related variation in animal contact networks have rarely been investigated. We test the hypothesis that sex-biases in infection are related to variation in multilayer contact networks structured by sex in a population of European badgers Meles meles naturally infected with Mycobacterium bovis. Our key results are that male-male and between-sex networks are structured at broader spatial scales than female-female networks and that in male-male and between-sex contact networks, but not female-female networks, there is a significant relationship between infection and contacts with individuals in other groups. These sex differences in social behaviour may underpin male-biased acquisition of infection and may result in males being responsible for more between-group transmission. This highlights the importance of sex-related variation in host behaviour when managing animal diseases.
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These curated guides explain access requirements, typical timelines, costs, and reuse considerations for widely used research datasets.
Allen Brain Atlas
Allen Brain Atlas is an Allen Institute collection of brain map atlases, datasets, APIs, and analysis tools covering mouse, human, and non-human primate brain resources.
Annotated Behaviour and Observability Dataset (ABODe)
ABODe is a University of Edinburgh DataShare dataset for behavior classification in group-housed mice using home-cage video, identities, bounding boxes, ground-plate positions, and annotator labels.
DANDI Archive for NWB datasets
DANDI is a BRAIN Initiative archive for publishing and sharing neurophysiology data, including electrophysiology, optophysiology, and behavioral data packaged as NWB and related standards.
International Brain Laboratory public data
The International Brain Laboratory public data releases expose standardized mouse decision-making experiments, including Neuropixels recordings, widefield calcium imaging, behavior, and session metadata accessed through the ONE API.
OpenNeuro
OpenNeuro is a free, open platform for sharing neuroimaging datasets, with public search, dataset pages, and download paths for web, S3, DataLad, and the OpenNeuro CLI.