Strategic and tactical fighting decisions in cichlid fishes with divergent social systems

Behaviour ◽  
2014 ◽  
Vol 151 (1) ◽  
pp. 47-71 ◽  
Author(s):  
Kristina Hick ◽  
Adam R. Reddon ◽  
Constance M. O’Connor ◽  
Sigal Balshine
Keyword(s):  
Social Systems ◽  
Cichlid Fish ◽  
Group Living ◽  
Social Situation ◽  
Closely Related Species ◽  
Social Species ◽  
Hierarchy Formation ◽  
Trade Offs ◽  
The Social ◽  
Contest Behaviour

The costs and benefits of engaging in a contest will differ depending on the social situation of the individuals involved. Therefore, understanding contest behaviour can help to elucidate the trade-offs of living in differing social systems and shed light on the evolution of social behaviour. In the current study, we compared contest behaviour in two closely related species of Lamprologine cichlid fish. Neolamprologus pulcher and Telmatochromis temporalis are both pair-breeding cichlids, but N. pulcher are highly social, group-living fish, while T. temporalis display no grouping behaviour. To examine how competition varies by species, sex and familiarity, we staged same-sex conspecific contests over a shelter, a resource that is highly valued by both species, where contestants were either familiar or unfamiliar to one another. When we examined tactical and strategic components of these contests, we found that the highly social species had shorter contests and engaged in fewer costly aggressive acts than did the non-social species. Individuals of the highly social species were also more likely to resolve conflicts through the use of submissive displays, while individuals of the non-social species were more likely to flee from conflict. Familiarity increased the use of submissive displays in the highly social species but not in the less social species. Our findings suggest that conflict resolution behaviour and dominance hierarchy formation are fundamentally linked to the evolution of complex social systems.

scholarly journals Changes in social cohesion in a long-lived species under a perturbation regime

2019 ◽  
Author(s):  
M. Genovart ◽  
O. Gimenez ◽  
A. Bertolero ◽  
R. Choquet ◽  
D. Oro ◽  
...  
Keyword(s):  
Population Dynamics ◽  
Social Cohesion ◽  
Group Living ◽  
Social Bonding ◽  
World Population ◽  
List Type ◽  
Social Species ◽  
The Social ◽  
Capture Recapture ◽  
A Site

AbstractUnderstanding the behaviour of a population under perturbations is crucial and can help to mitigate the effects of global change. Sociality can influence the dynamics of behavioural processes and plays an important role on populations’ resilience. However little is known about the effects of perturbations on the social cohesion of group-living animals.To explore the strength of social cohesion and its dynamics under perturbations, we studied an ecological system involving a colonial, long-lived species living in a site experiencing a shift to a perturbed regime. This regime, caused by the invasion of predators, led this colony to hold from 70% to only 3% of the total world population in only one decade. Because birds breed aggregated in discrete and annually changing patches within large colonies, we could disentangle whether annual aggregation was random or resulted from social bonding among individuals. Our goals were 1) to uncover if there was any long-term social bonding between individuals and 2) to examine whether the perturbation regime affected social cohesion.We explored social cohesion by means of contingency tables and, within the Social Network Analysis framework, by modeling interdependencies among observations using additive and multiplicative effects (AME) and accounted for missing data. We analysed 25 years of monitoring with an individual capture-recapture database of more than 3,500 individuals.We showed that social bonding occurs over years in this species. We additionally show that social bonding strongly decreased after the perturbation regime. We propose that sociality and individual behavioural heterogeneity have been playing a major role driving dispersal and thus population dynamics over the study period.Perturbations may lead not only to changes in individuals’ behaviours and fitness but also to a change in populations’ social cohesion. The demographic consequences of the breaking down of social bonds are still not well understood, but they can be critical for population dynamics of social species. Further studies considering individual heterogeneity, sociality and different types of perturbations should be carried out to improve our understanding on the resilience of social species.

Social status influences responses to unfamiliar conspecifics in a cooperatively breeding fish

Behaviour ◽  
2015 ◽  
Vol 152 (12-13) ◽  
pp. 1821-1839 ◽  
Author(s):  
Isaac Y. Ligocki ◽  
Adam R. Reddon ◽  
Jennifer K. Hellmann ◽  
Constance M. O’Connor ◽  
Susan Marsh-Rollo ◽  
...  
Keyword(s):  
Social Status ◽  
Cichlid Fish ◽  
Group Living ◽  
Costs And Benefits ◽  
Control Groups ◽  
High Ranking ◽  
The Social ◽  
Cooperatively Breeding ◽  
Group Members ◽  
Group Member

In group living animals, individuals may visit other groups. The costs and benefits of such visits for the members of a group will depend on the attributes and intentions of the visitor, and the social status of responding group members. Using wild groups of the cooperatively breeding cichlid fish (Neolamprologus pulcher), we compared group member responses to unfamiliar ‘visiting’ conspecifics in control groups and in experimentally manipulated groups from which a subordinate the same size and sex as the visitor was removed. High-ranking fish were less aggressive towards visitors in removal groups than in control groups; low-ranking subordinates were more aggressive in the removal treatment. High-ranking females and subordinates the same size and sex as the visitor responded most aggressively toward the visitor in control groups. These results suggest that visitors are perceived as potential group joiners, and that such visits impose different costs and benefits on current group members.

scholarly journals Disease implications of animal social network structure: a synthesis across social systems

2017 ◽  
Author(s):  
Pratha Sah ◽  
Janet Mann ◽  
Shweta Bansal
Keyword(s):  
Social Network ◽  
Social Systems ◽  
Group Living ◽  
Disease Spread ◽  
List Type ◽  
Network Organization ◽  
Social Network Structure ◽  
The Social ◽  
Disease Costs ◽  
New Perspective

SummaryThe disease costs of sociality have largely been understood through the link between group size and transmission. However, infectious disease spread is driven primarily by the social organization of interactions in a group and not its size.We used statistical models to review the social network organization of 47 species, including mammals, birds, reptiles, fish and insects by categorizing each species into one of three social systems,relatively solitary,gregariousandsocially hierarchical. Additionally, using computational experiments of infection spread, we determined the disease costs of each social system.We find that relatively solitary species have large variation in number of social partners, that socially hierarchical species are the least clustered in their interactions, and that social networks of gregarious species tend to be the most fragmented. However, these structural differences are primarily driven by weak connections, which suggests that different social systems have evolved unique strategies to organize weak ties.Our synthetic disease experiments reveal that social network organization can mitigate the disease costs of group living for socially hierarchical species when the pathogen is highly transmissible. In contrast, highly transmissible pathogens cause frequent and prolonged epidemic outbreaks in gregarious species.We evaluate the implications of network organization across social systems despite methodological challenges, and our findings offer new perspective on the debate about the disease costs of group living. Additionally, our study demonstrates the potential of meta-analytic methods in social network analysis to test ecological and evolutionary hypotheses on cooperation, group living, communication, and resilience to extrinsic pressures.

scholarly journals Isotocin neuronal phenotypes differ among social systems in cichlid fishes

2017 ◽  
Vol 4 (5) ◽  
pp. 170350 ◽  
Author(s):  
Adam R. Reddon ◽  
Constance M. O'Connor ◽  
Erin Nesjan ◽  
Jason Cameron ◽  
Jennifer K. Hellmann ◽  
...  
Keyword(s):  
Cooperative Breeding ◽  
Social Evolution ◽  
Social Systems ◽  
Cichlid Fish ◽  
Group Living ◽  
Evolutionary Transition ◽  
Evolution Of Sociality ◽  
Cooperatively Breeding ◽  
Open Question ◽  
Complementary Analysis

Social living has evolved numerous times across a diverse array of animal taxa. An open question is how the transition to a social lifestyle has shaped, and been shaped by, the underlying neurohormonal machinery of social behaviour. The nonapeptide neurohormones, implicated in the regulation of social behaviours, are prime candidates for the neuroendocrine substrates of social evolution. Here, we examined the brains of eight cichlid fish species with divergent social systems, comparing the number and size of preoptic neurons that express the nonapeptides isotocin and vasotocin. While controlling for the influence of phylogeny and body size, we found that the highly social cooperatively breeding species ( n  = 4) had fewer parvocellular isotocin neurons than the less social independently breeding species ( n  = 4), suggesting that the evolutionary transition to group living and cooperative breeding was associated with a reduction in the number of these neurons. In a complementary analysis, we found that the size and number of isotocin neurons significantly differentiated the cooperatively breeding from the independently breeding species. Our results suggest that isotocin is related to sociality in cichlids and may provide a mechanistic substrate for the evolution of sociality.

Habitat use by western black widow spiders (Latrodectus hesperus) in coastal British Columbia: evidence of facultative group living

2010 ◽  
Vol 88 (3) ◽  
pp. 334-346 ◽  
Author(s):  
Maxence Salomon ◽  
Samantha Vibert ◽  
Robert G. Bennett
Keyword(s):  
British Columbia ◽  
Social Structure ◽  
Social Evolution ◽  
Social Systems ◽  
Group Living ◽  
Black Widow ◽  
Latrodectus Hesperus ◽  
The Social ◽  
Wide Range ◽  
Coastal British Columbia

Animal social systems come in a wide range of forms characterized by different types of group-living relationships. Species that express facultative group-living behaviours, where individuals only associate under certain conditions or at certain times, are especially interesting for studying social evolution. We investigated the social structure of the western black widow spider ( Latrodectus hesperus Chamberlin and Ivie, 1935) over 5 years in a coastal British Columbia habitat, and present the first comprehensive evidence of facultative group living in the genus Latrodectus Walckenaer, 1805. Latrodectus hesperus have a flexible social structure that varies seasonally, wherein individuals (mostly females) either form groups or live solitarily. In the fall and early winter, females spontaneously form groups of 2–8 individuals, but live alone during the oviposition season in the spring and summer. When living in groups spiders share large webs and are tolerant of each other, although they appear to forage individually. We also report on the relationships between different ecological factors and the social structure of L. hesperus, including the interaction of these spiders with two co-occurring species of introduced spiders ( Tegenaria agrestis (Walckenaer, 1802) and Tegenaria duellica Simon, 1875). Our findings suggest that L. hesperus is a good model system with which to explore the mechanisms involved in the evolution of sociality.

scholarly journals Social convergence of gut microbiomes in vampire bats

2021 ◽  
Vol 17 (11) ◽  
Author(s):  
Karthik Yarlagadda ◽  
Imran Razik ◽  
Ripan S. Malhi ◽  
Gerald G. Carter
Keyword(s):  
Social Interactions ◽  
Social History ◽  
Gut Microbiome ◽  
Group Living ◽  
Costs And Benefits ◽  
Free Living ◽  
Social Species ◽  
The Social ◽  
Vampire Bats ◽  
The Usa

The ‘social microbiome’ can fundamentally shape the costs and benefits of group-living, but understanding social transmission of microbes in free-living animals is challenging due to confounding effects of kinship and shared environments (e.g. highly associated individuals often share the same spaces, food and water). Here, we report evidence for convergence towards a social microbiome among introduced common vampire bats, Desmodus rotundus , a highly social species in which adults feed only on blood, and engage in both mouth-to-body allogrooming and mouth-to-mouth regurgitated food sharing. Shotgun sequencing of samples from six zoos in the USA, 15 wild-caught bats from a colony in Belize and 31 bats from three colonies in Panama showed that faecal microbiomes were more similar within colonies than between colonies. To assess microbial transmission, we created an experimentally merged group of the Panama bats from the three distant sites by housing these bats together for four months. In this merged colony, we found evidence that dyadic gut microbiome similarity increased with both clustering and oral contact, leading to microbiome convergence among introduced bats. Our findings demonstrate that social interactions shape microbiome similarity even when controlling for past social history, kinship, environment and diet.

scholarly journals Modular genetic control of social status in a cichlid fish

2020 ◽  
Vol 117 (45) ◽  
pp. 28167-28174
Author(s):  
Beau A. Alward ◽  
Vibhav A. Laud ◽  
Christopher J. Skalnik ◽  
Ryan A. York ◽  
Scott A. Juntti ◽  
...  
Keyword(s):  
Social Status ◽  
Molecular Mechanisms ◽  
Social Systems ◽  
Cichlid Fish ◽  
Reproductive Behaviors ◽  
Modular Control ◽  
Social Species ◽  
Social Plasticity ◽  
Mechanistic Basis

Social hierarchies are ubiquitous in social species and profoundly influence physiology and behavior. Androgens like testosterone have been strongly linked to social status, yet the molecular mechanisms regulating social status are not known. The African cichlid fishAstatotilapia burtoniis a powerful model species for elucidating the role of androgens in social status given their rich social hierarchy and genetic tractability. DominantA. burtonimales possess large testes and bright coloration and perform aggressive and reproductive behaviors while nondominant males do not. Social status inA. burtoniis in flux, however, as males alter their status depending on the social environment. Due to a teleost-specific whole-genome duplication,A. burtonipossess two androgen receptor (AR) paralogs,ARαandARβ, providing a unique opportunity to disentangle the role of gene duplication in the evolution of social systems. Here, we used CRISPR/Cas9 gene editing to generate AR mutantA. burtoniand performed a suite of experiments to interrogate the mechanistic basis of social dominance. We find thatARβ,but notARα, is required for testes growth and bright coloration, whileARα, but notARβ, is required for the performance of reproductive behavior and aggressive displays. Both receptors are required to reduce flees from females and either AR is sufficient for attacking males. Thus, social status inA. burtoniis inordinately dissociable and under the modular control of two AR paralogs. This type of nonredundancy may be important in facilitating social plasticity inA. burtoniand other species whose social status relies on social experience.

A Sustainable Agriculture?

Daedalus ◽  
2015 ◽  
Vol 144 (4) ◽  
pp. 76-89 ◽  
Author(s):  
G. Philip Robertson
Keyword(s):  
Sustainable Agriculture ◽  
Systems Approach ◽  
Social Systems ◽  
Biodiversity Loss ◽  
Environmental Cost ◽  
Trade Offs ◽  
General Welfare ◽  
The Social ◽  
The Face ◽  
The Right

The defining challenge of sustainable agriculture is the production of food and other agricultural products at an environmental cost that does not jeopardize the food security and general welfare of future generations. Feeding another three billion people in the face of climate change, biodiversity loss, and an environment already saturated with excess nitrogen and other reactive pollutants requires new approaches and new tools in the design and deployment of workable solutions. Solutions will be local but all will require an ecological systems approach that considers sustainable farming practices in the full context of ecosystems and landscapes. And their deployment will require an understanding of the social systems capable of building incentives that produce socially desired outcomes. Socioecological models for agriculture provide an opportunity to explore feedbacks, trade-offs, and synergies that can optimize and strengthen emerging connections between farming and society. With the right incentives, innovative research, and political will, a sustainable agriculture is within our reach.

A new member or an intruder: how do Sinai spiny mouse (Acomys dimidiatus) families respond to a male newcomer?

Behaviour ◽  
2011 ◽  
Vol 148 (8) ◽  
pp. 889-908 ◽  
Author(s):  
Daniel Frynta ◽  
Barbora Cížková ◽  
Radim Šumbera
Keyword(s):  
Social Life ◽  
Group Living ◽  
Spiny Mouse ◽  
Male Resident ◽  
Resident Male ◽  
Social Species ◽  
The Social ◽  
Focal Male ◽  
Lactating Females ◽  
Acomys Dimidiatus

AbstractRecruitment of unrelated individuals into a group plays an important role in the social life of the group living animals. The main goal of our study was to analyze the reactions of established, breeding families of the Sinai spiny mouse, Acomys dimidiatus (Muridae, Rodentia), a social species with precocial pups, to male newcomers in the presence and the absence of a breeding resident male. We compared the behaviour of family members of different sex or age to the presence of a new male. The number of non-aggressive and aggressive interactions with the focal male (resident/newcomer male) was recorded during three periods: before, during and one month after the addition of the newcomer. Only a few aggressive and/or non-aggressive types of contacts occurred before and one month after the addition of the new male. During the experiment, both types of contacts arose, but the results were highly variable. Increased aggressive behaviour of the family toward the intruder was explained mainly by the presence of pregnant or lactating females, which suggests that aggression towards a male newcomer is associated with the reproductive status of females. This phenomenon is most likely connected with the counter-infanticide strategy.

scholarly journals Social molecular pathways and the evolution of bee societies

2011 ◽  
Vol 366 (1574) ◽  
pp. 2155-2170 ◽  
Author(s):  
Guy Bloch ◽  
Christina M. Grozinger
Keyword(s):  
Social Behaviour ◽  
Social Contexts ◽  
Closely Related Species ◽  
Physiological Processes ◽  
Social Species ◽  
Social Signal ◽  
Evolution Of Sociality ◽  
Genomic Tools ◽  
Behavioural Patterns ◽  
The Social

Bees provide an excellent model with which to study the neuronal and molecular modifications associated with the evolution of sociality because relatively closely related species differ profoundly in social behaviour, from solitary to highly social. The recent development of powerful genomic tools and resources has set the stage for studying the social behaviour of bees in molecular terms. We review ‘ground plan’ and ‘genetic toolkit’ models which hypothesize that discrete pathways or sets of genes that regulate fundamental behavioural and physiological processes in solitary species have been co-opted to regulate complex social behaviours in social species. We further develop these models and propose that these conserved pathways and genes may be incorporated into ‘social pathways’, which consist of relatively independent modules involved in social signal detection, integration and processing within the nervous and endocrine systems, and subsequent behavioural outputs. Modifications within modules or in their connections result in the evolution of novel behavioural patterns. We describe how the evolution of pheromonal regulation of social pathways may lead to the expression of behaviour under new social contexts, and review plasticity in circadian rhythms as an example for a social pathway with a modular structure.

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