scholarly journals A multi-level society comprised of one-male and multi-male core units in an African colobine (Colobus angolensis ruwenzorii)

2019 ◽  
Author(s):  
Samantha M. Stead ◽  
Julie A. Teichroeb
Keyword(s):  
Social Organization ◽  
Mammalian Species ◽  
Hierarchical Cluster ◽  
Adult Males ◽  
Hamadryas Baboons ◽  
The Social ◽  
Multi Level ◽  
Using Data ◽  
Hierarchical Cluster Analyses ◽  
Insight Into

AbstractA few mammalian species exhibit complex, nested social organizations, termed multi-level societies. Among nonhuman primates, multi-level societies have been confirmed in several African papionin and Asian colobine species. Using data on individually-recognized Rwenzori Angolan colobus at Lake Nabugabo, Uganda, we document the first multi-level society in an African colobine. The study band comprised up to 135 individuals living in 12 socially and spatially distinct core units that ranged in size from 4 to 23 individuals. These core units shared a home range, and fissioned and fused throughout the day. Using the association indices between core units, we employed hierarchical cluster analyses and permutation tests to show that some core units clustered into clans. Thus, we confirm three tiers of social organization for Rwenzori Angolan colobus: core unit, clan, and band. The social organization of this subspecies is unlike any reported previously in a nonhuman primate, with about half the core units containing a single adult male and the others containing multiple reproductive adult males. Preliminary data show males to transfer within the band and female to transfer outside of the band, which suggests that, like Hamadryas baboons, this subspecies could provide insight into the selective pressures underlying hominin social organization.

To breed or not to breed: an analysis of the social and density-dependent constraints on the fecundity of female badgers ( Meles meles )

1992 ◽  
Vol 338 (1286) ◽  
pp. 393-407 ◽  
Keyword(s):  
Social Organization ◽  
Post Partum ◽  
Seasonal Pattern ◽  
Reproductive Failure ◽  
Late Winter ◽  
Breeding Cycle ◽  
Adult Males ◽  
Potential Productivity ◽  
The Social ◽  
Two Peaks

Data from post-mortem examinations, population density estimates and long term capture-mark-recapture studies have been combined to look at the pattern of reproductive behaviour and the social factors leading to reproductive failure in badgers in Britain. The results are used to evaluate whether the hypothesis that the defence of oestrous females (as opposed to defence of food resources) best explains territorial behaviour and the social organization of badgers. Badgers in Britain have two peaks of reproductive activity, one immediately post partum and one in the summer/autumn. These coincide with two peaks of ovulation, and in the late winter/spring there is a steep rise in the number of sows carrying blastocysts, to reach an asymptote in June for yearling sows and April in older sows. Measured by their contribution to overall productivity, winter/spring matings were much more important than summer/autumn matings, contributing 65% of total autumn blastocysts in yearling sows and 71% of autumn blastocysts in older sows. The relative importance of the two mating periods is reflected in the seasonal pattern of bite wounding in adult male badgers; minor bite wounding in January-March was 2.3 times as frequent as in August-October, and moderate-extensive bite wounding was 3.1 times more frequent. In the populations studied, pre- and post-natal losses were high, with reproductive failure occurring at all stages of the breeding cycle, so that less than 30% of potential productivity was achieved. Indeed 22% of sows failed to develop blastocysts; these had a lower body mass, less body fat, larger adrenal glands, poorer health and higher bite wound scores than sows with blastocysts. Only 44% of adult sows implanted their blastocysts and proceeded to the end of pregnancy. However, it was less easy to identify features characteristic of sows that did or did not go on to implant their blastocysts. Finally, 35% of sows that produced cubs ceased lactation early, and this loss of entire litters was thought to be due to infanticide by dominant sows. The presence of annexe setts correlates with increased productivity in younger sows, and this is thought to be because annexe setts enable younger sows and their cubs to avoid the aggression of older, more dominant sows. Living in large social groups has no net reproductive gain for adult males or females, and there was a decline in productivity (per adult) with increasing group size. Although paternity measures were not available to assess the individual gains from group living, the absence of mate guarding and the frequency of cuckoldry and of mixed-paternity litters suggests that mating is not the sole, or probably even the major, prerogative of a dominant boar. The data so far question the hypothesis that the social organization of badgers evolved to monopolize access to oestrous females.

Small Town Services and Facilities: The Influence of Social Networks and Civic Structure on Perceptions of Quality

2003 ◽  
Vol 2 (2) ◽  
pp. 102-120 ◽  
Author(s):  
Lois Wright Morton
Keyword(s):  
Social Capital ◽  
Social Organization ◽  
Small Towns ◽  
Individual Level ◽  
Public Facilities ◽  
The Social ◽  
Multi Level ◽  
Civic Structure ◽  
The Town

In this research, it is posited that perceptions of the quality of services and facilities in small towns are dependent on the social organization of those places. Two components of this social organization are the social capital that inheres among individuals and the civic structure of the town. This hypothesis is tested using multi‐level models that combine individual‐level social capital and community‐level civic structure to explain variations among 99 rural towns in Iowa. I find that civic structure contributes positively and significantly to effects between communities, while individual‐level social capital is positive and a significant contributor to effects within communities. The civic structure models explain 32 percent of the variance in perceptions of the quality of core public facilities and services and 43 percent of the variance in secondary public‐private services. The strong contributions of individual social capital and civic structure suggest that investments in the micro and macro social structure of small towns can assist in strengthening perceptions of community infrastructure.

Moving teachers to the center of school improvement

2020 ◽  
Vol 101 (6) ◽  
pp. 29-34 ◽  
Author(s):  
Edit Khachatryan ◽  
Emma Parkerson
Keyword(s):  
School Improvement ◽  
Social Organization ◽  
National Writing Project ◽  
Educational Improvement ◽  
Writing Project ◽  
The Social ◽  
Insight Into

Teachers have historically been at the margins of educational improvement, and they are just beginning to drive improvements in the profession. Networked improvement communities (NICs) are one approach for collective reprofessionalization of teaching, where practice is defined and managed by practitioners. Edit Khachatryan and Emma Parkerson offer insight into the social organization of a NIC and use two real and mature networks — the Network to Transform Teaching and the National Writing Project — to describe how NICs structure roles and relationships and foster vital norms and identities among professionals.

scholarly journals Coordination during group departures and progressions in the tolerant multi-level society of wild Guinea baboons (Papio papio)

2021 ◽  
Vol 11 (1) ◽  
Author(s):  
Davide Montanari ◽  
William J. O’Hearn ◽  
Julien Hambuckers ◽  
Julia Fischer ◽  
Dietmar Zinner
Keyword(s):  
Adult Males ◽  
Hamadryas Baboons ◽  
Similar Frequency ◽  
Group Coordination ◽  
Collective Movement ◽  
Males And Females ◽  
Multi Level ◽  
Individual Success ◽  
Almost All ◽  
Papio Papio

AbstractCollective movement of social groups requires coordination between individuals. When cohesion is imperative, consensus must be reached, and specific individuals may exert disproportionate influence during decision-making. Animals living in multi-level societies, however, often split into consistent social subunits during travel, which may impact group coordination processes. We studied collective movement in the socially tolerant multi-level society of Guinea baboons (Papio papio). Using 146 group departures and 100 group progressions from 131 Guinea baboons ranging in Senegal’s Niokolo-Koba National Park, we examined individual success at initiating group departures and position within progressions. Two-thirds of attempted departures were initiated by adult males and one third by adult females. Both sexes were equally successful at initiating departures (> 80% of initiations). During group progressions, bachelor males were predominantly found in front, while reproductively active ‘primary’ males and females were observed with similar frequency across the whole group. The pattern of collective movement in Guinea baboons was more similar to those described for baboons living in uni-level societies than to hamadryas baboons, the only other multi-level baboon species, where males initiate and decide almost all group departures. Social organization alone therefore does not determine which category of individuals influence group coordination.

scholarly journals Coordination and consensus: the role of compromisers in Tibetan macaques

2021 ◽  
Author(s):  
Xi Wang ◽  
Dong-Po Xia ◽  
Bing-Hua Sun ◽  
Jin-Hua Li
Keyword(s):  
Collective Behavior ◽  
Social Rank ◽  
Hierarchical Cluster ◽  
Leadership Success ◽  
Group Movements ◽  
Hierarchical Cluster Analyses ◽  
Direction Preference ◽  
Insight Into ◽  
Social Centrality

Abstract Coordination and consensus in collective behavior have attracted a lot of research interest. Although previous studies have investigated the role of compromisers in group consensus, they provide little insight into why compromisers would allow such social arrangements to persist. In this study, the potential relationship between group movements and conflict management in Tibetan macaques in Anhui province, China, was investigated using hierarchical cluster analyses. Some members with higher social centrality or social rank often formed a front-runner cluster during group movements. They had higher leadership success than individuals outside the front-runner cluster. Other members with lower social centrality or social rank often followed the group movements initiated by the front-runner cluster, and thus formed the compromiser cluster. Compromisers’ proximity relations with front-runners increased with their following scores to front-runners. Compromisers had fewer events of being attacked when they followed group movements initiated by the front-runners. The compromising process made compromisers lose the choice of direction preference, but it could increase their individual safeties. This trade-off suggests that compromisers play a role of decision-maker in coordination and consensus scenarios among social animals.

scholarly journals Social organization in a North African ground squirrel

2020 ◽  
Vol 101 (3) ◽  
pp. 670-683 ◽  
Author(s):  
Annemarie van der Marel ◽  
Jane M Waterman ◽  
Marta López-Darias
Keyword(s):  
Social Organization ◽  
Ground Squirrel ◽  
Genetic Relatedness ◽  
Size Composition ◽  
Ground Squirrels ◽  
Adult Males ◽  
Active Season ◽  
Trade Offs ◽  
The Social ◽  
Cape Ground Squirrel

Abstract Research on sociality in temperate ground-dwelling squirrels has focused on female philopatry and other life history trade-offs, which are influenced by constraints in the duration of the active growing season. Temperate ground-dwelling squirrels that experience high predation pressure, are large in body size, and have a short active season, show a more complex social organization. In contrast, African ground squirrels are active year-round, suggesting that instead of a short active season, distinct selective pressures influence their social organization. We examined the social organization of Barbary ground squirrels, Atlantoxerus getulus, and compared the social organization of temperate and African ground-dwelling sciurids. Anecdotal accounts on Barbary ground squirrels’ social organization suggested that they were either solitary or gregarious, or live in small family groups. We recorded the group size, composition, cohesion, and genetic relatedness, of the population on the arid island of Fuerteventura, Spain. Our data indicate that females live in small (1–8) all-female kin groups separate from adult males, and that unrelated adult males share sleeping burrows with immature individuals of either sex. We observed sex-biased dispersal with males primarily the dispersing sex and females primarily philopatric. Females sleep solitarily during gestation and lactation and nest either communally or singly after juvenile emergence. During the day, males and females can be active in the same area. Barbary ground squirrels are social because the squirrels share sleeping burrows and show spatiotemporal overlap. Barbary ground squirrels’ social organization resembles that of the closely related Cape ground squirrel rather than that of the temperate ground-dwelling sciurids, although the former are more temperate, seasonal breeders. In addition to describing the social organization of a previously unstudied species, this paper sheds light on the ecological drivers of sociality, and the evolution of distinct social organizations in ground-dwelling sciurids.

scholarly journals Does Ethnic Diversity Erode Trust? Putnam’s ‘Hunkering Down’ Thesis Reconsidered

2010 ◽  
Vol 41 (1) ◽  
pp. 57-82 ◽  
Author(s):  
Patrick Sturgis ◽  
Ian Brunton-Smith ◽  
Sanna Read ◽  
Nick Allum
Keyword(s):  
Sample Size ◽  
Ethnic Diversity ◽  
Social Connectedness ◽  
Economic Deprivation ◽  
Generalized Trust ◽  
The Social ◽  
Multi Level ◽  
Using Data ◽  
Modelling Approach

We use a multi-level modelling approach to estimate the effect of ethnic diversity on measures of generalized and strategic trust using data from a new survey in Britain with a sample size approaching 25,000 individuals. In addition to the ethnic diversity of neighbourhoods, we incorporate a range of indicators of the socio-economic characteristics of individuals and the areas in which they live. Our results show no effect of ethnic diversity on generalized trust. There is a statistically significant association between diversity and a measure of strategic trust, but in substantive terms, the effect is trivial and dwarfed by the effects of economic deprivation and the social connectedness of individuals.

The vocal repertoire of an African colobine, Colobus angolensis ruwenzorii: a multi-level society compared to congeners in stable groups

Behaviour ◽  
2020 ◽  
Vol 157 (7) ◽  
pp. 597-628
Author(s):  
Samuel Poirier-Poulin ◽  
Julie A. Teichroeb
Keyword(s):  
Social Organization ◽  
Social Life ◽  
Vocal Communication ◽  
Descriptive Analysis ◽  
Vocal Repertoire ◽  
Black And White ◽  
The Social ◽  
Vocalization Type ◽  
Multi Level ◽  
Colobus Angolensis

Abstract Vocal behaviour offers a window into understanding the social life and evolution of animals. Colobine monkeys show great interspecific and interpopulation variation in their social organization and behaviour. Recent research has shown that Rwenzori Angolan colobus (Colobus angolensis ruwenzorii) differ substantially from other black-and-white colobus in forming a multi-level society. No previous research has been conducted on the communication of C. a. ruwenzorii, but the social complexity hypothesis for communication suggests that more complex societies should evolve more complex communication repertoires. Our objective was to catalogue the vocal repertoire of C. a. ruwenzorii at Nabugabo, Uganda, and to compare it with the data available on congeners regarding intergroup tolerance, vocal repertoire size, and acoustic and behavioural features of vocal communication. Vocalizations were subject to spectrographic and behavioural analysis, and a descriptive analysis of each vocalization type was made. The influence of a few environmental and social factors on calling rates was also examined. We describe five vocalizations (i.e., the snort, roar, squeak, scream and pok) and one non-vocal signal (i.e., the tongue click) in this subspecies and their contexts. Distinct alarm calls are made for dogs, and these are given more often near the edge of the forest where humans frequent. We did not find that C. a. ruwenzorii showed a greater vocal repertoire than C. guereza or C. polykomos, which do not live in multi-level societies. Further, preliminary data do not indicate greater calling rates in larger core units of C. a. ruwenzorii compared to smaller units. These findings support the view that these primates’ vocalizations tend to be relatively conserved despite large differences in social organization.

Behavior of a Captive Population of Black-Tailed Prairie Dogs

Behaviour ◽  
1973 ◽  
Vol 46 (3-4) ◽  
pp. 189-219 ◽  
Author(s):  
Sharon L. Smith ◽  
Elizabeth C. Oppenheimer ◽  
Jill G. De VILLA ◽  
W. John Smith ◽  
Frederick A. Ulmer
Keyword(s):  
Social Behavior ◽  
Social Organization ◽  
Annual Cycle ◽  
Social Systems ◽  
Prairie Dogs ◽  
Adult Males ◽  
Behavioral Differences ◽  
The Social

Abstract(I) A colony of black-tailed prairie dogs in the Philadelphia zoo is being used for long term studies of various aspects of social behavior including pattern of social organization, stylized means of communicating, and the effects of individual behavioral differences on communication and social structure. (2) This report deals with the annual cycle of social behavior manifested by the colony during the first three years of study. In gross outline an annual cycle can be described as follows: during the summer most individuals have "friendly" inter-relationships, and little organization is apparent. During autumn the animals gradually band into coterie groups and each group begins to defend a common territory, primarily through a highly ritualized procedure of "challenging" neighbors across a common boundary. By midwinter the adult males are very aggressive. With the advent of the winter breeding season, the females too become aggressive, and some establish territories that may subdivide coterie territories. In spring males and then females gradually become less aggressive, so that by about the time the pups emerge onto the surface the relaxed social relationships typical of summer are developing generally. (3) The shifting pattern of social organization is based on the division of individuals into classes on the basis of sex, age, dominance, and coterie and other bonds, and modified by the considerable inter-individual differencees in what may loosely be called "temperament." (4) Comparisons of the patterns of social organization shown by the zoo prairie dogs with those thus far described in the literature for wild populations show fundamental similarities, although the very high density and lack of opportunity for emigration in the zoo colony have lead to some modifications which are described and discussed. (5) The complexity of the social; organization of the black-tailed prairie dog is unusual for a rodent, and a model is proposed to account for its evolution from more widespread patterns of rodent social behavior. As the model emphasizes the role of the very open grassland habitat of the species in intensifying the natural selection potentially responsible for the evolution of this socal complexity, it suggests that habitat similarities may underlie evolutionary convergences in the social systems of black-tailed prairie dogs and savanna-dwelling primates.

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