Choosing an appropriate index to construct dominance hierarchies in animal societies: a comparison of three indices

2010 ◽  
Vol 79 (3) ◽  
pp. 631-636 ◽  
Author(s):  
Alok Bang ◽  
Sujata Deshpande ◽  
Annagiri Sumana ◽  
Raghavendra Gadagkar
Keyword(s):  
Dominance Hierarchies ◽  
Animal Societies

scholarly journals Comparing proportional and ordinal dominance ranks reveals multiple competitive landscapes in an animal society

2020 ◽  
Author(s):  
Emily J Levy ◽  
Matthew N Zipple ◽  
Emily McLean ◽  
Fernando A Campos ◽  
Mauna Dasari ◽  
...  
Keyword(s):  
Performance Studies ◽  
Reproductive Performance ◽  
Dominance Rank ◽  
Group Living ◽  
Dominance Hierarchies ◽  
Resource Access ◽  
Density Dependent ◽  
Competitive Environments ◽  
Animal Societies ◽  
Better Than

AbstractAcross group-living animals, linear dominance hierarchies lead to disparities in access to resources, health outcomes, and reproductive performance. Studies of how dominance rank affects these outcomes typically employ one of several dominance rank metrics without examining the assumptions each metric makes about its underlying competitive processes. Here we compare the ability of two dominance rank metrics—ordinal rank and proportional or ‘standardized’ rank—to predict 20 distinct traits in a well-studied wild baboon population in Amboseli, Kenya. We propose that ordinal rank best predicts outcomes when competition is density-dependent, while proportional rank best predicts outcomes when competition is density-independent. We found that for 75% (15/20) of the traits, one of the two rank metrics performed better than the other. Strikingly, all male traits were better predicted by ordinal than by proportional rank, while female traits were evenly split between being better predicted by proportional or ordinal rank. Hence, male and female traits are shaped by different competitive regimes: males’ competitive environments are largely driven by density-dependent resource access (e.g., access to estrus females), while females’ competitive environments are shaped by both density-independent resource access (e.g. distributed food resources) and density-dependent resource access. However, traits related to competition for social and mating partners are an exception to this sex-biased pattern: these traits were better predicted by ordinal rank than by proportional rank for both sexes. We argue that this method of comparing how different rank metrics predict traits of interest can be used as a way to distinguish between different competitive processes operating in animal societies.

scholarly journals Social rank modulates how environmental quality influences cooperation and conflict within animal societies

2020 ◽  
Vol 287 (1935) ◽  
pp. 20201720
Author(s):  
Mark Liu ◽  
Bo-Fei Chen ◽  
Dustin R. Rubenstein ◽  
Sheng-Feng Shen
Keyword(s):  
Environmental Quality ◽  
Social Rank ◽  
Harsh Environments ◽  
Complex Societies ◽  
Power Structures ◽  
Burying Beetle ◽  
Dominance Hierarchies ◽  
Conflict And Cooperation ◽  
Game Theoretic ◽  
Animal Societies

Although dominance hierarchies occur in most societies, our understanding of how these power structures influence individual investment in cooperative and competitive behaviours remains elusive. Both conflict and cooperation in animal societies are often environmentally regulated, yet how individuals alter their cooperative and competitive investments as environmental quality changes remain unclear. Using game theoretic modelling, we predict that individuals of all ranks will invest more in cooperation and less in social conflict in harsh environments than individuals of the same ranks in benign environments. Counterintuitively, low-ranking subordinates should increase their investment in cooperation proportionally more than high-ranking dominants, suggesting that subordinates contribute relatively more when facing environmental challenges. We then test and confirm these predictions experimentally using the Asian burying beetle Nicrophorus nepalensis . Ultimately, we demonstrate how social rank modulates the relationships between environmental quality and cooperative and competitive behaviours, a topic crucial for understanding the evolution of complex societies.

scholarly journals Elevated aggression is associated with uncertainty in a network of dog dominance interactions

2019 ◽  
Vol 286 (1906) ◽  
pp. 20190536 ◽  
Author(s):  
Matthew J. Silk ◽  
Michael A. Cant ◽  
Simona Cafazzo ◽  
Eugenia Natoli ◽  
Robbie A. McDonald
Keyword(s):  
Social Relationships ◽  
Social Rank ◽  
Theoretical Models ◽  
Dominance Hierarchies ◽  
Hierarchy Formation ◽  
Dominance Interactions ◽  
Theoretical Predictions ◽  
The Stability ◽  
The Relationship ◽  
Animal Societies

Dominance hierarchies are widespread in animal societies and reduce the costs of within-group conflict over resources and reproduction. Variation in stability across a social hierarchy may result in asymmetries in the benefits obtained from hierarchy formation. However, variation in the stability and behavioural costs of dominance interactions with rank remain poorly understood. Previous theoretical models have predicted that the intensity of dominance interactions and aggression should increase with rank, but these models typically assume high reproductive skew, and so their generality remains untested. Here we show in a pack of free-living dogs with a sex–age-graded hierarchy that the central region of the hierarchy was dominated by more unstable social relationships and associated with elevated aggression. Our results reveal unavoidable costs of ascending a dominance hierarchy, run contrary to theoretical predictions for the relationship between aggression and social rank in high-skew societies, and widen our understanding of how heterogeneous benefits of hierarchy formation arise in animal societies.

scholarly journals A comparison of dominance rank metrics reveals multiple competitive landscapes in an animal society

2020 ◽  
Vol 287 (1934) ◽  
pp. 20201013 ◽  
Author(s):  
Emily J. Levy ◽  
Matthew N. Zipple ◽  
Emily McLean ◽  
Fernando A. Campos ◽  
Mauna Dasari ◽  
...  
Keyword(s):  
Performance Studies ◽  
Reproductive Performance ◽  
Dominance Rank ◽  
Group Living ◽  
Dominance Hierarchies ◽  
Resource Access ◽  
Density Dependent ◽  
Rank Metric ◽  
Animal Societies ◽  
Better Than

Across group-living animals, linear dominance hierarchies lead to disparities in access to resources, health outcomes and reproductive performance. Studies of how dominance rank predicts these traits typically employ one of several dominance rank metrics without examining the assumptions each metric makes about its underlying competitive processes. Here, we compare the ability of two dominance rank metrics—simple ordinal rank and proportional or ‘standardized’ rank—to predict 20 traits in a wild baboon population in Amboseli, Kenya. We propose that simple ordinal rank best predicts traits when competition is density-dependent, whereas proportional rank best predicts traits when competition is density-independent. We found that for 75% of traits (15/20), one rank metric performed better than the other. Strikingly, all male traits were best predicted by simple ordinal rank, whereas female traits were evenly split between proportional and simple ordinal rank. Hence, male and female traits are shaped by different competitive processes: males are largely driven by density-dependent resource access (e.g. access to oestrous females), whereas females are shaped by both density-independent (e.g. distributed food resources) and density-dependent resource access. This method of comparing how different rank metrics predict traits can be used to distinguish between different competitive processes operating in animal societies.

Social aggression in an age-dependent dominance hierarchy

Behaviour ◽  
2007 ◽  
Vol 144 (7) ◽  
pp. 753-765 ◽  
Author(s):  
Adam Cronin ◽  
Jeremy Field
Keyword(s):  
Social Dominance ◽  
Dominance Hierarchy ◽  
Conflicts Of Interest ◽  
Social Rank ◽  
Social Aggression ◽  
Dominance Hierarchies ◽  
Age Dependent ◽  
The Relationship ◽  
Animal Societies

AbstractSocial aggression arises from conflicts of interest over reproduction in animal societies. Aggression is often highly variable between individuals in a group, may be correlated with dominance, and is often integral to the establishment of dominance hierarchies that in turn determine reproductive opportunities. However, reproductive dominance is not always linked with social dominance: 'queens' are not always the most aggressive individuals in a group. Furthermore, in some animals social rank is determined without aggression, and derived through another means, such as gerontocracy. In such instances, what is the role of aggression, and what underlies the variation between individuals? Here, we investigate the relationship between inheritance rank and aggression in the hover wasp Liostenogaster flavolineata, which has an age-based inheritance queue. All females in this study were of known age and, thus, rank could be determined independently of behaviour. Observations of intra-colony aggression indicated that aggression increased with inheritance rank and occurred among non-breeding subordinates. This cannot be explained by models that do not account for aggression between non-breeders. It is likely that contests over inheritance rank and the higher future fitness anticipated by high-ranking individuals account for this pattern.

scholarly journals Competitive growth in a social fish

2019 ◽  
Vol 15 (2) ◽  
pp. 20180737 ◽  
Author(s):  
Cymone Reed ◽  
Rebecca Branconi ◽  
John Majoris ◽  
Cara Johnson ◽  
Peter Buston
Keyword(s):  
Growth Rate ◽  
Social Environment ◽  
Social Rank ◽  
Competitive Growth ◽  
Plastic Response ◽  
Social Competition ◽  
Dominance Hierarchies ◽  
Dominant Position ◽  
Amphiprion Percula ◽  
Animal Societies

Many animal societies have dominance hierarchies in which social rank is correlated with size. In such societies, the growth and size of individuals can be a strategic response to their social environment: in fishes, individuals may decrease their growth rate to remain small and retain a subordinate position; in mammals, individuals may increase their growth rate to become large and attain a dominant position—a strategy called competitive growth. Here, we investigate whether the clown anemonefish, Amphiprion percula , exhibits competitive growth also. We show that juvenile clownfish paired with a size-matched reproductive rival increase their growth rate and size relative to solitary controls. Remarkably, paired individuals achieved this, despite being provided with the same amount of food as solitary controls. Our results demonstrate that clownfish are able to increase their growth rate in response to social competition. This study adds to the growing body of evidence that the growth of social vertebrates can be a fine-tuned plastic response to their social environment.

scholarly journals Stress and the costs of extra-territorial movement in a social carnivore

2009 ◽  
Vol 5 (4) ◽  
pp. 439-441 ◽  
Author(s):  
Andrew J Young ◽  
Steven L Monfort
Keyword(s):  
Chronic Stress ◽  
Physiological Stress ◽  
Negative Effects ◽  
Delayed Dispersal ◽  
Non Invasive ◽  
Suricata Suricatta ◽  
Related Distribution ◽  
Selection For ◽  
Animal Societies ◽  
Pituitary Adrenal Axis

Costs associated with extra-territorial movement are believed to have favoured the evolution of delayed dispersal and sociality across a range of social vertebrates, but remain surprisingly poorly understood. Here we reveal a novel mechanism that may contribute substantially to the costs of extra-territorial movement: physiological stress. We show that subordinate male meerkats, Suricata suricatta , exhibit markedly elevated faecal glucocorticoid metabolite levels (a non-invasive measure of hypothalamic–pituitary–adrenal axis activity) while conducting extra-territorial prospecting forays. While brief increases in glucocorticoid levels are unlikely to be costly, chronic elevations, arising from prolonged and/or frequent forays, are expected to compromise fitness through their diverse negative effects on health. Our findings strongly suggest that prolonged extra-territorial movements do result in chronic stress, as the high glucocorticoid levels of prospectors do not diminish on longer forays and are no lower among males with greater prospecting experience. A generalized ‘stress’ of extra-territorial movement may therefore have strengthened selection for delayed dispersal and sociality in this and other species, and favoured the conduct of brief forays over extended periods of floating. Our findings have implications too for understanding the rank-related distribution of physiological stress in animal societies, as extra-territorial movements are often conducted solely by subordinates.

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