Group size correlates with territory size in European badgers: implications for the resource dispersion hypothesis?

Oikos ◽  
2014 ◽  
Vol 124 (4) ◽  
pp. 507-514 ◽  
Author(s):  
Andrew Robertson ◽  
Kate L. Palphramand ◽  
Stephen P. Carter ◽  
Richard J. Delahay
Keyword(s):  
Group Size ◽  
Territory Size ◽  
Resource Dispersion ◽  
Resource Dispersion Hypothesis ◽  
European Badgers

scholarly journals Limited and fitness-neutral effects of resource heterogeneity on sociality in a communally rearing rodent

2016 ◽  
Vol 97 (4) ◽  
pp. 1125-1135 ◽  
Author(s):  
Luis A. Ebensperger ◽  
Felipe Pérez de Arce ◽  
Sebastian Abades ◽  
Loren D. Hayes
Keyword(s):  
Reproductive Success ◽  
Spatial Heterogeneity ◽  
Group Size ◽  
Territory Size ◽  
Resource Heterogeneity ◽  
Access To Resources ◽  
Resource Dispersion ◽  
Resource Dispersion Hypothesis ◽  
Per Capita ◽  
Los Grupos

Abstract Contrasting scenarios have been proposed to explain how resource heterogeneity influences group living or sociality. First, sociality may result from individuals in larger groups attaining net fitness benefits by monopolizing access to resources (“resource-defense” hypothesis). Second, sociality may be the fitness-neutral outcome of multiple individuals using a territory with sufficient resources to sustain a group of conspecifics (“resource-dispersion” hypothesis). While previous studies have tended to support the resource-dispersion hypothesis, these analyses have typically examined only 1 or a few predictions, making it difficult to distinguish between the 2 alternatives. We conducted a 4-year field study of Octodon degus to quantify the effects of spatial heterogeneity in food and refuge distributions on group size and 2 components of reproductive success (per capita number of offspring, offspring survival) in this plural breeding and communal rearing rodent. We found only a small effect of heterogeneity of food resources on group size; the effect food resource distribution on group territory size varied across years. Group size did not vary with spatial variation in group territory size and quality. Importantly, there was no covariation between group size and quality of an individual’s territory (i.e., a measure of individual access to resources), or between this measure of territory quality and reproductive success, implying no resource-based benefits to social degus. Overall, our results were more consistent with fitness-neutral relationships among spatial heterogeneity of resources, sociality, and territory size. The resource-dispersion hypothesis, however, did not provide a complete explanation for degu socioecology. Se han propuesto distintas hipótesis para explicar cómo la heterogeneidad de los recursos afecta la vida en grupos, o sociabilidad. Esta puede surgir en situaciones donde individuos en grupos grandes se benefician al monopolizar el acceso a recursos (hipótesis de defensa de recursos). Por otra parte, la vida en grupos también puede ser el resultado neutro (en términos de adecuación) de individuos que comparten un territorio con recursos suficientes (hipótesis de dispersión de recursos). Aunque algunos estudios previos han validado la hipótesis de dispersión de recursos, estos solo han evaluado un número limitado de las predicciones de esta hipótesis, lo que ha dificultado distinguir entre esta y otras hipótesis alternativas. Durante un estudio de 4 años cuantificamos los efectos de la heterogeneidad espacial de alimento y distribución de refugios sobre el tamaño de grupo y dos componentes del éxito reproductivo (número per cápita de crías, supervivencia de las crías) en Octodon degus. Se registraron efectos relativamente pequeños de la heterogeneidad espacial del alimento sobre el tamaño de grupo, y variables entre años sobre el tamaño del territorio de cada grupo. El tamaño de grupo no fue afectado por la variación espacial en el tamaño y calidad del territorio de los grupos. No se registró co-variación entre el tamaño de los grupos y la calidad del territorio de cada individuo (una medida individual del acceso a recursos), o entre la calidad del territorio individual y el éxito reproductivo, lo que sugiere ausencia de beneficios derivados del uso social de recursos en degus. En general, los resultados fueron más consistentes con un escenario de efectos neutros de la heterogeneidad espacial de recursos sobre la sociabilidad. Sin embargo, la hipótesis de dispersión de recursos no explicó el conjunto de efectos (o su ausencia) asociados a la socioecología del degu.

Group size versus territory size in group-living badgers: a large-sample field test of the Resource Dispersion Hypothesis

Oikos ◽  
2001 ◽  
Vol 95 (2) ◽  
pp. 265-274 ◽  
Author(s):  
Dominic D. P. Johnson ◽  
David W. Macdonald ◽  
Chris Newman ◽  
Michael D. Morecroft
Keyword(s):  
Group Size ◽  
Field Test ◽  
Group Living ◽  
Territory Size ◽  
Large Sample ◽  
Resource Dispersion ◽  
Resource Dispersion Hypothesis

scholarly journals Resource dispersion, territory size and group size of black-backed jackals on a desert coast

2012 ◽  
Vol 58 (2) ◽  
pp. 189-197 ◽  
Author(s):  
Jan A. J. Nel ◽  
Rudi J. Loutit ◽  
Rod Braby ◽  
Michael J. Somers
Keyword(s):  
Group Size ◽  
Territory Size ◽  
Resource Dispersion

Influence of prey dispersion on territory and group size of African lions: a test of the resource dispersion hypothesis

Ecology ◽  
2012 ◽  
Vol 93 (11) ◽  
pp. 2490-2496 ◽  
Author(s):  
Marion Valeix ◽  
Andrew J. Loveridge ◽  
David W. Macdonald
Keyword(s):  
Group Size ◽  
Resource Dispersion ◽  
Resource Dispersion Hypothesis ◽  
African Lions

scholarly journals Push and pull factors driving movement in a social mammal: context dependent behavioral plasticity at the landscape scale

2018 ◽  
Vol 65 (5) ◽  
pp. 517-525 ◽  
Author(s):  
Andrew W Byrne ◽  
James O’Keeffe ◽  
Christina D Buesching ◽  
Chris Newman
Keyword(s):  
Group Size ◽  
Behavioral Plasticity ◽  
Group Composition ◽  
Animal Movement ◽  
Meles Meles ◽  
Territory Size ◽  
Movement Dynamics ◽  
Younger Age ◽  
Size Index ◽  
Push And Pull

Abstract Understanding how key parameters (e.g., density, range-size, and configuration) can affect animal movement remains a major goal of population ecology. This is particularly important for wildlife disease hosts, such as the European badger Meles meles, a reservoir of Mycobacterium bovis. Here we show how movements of 463 individuals among 223 inferred group territories across 755 km2 in Ireland were affected by sex, age, past-movement history, group composition, and group size index from 2009 to 2012. Females exhibited a greater probability of moving into groups with a male-biased composition, but male movements into groups were not associated with group composition. Male badgers were, however, more likely to make visits into territories than females. Animals that had immigrated into a territory previously were more likely to emigrate in the future. Animals exhibiting such “itinerant” movement patterns were more likely to belong to younger age classes. Inter-territorial movement propensity was negatively associated with group size, indicating that larger groups were more stable and less attractive (or permeable) to immigrants. Across the landscape, there was substantial variation in inferred territory-size and movement dynamics, which was related to group size. This represents behavioral plasticity previously only reported at the scale of the species’ biogeographical range. Our results highlight how a “one-size-fits-all” explanation of badger movement is likely to fail under varying ecological contexts and scales, with implications for bovine tuberculosis management.

Spatial structure and land-cover use in a low-density Mediterranean population of Eurasian badgers

2004 ◽  
Vol 82 (9) ◽  
pp. 1493-1502 ◽  
Author(s):  
Luís Miguel Rosalino ◽  
David White Macdonald ◽  
Margarida Santos-Reis
Keyword(s):  
Western Europe ◽  
Meles Meles ◽  
Quercus Suber ◽  
Home Range Size ◽  
Cork Oak ◽  
Home Ranges ◽  
Mediterranean Population ◽  
Resource Dispersion ◽  
Resource Dispersion Hypothesis ◽  
Vegetable Gardens

Eurasian badgers, Meles meles (L., 1758), have an extensive geographic range throughout which their social organization varies. Their capacity for intraspecific variation can now best be understood by studying them in landscapes that differ from the lush, lowland farmland where their tendency to form large groups has been most intensively investigated. Badgers in cork oak (Quercus suber L.) woodland are thus a priority for study, as this Mediterranean landscape provides an extreme contrast to those studied elsewhere. In this habitat in Portugal, we found 0.36–0.48 badgers/km2, one of the lowest population densities recorded in Western Europe. Here, individuals used seasonally stable home ranges that averaged 4.46 km2 and that were occupied by 3–4 adults plus 3–4 cubs of the year. In this landscape, badgers selectively used cork oak woodland with understory and riparian vegetation. As predicted by the resource dispersion hypothesis, home-range size was positively correlated with food-patch dispersion. In southwestern Portugal, badgers depend upon an environmental mosaic such as olive groves and orchards and vegetable gardens for food and cork oak woodlands for shelter and protection.

Home range, activity and sociality of a top predator, the dingo: a test of the Resource Dispersion Hypothesis

Ecography ◽  
2013 ◽  
Vol 36 (8) ◽  
pp. 914-925 ◽  
Author(s):  
Thomas M. Newsome ◽  
Guy-Anthony Ballard ◽  
Christopher R. Dickman ◽  
Peter J. S. Fleming ◽  
Remy van de Ven
Keyword(s):  
Home Range ◽  
Top Predator ◽  
Resource Dispersion ◽  
Resource Dispersion Hypothesis

Home-range use by white-nosed coatis (Nasua narica): limited water and a test of the resource dispersion hypothesis

2002 ◽  
Vol 258 (2) ◽  
pp. 247-256 ◽  
Author(s):  
D. Valenzuela ◽  
D. W. Macdonald
Keyword(s):  
Home Range ◽  
Range Use ◽  
Resource Dispersion ◽  
Nasua Narica ◽  
Resource Dispersion Hypothesis ◽  
Home Range Use

scholarly journals A Protein with Similarity to PTEN Regulates Aggregation Territory Size by Decreasing Cyclic AMP Pulse Size during Dictyostelium discoideum Development

2008 ◽  
Vol 7 (10) ◽  
pp. 1758-1770 ◽  
Author(s):  
Yitai Tang ◽  
Richard H. Gomer
Keyword(s):  
Cyclic Amp ◽  
Group Size ◽  
Actin Polymerization ◽  
Insertional Mutagenesis ◽  
Territory Size ◽  
Camp Phosphodiesterase ◽  
Phosphatase And Tensin Homolog ◽  
Akt Activation ◽  
Tensin Homolog ◽  
Eukaryotic Organisms

ABSTRACT An interesting but largely unanswered biological question is how eukaryotic organisms regulate the size of multicellular tissues. During development, a lawn of Dictyostelium cells breaks up into territories, and within the territories the cells aggregate in dendritic streams to form groups of ∼20,000 cells. Using random insertional mutagenesis to search for genes involved in group size regulation, we found that an insertion in the cnrN gene affects group size. Cells lacking CnrN (cnrN −) form abnormally small groups, which can be rescued by the expression of exogenous CnrN. Relayed pulses of extracellular cyclic AMP (cAMP) direct cells to aggregate by chemotaxis to form aggregation territories and streams. cnrN − cells overaccumulate cAMP during development and form small territories. Decreasing the cAMP pulse size by treating cnrN − cells with cAMP phosphodiesterase or starving cnrN − cells at a low density rescues the small-territory phenotype. The predicted CnrN sequence has similarity to phosphatase and tensin homolog (PTEN), which in Dictyostelium inhibits cAMP-stimulated phosphatidylinositol 3-kinase signaling pathways. CnrN inhibits cAMP-stimulated phosphatidylinositol 3,4,5-trisphosphate accumulation, Akt activation, actin polymerization, and cAMP production. Our results suggest that CnrN is a protein with some similarities to PTEN and that it regulates cAMP signal transduction to regulate territory size.

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