Find research datasets worth reusing

Data from: Individual and group performance suffers from social niche disruption

<p>The associated article has been retracted over concerns relating to irregularities found in the raw data. Concerns relating to the data can be found in the retraction notice: <a href="https://www.journals.uchicago.edu/doi/abs/10.1086/708066">https://www.journals.uchicago.edu/doi/abs/10.1086/708066</a> </p> <p>The social niche specialization hypothesis predicts that animal personalities emerge as a result of individuals occupying different social niches within a group. Here we track individual personality and performance, and collective performance among groups of social spiders where we manipulated the familiarity of the group members. We show that individual personalities, as measured by consistent individual differences in boldness behavior, strengthen with increasing familiarity, and that these personalities can be disrupted by a change in group membership. Changing group membership negatively impacted both individual and group performance. Individuals in less familiar groups lost weight, and these groups were less successful at performing vital collective tasks. These results provide a mechanism for the evolution of stable social groups by demonstrating that social niche re-establishment carries a steep cost to both individuals and groups. Social niche specialization may therefore provide a potential first step on the path towards more organized social systems.</p>

opencc-zeroDec 2016View details →

Data from: Pace-of-life in a social insect: behavioral syndromes in ants shift along a climatic gradient

Behavioral syndromes are correlations between behavioral traits, but their selective advantage under different environmental conditions is not well understood. Here, we used the pace-of-life hypothesis to predict how behavioral syndromes could vary along climatic gradients. This hypothesis states that populations experiencing different ecological conditions should differ in suites of physiological characteristics associated with behavioral and life-history traits. We examined the persistence of behavioral syndromes at multiple levels in the ant Temnothorax longispinosus along a climatic gradient in north-eastern USA. "Across populations", we predicted that proactive phenotypes, which show higher activity, aggression and exploration, are more likely to persist in warmer climates. "Within populations", we expected positive associations among proactive behaviors to be more pronounced at warmer sites. Additionally, we measured colony productivity to test whether deviation from the population-level syndrome influences their success, and whether such deviations could vary among populations. Behavioral syndromes clearly occurred across populations, with colonies from warmer environments exhibiting more exploration and foraging but slightly less aggressiveness than colonies from colder sites. However, the presence of behavioral syndromes within sites was population-specific. Positive associations between foraging, exploration and aggression, albeit rarely found, were more pronounced at the warmest sites, whereas negative associations were more common at colder sites. Furthermore, colonies from colder environments showed higher syndrome deviations than colonies from warmer environments, which may be linked to resource limitation and may also negatively affect colony productivity. This study partially corroborates the pace-of-life hypothesis and yields insights into the adaptive value of behavioral syndromes along climatic gradients.

Data from: Familiarity mediates equitable social associations in guppies

Several fish species are characterized by social systems in which individuals prefer to interact with specific group mates. However, there is no clear evidence that such associations are equitable, i.e. they are mutual between individuals. We addressed this issue in the guppy (Poecilia reticulata), a species in which social network analyses have evidenced non-random social associations between individuals. We measured the mutual preference in pairs of guppies that previously familiarized in groups of either two or six individuals. To estimate the equitability of social associations, we first tested the preference of one fish for a familiar stimulus fish over an unfamiliar stimulus fish, and then, we similarly tested the preference of the other fish. Irrespective of the group size experienced during familiarization (two or six individuals), we found a within-pair consistency in the preference for the familiar fish, indicating that guppies developed social associations that are mutual between individuals. In a further condition, we tested pairs of unfamiliar individuals to assess the role of familiarity in equitable social associations. We found that equitable social associations did not develop in absence of previous familiarization and were not based on spontaneous preferences or phenotypic assortment. Our results demonstrate that familiarity mediates the development of equitable social associations in guppies and suggest that this behavior may be more widespread than previously considered.

Data from: Is ungulate migration culturally transmitted? Evidence of social learning from translocated animals

Ungulate migrations are assumed to stem from learning and cultural transmission of information regarding seasonal distribution of forage, but this hypothesis has not been tested empirically. We compared the migratory propensities of bighorn sheep and moose translocated into novel habitats with those of historical populations that had persisted for hundreds of years. Whereas individuals from historical populations were largely migratory, translocated individuals initially were not. After multiple decades, however, translocated populations gained knowledge about surfing green waves of forage (tracking plant phenology) and increased their propensity to migrate. Our findings indicate that learning and cultural transmission are the primary mechanisms by which ungulate migrations evolve. Loss of migration will therefore expunge generations of knowledge about the locations of high-quality forage and likely suppress population abundance.

opencc-zeroDec 2013View details →

Data from: Developmental stress predicts social network position

The quantity and quality of social relationships, as captured by social network analysis, can have major fitness consequences. Various studies have shown that individual differences in social behaviour can be due to variation in exposure to developmental stress. However, whether these developmental differences translate to consistent differences in social network position is not known. We experimentally increased levels of the avian stress hormone corticosterone (CORT) in nestling zebra finches in a fully balanced design. Upon reaching nutritional independence, we released chicks and their families into two free-flying rooms, where we measured daily social networks over five weeks using passive integrated transponder tags. Developmental stress had a significant effect on social behaviour: despite having similar foraging patterns, CORT chicks had weaker associations to their parents than control chicks. Instead, CORT chicks foraged with a greater number of flock mates and were less choosy with whom they foraged, resulting in more central network positions. These findings highlight the importance of taking developmental history into account to understand the drivers of social organization in gregarious species.

Data from: Why pair? Evidence of aggregative mating in a socially monogamous marine fish (Siganus doliatus, Siganidae)

Many species live in stable pairs, usually to breed and raise offspring together, but this cannot be assumed. Establishing whether pairing is based on mating, or an alternative cooperative advantage, can be difficult, especially where species show no obvious sexual dimorphism and where the act of reproduction itself is difficult to observe. In the tropical marine fishes known as rabbitfish (Siganidae), half of extant species live in socially monogamous, territorial pairs. It has been assumed that partnerships are for mating, but the reproductive mode of pairing rabbitfish is currently unconfirmed. Using passive acoustic telemetry to track movements of fishes belonging to one such species (Siganus doliatus), we provide the first evidence that paired adult fish undertake highly synchronized migrations with multiple conspecifics on a monthly cycle. All tagged individuals migrated along the same route in three consecutive months and were absent from home territories for 2–3 days just after the new moon. The timing and directionality of migrations suggest that S. doliatus may form spawning aggregations, offering the potential for exposure to multiple reproductive partners. The finding raises fundamental questions about the basis of pairing, mate choice and partnership longevity in this family.

Data from: Social setting, intuition and experience in laboratory experiments interact to shape cooperative decision-making

Recent studies suggest that cooperative decision-making in one-shot interactions is a history-dependent dynamic process: promoting intuition versus deliberation typically has a positive effect on cooperation (dynamism) among people living in a cooperative setting and with no previous experience in economic games on cooperation (history dependence). Here, we report on a laboratory experiment exploring how these findings transfer to a non-cooperative setting. We find two major results: (i) promoting intuition versus deliberation has no effect on cooperative behaviour among inexperienced subjects living in a non-cooperative setting; (ii) experienced subjects cooperate more than inexperienced subjects, but only under time pressure. These results suggest that cooperation is a learning process, rather than an instinctive impulse or a self-controlled choice, and that experience operates primarily via the channel of intuition. Our findings shed further light on the cognitive basis of human cooperative decision-making and provide further support for the recently proposed social heuristics hypothesis.

Data from: Social cues affect quantitative genetic variation and covariation in animal personality traits

The social environment is expected to have substantial effects on behavior, and as a consequence its heritability and evolvability. We investigated these effects by exposing Australian field crickets (Teleogryllus oceanicus) to either silence or recordings of male acoustic sexual signals. We used a combined pedigree and full-sib/half-sib breeding design to estimate the repeatability, heritability, and evolvability of behaviors related to boldness, exploration, and activity. All behaviors measured were significantly repeatable in both social environments. Additionally, most behaviors showed significant heritabilities in the two environments. We found no difference in repeatabilities between the silent and the acoustic environment but did find significant differences in the heritabilities and evolvabilities between these environments. There was a high degree of similarity between the phenotypic covariance matrices across the two environments, while the genotypic covariance matrices were highly dissimilar. Reflecting this, we found significant genotype-by-environment interactions for most of the behaviors. Lastly, we found that the repeatable aspect of behavior ('personality') was significantly heritable for most behaviors, but that these heritabilities were higher in the acoustic than in the silent environment. We conclude that the social environment can have a significant impact on the heritability and evolvability of behavior, and argue that evolutionary inferences from phenotypic studies should be made with caution.

Data from: Using a robotic fish to investigate individual differences in social responsiveness in the guppy

Responding towards the actions of others is one of the most important behavioral traits whenever animals of the same species interact. Mutual influences among interacting individuals may modulate the social responsiveness seen and thus makes it often difficult to study the level and individual variation in responsiveness. Here, open-loop biomimetic robots that provide standardized, non-interactive social cues can be a useful tool. These robots are not affected by the live animal's actions but are assumed to still represent valuable and biologically relevant social cues. As this assumption is crucial for the use of biomimetic robots in behavioral studies, we hypothesized (a) that meaningful social interactions can be assumed if live animals maintain individual differences in responsiveness both when interacting with a biomimetic robot and a live partner. Furthermore, to study the level of individual variation in social responsiveness, we hypothesized (b) that individual differences should be maintained over the course of multiple tests with the robot. We investigated the response of live guppies (Poecilia reticulata) when allowed to interact either with a biomimetic open-loop controlled fish robot – 'Robofish' – or a live companion. Furthermore we investigated the responses of live guppies when tested three times with Robofish. We found that live guppies' responses towards Robofish were weaker compared to a live companion, most likely as a result of the non-interactive open-loop behavior of Robofish. Guppies, however, were consistent in their individual responses between a live companion and Robofish and similar individual differences in response towards Robofish were maintained over repeated testing even though habituation to the test environment was detectable. Biomimetic robots like Robofish are therefore a useful tool for the study of social responsiveness in guppies and possibly other small fish species.

Data from: Socially cued developmental plasticity in web-building spiders

Background: Socially cued anticipatory plasticity (SCAP) has been proposed as a widespread mechanism of adaptive life-history shifts in semelparous species with extreme male mating investment. Such mating systems evolved several times independently in spiders and male reproductive success should critically depend on timely maturation and rapid location of a receptive and, ideally, virgin female. We experimentally investigated socially cued anticipatory plasticity in two sympatric, closely related Nephila species that share many components of their mating systems, but differ in the degree to which male reproductive success depends on mating with virgin females. Juveniles of both species were reared either in the presence or absence of virgin female silk cues. We predicted strong selection on socially cued plasticity in N. fenestrata in which males follow a highly specialized terminal investment strategy, but expected a weaker plastic response in N. senegalensis in which males lost the ability to monopolize females. Results: Contrary to our predictions, N. fenestrata males presented with virgin female silk cues did not mature earlier than siblings reared isolated from such cues. Males in N. senegalensis, however, showed a significant response to female cues and matured several days earlier than control males. Plastic adjustment of maturation had no effect on male size. Conclusions: Our results indicate that a strong benefit of mating with virgins due to first male sperm priority does not necessarily promote socially cued anticipatory plasticity. We emphasize the bidirectional mode of developmental responses and suggest that this form of plasticity may not only yield benefits through accelerated maturation, but also by avoiding costs of precipitate maturation in the absence of female cues.

Data from: Resource distribution mediates social and mating behavior in a family living lizard

The distribution of resources should influence mate availability and the costs and benefits of pursuing different mating strategies. Where resources are dispersed, males may be constrained in the extent to which they can monopolize more than 1 partner, resulting in social and genetic monogamy. There is abundant correlational evidence that resource distribution influences social and mating systems, but experiments that demonstrate a causal link between these variables are relatively rare. Here, we used a replicated experiment involving 160 animals to examine how the distribution of a key resource, crevice sites used as nesting habitat, shapes social and mating behavior of a family living lizard, Liopholis whitii. The distribution of crevice sites had significant effects on several important aspects of the social and mating system. When habitat was aggregated, adults had larger home ranges and overlapped with more individuals of the opposite sex, resulting in increased opportunity for social polygyny. Aggressive female territoriality appears to impose upper limits on opportunities for polygyny by restricting female–female home range overlap. Despite this, males in aggregated habitats still formed polygynous social groups more often than males in dispersed habitat. Aggregated habitat also increased the opportunity for sexual selection, resulting in greater variance in male reproductive success and a steeper Bateman gradient compared with males occupying dispersed habitat. These effects were independent of the increase in social polygyny. Overall, our study is consistent with the hypothesis that habitat structure is fundamentally important to the evolution of social and mating systems.

Data from: Social orienting in gaze leading: a mechanism for shared attention

Here, we report a novel social orienting response that occurs after viewing averted gaze. We show, in three experiments, that when a person looks from one location to an object, attention then shifts towards the face of an individual who has subsequently followed the person's gaze to that same object. That is, contrary to 'gaze following', attention instead orients in the opposite direction to observed gaze and towards the gazing face. The magnitude of attentional orienting towards a face that 'follows' the participant's gaze is also associated with self-reported autism-like traits. We propose that this gaze leading phenomenon implies the existence of a mechanism in the human social cognitive system for detecting when one's gaze has been followed, in order to establish 'shared attention' and maintain the ongoing interaction.

opencc-zeroDec 2013View details →

Data from: Strategic exploitation of fluctuating asymmetry in male Endler's guppy courtship displays is modulated by social environment

Lateral asymmetry in signalling traits enables males to strategically exploit their best side. In many animals, both body colouration and fluctuating asymmetry are signals of male attractiveness. We demonstrated experimentally that even sexually naïve male Poecilia wingei were able to identify their most attractive side (i.e. that with a higher proportion of carotenoid pigmentation) and use it preferentially during courtship. Notably, males retained their strategic signalling in a male-biased social environment, whereas they ceased to signal strategically in a female-biased environment. The degree of asymmetry in colouration did not affect overall courtship activity. Strategic lateralization in courtship displays was strongest and most repeatable in the male-biased social environment where males competed with rivals for matings. Individual asymmetry in colouration changed considerably over a period of 3 months. This suggests that colouration is a dynamic feature during adulthood and that males are capable of tracking and strategically exploiting their lateral asymmetry in accordance with their social environment.

Data from: Socially segregated, sympatric sperm whale clans in the Atlantic Ocean

Sperm whales (Physeter macrocephalus) are unusual in that there is good evidence for sympatric populations with distinct culturally determined behaviour, including potential acoustic markers of the population division. In the Pacific, socially segregated, vocal clans with distinct dialects coexist; by contrast, geographical variation in vocal repertoire in the Atlantic has been attributed to drift. We examine networks of acoustic repertoire similarity and social interactions for 11 social units in the Eastern Caribbean. We find the presence of two socially segregated, sympatric vocal clans whose dialects differ significantly both in terms of categorical coda types produced by each clan (Mantel test between clans: matrix correlation = 0.256; p ≤ 0.001) and when using classification-free similarity which ignores defined types (Mantel test between clans: matrix correlation = 0.180; p ≤ 0.001). The more common of the two clans makes a characteristic 1 + 1 + 3 coda, while the other less often sighted clan makes predominantly regular codas. Units were only observed associating with other units within their vocal clan. This study demonstrates that sympatric vocal clans do exist in the Atlantic, that they define a higher order level of social organization as they do in the Pacific, and suggests that cultural identity at the clan level is probably important in this species worldwide.

Data from: Distributed cognition and social brains: reductions in mushroom body investment accompanied the origins of sociality in wasps (Hymenoptera: Vespidae)

The social brain hypothesis assumes the evolution of social behaviour changes animals' ecological environments, and predicts evolutionary shifts in social structure will be associated with changes in brain investment. Most social brain models to date assume social behaviour imposes additional cognitive challenges to animals, favouring the evolution of increased brain investment. Here, we present a modification of social brain models, which we term the distributed cognition hypothesis. Distributed cognition models assume group members can rely on social communication instead of individual cognition; these models predict reduced brain investment in social species. To test this hypothesis, we compared brain investment among 29 species of wasps (Vespidae family), including solitary species and social species with a wide range of social attributes (i.e. differences in colony size, mode of colony founding and degree of queen/worker caste differentiation). We compared species means of relative size of mushroom body (MB) calyces and the antennal to optic lobe ratio, as measures of brain investment in central processing and peripheral sensory processing, respectively. In support of distributed cognition predictions, and in contrast to patterns seen among vertebrates, MB investment decreased from solitary to social species. Among social species, differences in colony founding, colony size and caste differentiation were not associated with brain investment differences. Peripheral lobe investment did not covary with social structure. These patterns suggest the strongest changes in brain investment—a reduction in central processing brain regions—accompanied the evolutionary origins of eusociality in Vespidae.

opencc-zeroDec 2012View details →

Data from: Long-term effect of social interactions on behavioral plasticity and lifetime mating success

Behavioral traits often change over an individual's lifetime. Experience, physiological senescence, and age-dependent differences in optimal behavior can, in theory, all cause longitudinal behavioral changes. Yet most studies of behavioral plasticity and selection on behavior focus on short-term population-level responses to social factors such as conspecific density or sex ratio. Longer-term effects of social interactions on individual behavior have rarely been tested. Here we tested these effects by exposing male water striders (Hemiptera: Gerridae) to two different social conditions throughout their lifetime; we call these the nonsocial and social treatments. We then measured each male's lifetime mating success and individual behavioral plasticity by observing four different behaviors (exploring a novel environment, dispersal ability, sex-recognition sensitivity, and tendency to remount a resistant female after being dislodged) every 2 weeks. The social environment influenced individual variation in behavioral plasticity as well as population-level behavioral plasticity. Moreover, when we calculated linear selection gradients of individual behavioral traits and their plasticities on lifetime mating success, male remounting tendency and individual plasticity in exploration ability were likely to be the most important factors explaining variation in male lifetime mating success. In conclusion, the variation in social interactions throughout an individual's lifetime contributes to the individual variation in behavioral plasticity, which can significantly affect a male's lifetime fitness.

opencc-zeroDec 2018View details →

Data from: Carry-over effects of resource competition and social environment on aggression

Aggressive behavior is common in many species and is often adaptive because it enables individuals to gain access to limited resources. However, aggression is also highly plastic and the degree of plasticity could be influenced by factors such as resource limitation and the social environment. In this study, we examined how the effects of social experience and resource limitation could persist to affect future aggressive interactions. Using naturally inbred strains of Drosophila melanogaster that differ in aggressiveness, we manipulated the level of available resources by varying fly density (2 treatments: high and low per capita resources) and group composition by varying strain frequency (5 treatments: homogeneous strains, or mixed at 1:3, 1:1 or 3:1 ratios of the more aggressive to less aggressive strain). For each treatment group, we measured aggression before and after flies were placed through a 4-day period of fixed resources. There was no consistent effect of resource competition on aggression. Instead, changes in aggression depended on resource availability in combination with group composition. In homogeneous groups made up of only one strain, all males became more aggressive following the fixed resource period, regardless of fly density. In mixed strain treatments at high density, we observed plastic shifts in aggression of males from both strains, but the direction of plastic responses depended on social composition. Our results show that aggression may not only be influenced by the intensity of previous competitive experiences caused by resource limitation, but also through social effects caused by the composition of the group.

opencc-zeroSep 2019View details →

Data from: Differential female sociality is linked with the fine-scale structure of sexual interactions in replicate groups of red junglefowl, Gallus gallus

Recent work indicates that social structure has extensive implications for patterns of sexual selection and sexual conflict. However, little is known about the individual variation in social behaviours linking social structure to sexual interactions. Here, we use network analysis of replicate polygynandrous groups of red junglefowl (Gallus gallus) to show that the association between social structure and sexual interactions is underpinned by differential female sociality. Sexual dynamics are largely explained by a core group of highly social, younger females, which are more fecund and more polyandrous, and thus associated with more intense postcopulatory competition for males. In contrast, less fecund females from older cohorts, which tend to be socially dominant, avoid male sexual attention by clustering together and perching on branches, and preferentially reproduce with dominant males by more exclusively associating and mating with them. Collectively, these results indicate that individual females occupy subtly different social niches, and demonstrate that female sociality can be an important factor underpinning the landscape of intra-sexual competition and the emergent structure of animal societies.

opencc-zeroDec 2016View details →

Data from: No speed dating please! Patterns of social preference in male and female house mice

Background: In many animal species, interactions between individuals of different sex often occur in the context of courtship and mating. During these interactions, a specific mating partner can be chosen. By discriminating potential mates according to specific characteristics, individuals can increase their evolutionary fitness in terms of reproduction and offspring survival. In this study, we monitored the partner preference behaviour of female and male wild house mice (Mus musculus domesticus) from populations in Germany (G) and France (F) in a controlled cage setup for 5 days and six nights. We analysed the effects of individual factors (e.g. population origin and sex) on the strength of preference (selectivity), as well as dyadic factors (e.g. neutral genetic distance and major histocompatibility complex (MHC) dissimilarity) that direct partner preferences. Results: Selectivity was stronger in mice with a pure population background than mixed individuals. Furthermore, female mice with a father from the German population had stronger selectivity than other mice. In this group, we found a preference for partners with a larger dissimilarity of their father's and their partner's MHC, as assessed by sequencing the H2-Eß locus. In all mice, selectivity followed a clear temporal pattern: it was low in the beginning and reached its maximum only after a whole day in the experiment. After two days, mice seemed to have chosen their preferred partner, as this choice was stable for the remaining four days in the experiment. Conclusions: Our study supports earlier findings that mate choice behaviour in wild mice can be paternally influenced. In our study, preference seems to be potentially associated with paternal MHC distance. To explain this, we propose familial imprinting as the most probable process for information transfer from father to offspring during the offspring's early phase of life, which possibly influences its future partner preferences. Furthermore, our experiments show that preferences can change after the first day of encounter, which implies that extended observation times might be required to obtain results that allow a valid ecological interpretation.

Data from: Cultural flies: conformist social learning in fruit flies predicts long-lasting mate-choice traditions

Despite theoretical justification for the evolution of animal culture, there is still scant empirical evidence for it beyond mammals and birds, and we still know little about the process of cultural inheritance. Here, we propose a mechanism-driven definition of animal culture and test it in the fruit fly. We found that fruit flies have five cognitive capacities that enable them to transmit mating preferences culturally across generations, potentially fostering persistent traditions (the main marker of culture) in mating preference. A transmission chain experiment validates a model of the emergence of local traditions indicating that such social transmission may lead initially neutral traits to become adaptive, hence strongly selecting for copying and conformity, a situation that, although suggested decades ago, still had little empirical support.