Repeatable group differences in the collective behaviour of stickleback shoals across ecological contexts

Establishing how collective behaviour emerges is central to our understanding of animal societies. Previous research has highlighted how universal interaction rules shape collective behaviour, and that individual differences can drive group functioning. Groups themselves may also differ considerably in their collective behaviour, but little is known about the consistency of such group variation, especially across different ecological contexts that may alter individuals' behavioural responses. Here, we test if randomly composed groups of sticklebacks differ consistently from one another in both their structure and movement dynamics across an open environment, an environment with food, and an environment with food and shelter. Based on high-resolution tracking data of the free-swimming shoals, we found large context-associated changes in the average behaviour of the groups. But despite these changes and limited social familiarity among group members, substantial and predictable behavioural differences between the groups persisted both within and across the different contexts (group-level repeatability): some groups moved consistently faster, more cohesively, showed stronger alignment and/or clearer leadership than other groups. These results suggest that among-group heterogeneity could be a widespread feature in animal societies. Future work that considers group-level variation in collective behaviour may help understand the selective pressures that shape how animal collectives form and function.

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Structure and function in mammalian societies

Philosophical Transactions of the Royal Society B Biological Sciences ◽

10.1098/rstb.2009.0120 ◽

2009 ◽

Vol 364 (1533) ◽

pp. 3229-3242 ◽

Cited By ~ 83

Author(s):

Tim Clutton-Brock

Keyword(s):

Life Histories ◽

Inclusive Fitness ◽

Group Level ◽

Eusocial Insects ◽

Physical Environments ◽

Dominant Female ◽

Group Members ◽

Breeding Groups ◽

And Function ◽

Animal Societies

Traditional interpretations of the evolution of animal societies have suggested that their structure is a consequence of attempts by individuals to maximize their inclusive fitness within constraints imposed by their social and physical environments. In contrast, some recent re-interpretations have argued that many aspects of social organization should be interpreted as group-level adaptations maintained by selection operating between groups or populations. Here, I review our current understanding of the evolution of mammalian societies, focusing, in particular, on the evolution of reproductive strategies in societies where one dominant female monopolizes reproduction in each group and her offspring are reared by other group members. Recent studies of the life histories of females in these species show that dispersing females often have little chance of establishing new breeding groups and so are likely to maximize their inclusive fitness by helping related dominants to rear their offspring. As in eusocial insects, increasing group size can lead to a progressive divergence in the selection pressures operating on breeders and helpers and to increasing specialization in their behaviour and life histories. As yet, there is little need to invoke group-level adaptations in order to account for the behaviour of individuals or the structure of mammalian groups.

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Collective behaviour is not robust to disturbance, yet parent and offspring colonies resemble each other in social spiders

10.1101/761338 ◽

2019 ◽

Author(s):

David N. Fisher ◽

James L.L. Lichtenstein ◽

Raul Costa-Pereira ◽

Justin Yeager ◽

Jonathan N. Pruitt

Keyword(s):

Initial Conditions ◽

Collective Behaviour ◽

Group Level ◽

Natural Conditions ◽

Social Spider ◽

The Social ◽

Parent Colony ◽

Group Members ◽

Collective Foraging ◽

The Stability

AbstractGroups of animals possess phenotypes such as collective behaviour, which may determine the fitness of group members. However, the stability and robustness to perturbations of collective phenotypes in natural conditions is not established. Furthermore, whether group phenotypes are transmitted from parent to offspring groups is required for understanding how selection on group phenotypes contributes to evolution, but parent-offspring resemblance at the group level is rarely estimated. We evaluated robustness to perturbation and parent-offspring resemblance of collective foraging aggressiveness in colonies of the social spider Anelosimus eximius. Among-colony differences in foraging aggressiveness were consistent over time but changed if the colony was perturbed through the removal of individuals, or via their removal and subsequent return. Offspring and parent colony behaviour were correlated, but only once the offspring colony had settled after being translocated. The parent-offspring resemblance was not driven by a shared elevation but could be due to other environmental factors. Laboratory collective behaviour was not correlated with behaviour in the field. Colony aggression seems sensitive to initial conditions and easily perturbed between behavioural states. Despite this sensitivity, offspring colonies have collective behaviour that resembles that of their parent colony, provided they are given enough time to settle into the environment.

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The relationship between sternum variation and mode of locomotion in birds

BMC Biology ◽

10.1186/s12915-021-01105-1 ◽

2021 ◽

Vol 19 (1) ◽

Author(s):

Talia M. Lowi-Merri ◽

Roger B. J. Benson ◽

Santiago Claramunt ◽

David C. Evans

Keyword(s):

Body Shape ◽

Explanatory Power ◽

Critical Element ◽

Form And Function ◽

Avian Flight ◽

Flight Muscles ◽

Ecological Importance ◽

And Function ◽

Future Work ◽

The Relationship

Abstract Background The origin of powered avian flight was a locomotor innovation that expanded the ecological potential of maniraptoran dinosaurs, leading to remarkable variation in modern birds (Neornithes). The avian sternum is the anchor for the major flight muscles and, despite varying widely in morphology, has not been extensively studied from evolutionary or functional perspectives. We quantify sternal variation across a broad phylogenetic scope of birds using 3D geometric morphometrics methods. Using this comprehensive dataset, we apply phylogenetically informed regression approaches to test hypotheses of sternum size allometry and the correlation of sternal shape with both size and locomotory capabilities, including flightlessness and the highly varying flight and swimming styles of Neornithes. Results We find evidence for isometry of sternal size relative to body mass and document significant allometry of sternal shape alongside important correlations with locomotory capability, reflecting the effects of both body shape and musculoskeletal variation. Among these, we show that a large sternum with a deep or cranially projected sternal keel is necessary for powered flight in modern birds, that deeper sternal keels are correlated with slower but stronger flight, robust caudal sternal borders are associated with faster flapping styles, and that narrower sterna are associated with running abilities. Correlations between shape and locomotion are significant but show weak explanatory power, indicating that although sternal shape is broadly associated with locomotory ecology, other unexplored factors are also important. Conclusions These results display the ecological importance of the avian sternum for flight and locomotion by providing a novel understanding of sternum form and function in Neornithes. Our study lays the groundwork for estimating the locomotory abilities of paravian dinosaurs, the ancestors to Neornithes, by highlighting the importance of this critical element for avian flight, and will be useful for future work on the origin of flight along the dinosaur-bird lineage.

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Form and Function of Metacommunication in CMC

Handbook of Research on Computer Mediated Communication ◽

10.4018/978-1-59904-863-5.ch041 ◽

2011 ◽

pp. 570-586 ◽

Cited By ~ 1

Author(s):

Mirjam Weder

Keyword(s):

Online Communities ◽

Group Behavior ◽

Common Interest ◽

Online Forums ◽

Communicative Behavior ◽

Appropriate Behavior ◽

Form And Function ◽

Shared Set ◽

Group Members ◽

And Function

Online communities such as newsgroups and mailinglists are constructed around a common interest and a shared set of norms that regulates communication. These communicative norms can be studied either by observing the communicative practice of the participants or by analyzing what group members say about correct and appropriate behavior in that community (referred to as metacommunication). This chapter investigates the differing roles of metacommunication in online communities such as mailinglists, newsgroups, and online forums with an aim to provide a basis for the future analysis of group behavior. It explains how members are instructed about correct and appropriate communicative behavior, and how various evaluative means of metacommunication can negotiate these norms and contribute toward community building.

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Form and Function of Metacommunication in CMC

E-Collaboration ◽

10.4018/978-1-60566-652-5.ch106 ◽

2009 ◽

pp. 1447-1463

Author(s):

Mirjam Weder

Keyword(s):

Online Communities ◽

Group Behavior ◽

Common Interest ◽

Online Forums ◽

Communicative Behavior ◽

Appropriate Behavior ◽

Form And Function ◽

Shared Set ◽

Group Members ◽

And Function

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Scanning tunneling microscopy (STM) of DNA and RNA

Proceedings, annual meeting, Electron Microscopy Society of America ◽

10.1017/s0424820100152148 ◽

1989 ◽

Vol 47 ◽

pp. 34-35

Author(s):

Patricia G. Arscott ◽

Gil Lee ◽

Victor A. Bloomfield ◽

D. Fennell Evans

Keyword(s):

Molecular Structures ◽

Inorganic Materials ◽

Resolving Power ◽

Scanning Tunneling ◽

Tunneling Microscopy ◽

Form And Function ◽

Dna And Rna ◽

Calf Thymus ◽

And Function ◽

The Relationship

STM is one of the most promising techniques available for visualizing the fine details of biomolecular structure. It has been used to map the surface topography of inorganic materials in atomic dimensions, and thus has the resolving power not only to determine the conformation of small molecules but to distinguish site-specific features within a molecule. That level of detail is of critical importance in understanding the relationship between form and function in biological systems. The size, shape, and accessibility of molecular structures can be determined much more accurately by STM than by electron microscopy since no staining, shadowing or labeling with heavy metals is required, and there is no exposure to damaging radiation by electrons. Crystallography and most other physical techniques do not give information about individual molecules.We have obtained striking images of DNA and RNA, using calf thymus DNA and two synthetic polynucleotides, poly(dG-me5dC)·poly(dG-me5dC) and poly(rA)·poly(rU).

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