scholarly journals Unreciprocated allogrooming hierarchies in a population of wild group-living mammals

2021 ◽  
Author(s):  
Catherine E Nadin ◽  
David W. Macdonald ◽  
Sandra Baker ◽  
Christina D. Buesching ◽  
Stephen Ellwood ◽  
...  
Keyword(s):  
Social Structure ◽  
Social Status ◽  
Dominance Rank ◽  
Social Groups ◽  
Group Living ◽  
Meles Meles ◽  
Social Species ◽  
Novel Approach ◽  
European Badgers ◽  
Wild Group

Allogrooming can relate to social status in mammalian societies, and thus, be used to infer social structure. This relationship has previously been investigated by examining an individual’s dominance rank and their total amount of allogrooming. This, however, does not account for the identity of allogrooming partners. We applied a novel approach, calculating the linearity and steepness of unreciprocated allogrooming hierarchies using actor–receiver matrices in European badgers (Meles meles) groups. Badgers have relatively unstructured social groups compared to most group-living carnivores and allogrooming in badgers is currently hypothesized to have a hygiene function. We examine whether allogrooming is linked to social status by investigating: 1) the presence, linearity, and steepness of unreciprocated allogrooming hierarchies; 2) the trading of unreciprocated allogrooming for the potential benefit of receiving reduced aggression from dominant individuals; and, 3) whether unreciprocated allogrooming is associated with relatedness. We found weak unreciprocated allogrooming hierarchies, with marginal linearity, steepness overall, and variation between social-group-years. Unreciprocated allogrooming was positively correlated with directed aggression, potentially providing evidence for the trading of allogrooming for reduced aggression. Allogrooming was not correlated with relatedness, possibly due to high relatedness within social groups. Our findings reaffirm that European badgers have a relatively unstructured social system; likely reflecting a relatively simple state of sociality in Carnivores, with little need for hierarchical order. Using actor–receiver unreciprocated allogrooming matrices to test for linearity and steepness of unreciprocated allogrooming hierarchies in other social species will improve knowledge of group social structure.

SETT USE IN EUROPEAN BADGERS MELES MELES

Behaviour ◽  
2001 ◽  
Vol 138 (2) ◽  
pp. 173-187 ◽  
Author(s):  
◽  
◽  
◽  
Keyword(s):  
Social Status ◽  
Body Condition ◽  
Social Group ◽  
Social Groups ◽  
Meles Meles ◽  
Use Of Space ◽  
Sleeping Sites ◽  
European Badgers ◽  
Burrow Use ◽  
Ectoparasite Infestation

AbstractThe European badger Meles meles constructs burrows of two basic types: 'main setts' and 'outliers'. We examined daytime burrow use year-round in 19 radio-collared badgers belonging to six different social groups, in order to test the hypotheses relating use of multiple sleeping sites to ectoparasite avoidance and social status. Ten animals rarely or never slept away from the main sett, while the remaining nine animals spent 20-73% of their days in outliers, mainly in summer. Outlier use was not related to sex or body condition, but animals that used outliers tended to be younger and had larger numbers of fleas than those that remained in the main sett year-round. Within the main sett, all the members of a social group had overlapping ranges: i.e. the sett was not divided into separate 'territories'. Group ranges were smallest in winter and largest in summer/autumn. Nest chambers were usually shared between at least two members of a social group on any one day, but males slept alone more often than did females. Individuals tended to cluster together in the same nest chamber more in winter than at other times of year, presumably to gain thermoregulatory advantage from huddling. We conclude that the pattern of burrow use in badgers is complex. Use of space within the main sett and tendency to disperse to outliers in the summer are in part affected by ectoparasite infestation, while use of space within the main sett is also influenced by variables such as sex and age that may reflect social status.

scholarly journals Role of sociality in the response of killer whales to an additive mortality event

2019 ◽  
pp. 201817174 ◽  
Author(s):  
Marine Busson ◽  
Matthieu Authier ◽  
Christophe Barbraud ◽  
Paul Tixier ◽  
Ryan R. Reisinger ◽  
...  
Keyword(s):  
Social Structure ◽  
Social Groups ◽  
Group Living ◽  
Foraging Success ◽  
Killer Whales ◽  
Negative Effects ◽  
Mortality Event ◽  
Individual Fitness ◽  
Fishing Vessels ◽  
Additive Mortality

In highly social top predators, group living is an ecological strategy that enhances individual fitness, primarily through increased foraging success. Additive mortality events across multiple social groups in populations may affect the social structure, and therefore the fitness, of surviving individuals. This hypothesis was examined in a killer whale (Orcinus orca) population that experienced a 7-y period of severe additive mortality due to lethal interactions with illegal fishing vessels. Using both social and demographic analyses conducted on a unique long-term dataset encompassing periods before, during, and after this event, results indicated a decrease in both the number and the mean strength of associations of surviving individuals during the additive mortality period. A positive significant correlation between association strength and apparent survival suggested that the fitness of surviving individuals was impacted by the additive mortality event. After this event, individuals responded to the loss of relatives in their social groups by associating with a greater number of other social groups, likely to maintain a functional group size that maximized their foraging success. However, these associations were loose; individuals did not reassociate in highly stable social groups, and their survival remained low years after the mortality event. These findings demonstrate how the disruption of social structure in killer whales may lead to prolonged negative effects of demographic stress beyond an additive mortality event. More importantly, this study shows that sociality has a key role in the resilience of populations to human-induced mortality; this has major implications for the conservation of highly social and long-lived species.

Commoners in Early Yi Dynasty Civil Examinations: An Aspect of Korean Social Structure, 1392–1600

1974 ◽  
Vol 33 (4) ◽  
pp. 611-631 ◽  
Author(s):  
Yŏng-Ho Ch'oe
Keyword(s):  
Social Structure ◽  
Social Status ◽  
Educational System ◽  
Strong Evidence ◽  
Social Groups ◽  
Examination System ◽  
Government Officials ◽  
Military Duty ◽  
Yi Dynasty ◽  
State Educational

The civil examination system in the Confucian state of Yi Dynasty Korea was an important channel of recruitment for government officials and the graduates of the civil examinations carried enormous power and prestige. The determination as to who participated in these examinations will shed more light on the nature of Yi society. Contrary to the prevailing belief that the civil examinations were open only to men of yangban birth and closed to the commoners, there is strong evidence suggesting commoners' participations in the examinations. Legally, there was no statutory restriction against commoners. The state educational system that trained the future examination candidates not only did not discriminate against commoners but even encouraged qualified commoners to enroll in schools. Moreover, certain social groups whose social status was clearly lower than that of commoners were also allowed in the examinations. There were also individual cases in which men of non-yangban origin rose through the civil examinations to become government officials, some holding high ranking posts. In view of such evidence, the notion that the yangban status was wholly hereditary is no longer tenable. Instead, what distinguished yangban from commoners was one's determination and commitment to pursue Confucian scholarship by enrolling in a Confucian school, for student status exempted him from burdensome military duty.

scholarly journals Built to change: dominance strategy changes with life stage in a primitively eusocial bee

2020 ◽  
Author(s):  
Margarita Orlova ◽  
Erin D Treanore ◽  
Etya Amsalem
Keyword(s):  
Life Stage ◽  
Dominance Rank ◽  
Social Groups ◽  
Egg Laying ◽  
Overt Aggression ◽  
Eusocial Insects ◽  
Social Species ◽  
Chemical Signalling ◽  
Strategy Changes ◽  
Primitively Eusocial

Access to reproduction is determined by an individual dominance rank in many species and is achieved through aggression and/or dominance signalling. In eusocial insects one or several dominant females (queens) monopolize reproduction but to what extent queens rely on aggression and signalling remains obscure. Aggression is costly and its efficiency depends on the group size, whereas signalling may reduce the risks and costs of aggression. Both strategies are used to regulate reproduction in social taxa, with aggression being more common in small social groups, compared to signalling in larger societies. Here, we examine the use of aggression and chemical signalling in a social species (Bombus impatiens) where the dominant queen interacts with increasing numbers of workers as she ages. We found that the queen strategy to monopolize reproduction changes with life stage, shifting from overt aggression to chemical signalling as the queen gets older. Particularly, old queens exhibited a higher ratio of short to long cuticular hydrocarbons compared to young queens, an endogenous shift that was attributed to age, as all egg-laying queens were fecund and kept with the same number of workers. Our findings contribute to the understanding of reproductive dominance in the context of an individual life history.

Context-dependent linear dominance hierarchies in social groups of European badgers, Meles meles

2009 ◽  
Vol 77 (1) ◽  
pp. 161-169 ◽  
Author(s):  
Stacey E. Hewitt ◽  
David W. Macdonald ◽  
Hannah L. Dugdale
Keyword(s):  
Social Groups ◽  
Meles Meles ◽  
Dominance Hierarchies ◽  
Context Dependent ◽  
European Badgers

Resource availability affects individual niche variation and its consequences in group-living European badgers Meles meles

Oecologia ◽  
2015 ◽  
Vol 178 (1) ◽  
pp. 31-43 ◽  
Author(s):  
Andrew Robertson ◽  
Robbie A. McDonald ◽  
Richard J. Delahay ◽  
Simon D. Kelly ◽  
Stuart Bearhop
Keyword(s):  
Resource Availability ◽  
Group Living ◽  
Meles Meles ◽  
Niche Variation ◽  
European Badgers

scholarly journals On some genetic consequences of social structure, mating systems, dispersal, and sampling

2015 ◽  
Vol 112 (26) ◽  
pp. E3318-E3326 ◽  
Author(s):  
Bárbara R. Parreira ◽  
Lounès Chikhi
Keyword(s):  
Social Structure ◽  
Social Groups ◽  
Genotypic Diversity ◽  
Mating Strategies ◽  
Key Factors ◽  
Dispersal Patterns ◽  
Social Species ◽  
Heterozygosity Excess ◽  
Age Structured ◽  
Number Of Individuals

Many species are spatially and socially organized, with complex social organizations and dispersal patterns that are increasingly documented. Social species typically consist of small age-structured units, where a limited number of individuals monopolize reproduction and exhibit complex mating strategies. Here, we model social groups as age-structured units and investigate the genetic consequences of social structure under distinct mating strategies commonly found in mammals. Our results show that sociality maximizes genotypic diversity, which contradicts the belief that social groups are necessarily subject to strong genetic drift and at high risk of inbreeding depression. Social structure generates an excess of genotypic diversity. This is commonly observed in ecological studies but rarely reported in population genetic studies that ignore social structure. This heterozygosity excess, when detected, is often interpreted as a consequence of inbreeding avoidance mechanisms, but we show that it can occur even in the absence of such mechanisms. Many seemly contradictory results from ecology and population genetics can be reconciled by genetic models that include the complexities of social species. We find that such discrepancies can be explained by the intrinsic properties of social groups and by the sampling strategies of real populations. In particular, the number of social groups and the nature of the individuals that compose samples (e.g., nonreproductive and reproductive individuals) are key factors in generating outbreeding signatures. Sociality is an important component of population structure that needs to be revisited by ecologists and population geneticists alike.

Reproductive skew and relatedness in social groups of European badgers,Meles meles

2008 ◽  
Vol 17 (7) ◽  
pp. 1815-1827 ◽  
Author(s):  
HANNAH L. DUGDALE ◽  
DAVID W. MACDONALD ◽  
LISA C. POPE ◽  
PAUL J. JOHNSON ◽  
TERRY BURKE
Keyword(s):  
Social Groups ◽  
Meles Meles ◽  
Reproductive Skew ◽  
European Badgers

scholarly journals Built to change: dominance strategy changes with life stage in a primitively eusocial bee

2020 ◽  
Vol 31 (6) ◽  
pp. 1361-1368 ◽  
Author(s):  
Margarita Orlova ◽  
Erin Treanore ◽  
Etya Amsalem
Keyword(s):  
Life Stage ◽  
Dominance Rank ◽  
Social Groups ◽  
Egg Laying ◽  
Overt Aggression ◽  
Chemical Signaling ◽  
Eusocial Insects ◽  
Social Species ◽  
Strategy Changes ◽  
Primitively Eusocial

Abstract Access to reproduction is determined by an individual’s dominance rank in many species and is achieved through aggression and/or dominance signaling. In eusocial insects, one or several dominant females (queens) monopolize reproduction but to what extent queens rely on aggression and signaling remains obscure. Aggression is costly and its efficiency depends on the group size, whereas signaling may reduce the risks and costs of aggression. Both strategies are used to regulate reproduction in social taxa, with aggression being more common in small social groups, compared to signaling in larger societies. Here, we examine the use of aggression and chemical signaling in a social species (Bombus impatiens) where the dominant queen interacts with increasing numbers of workers as she ages. We found that the queen’s strategy to monopolize reproduction changes with life stage, shifting from overt aggression to chemical signaling as the queen gets older. Particularly, old queens exhibited a higher ratio of short to long cuticular hydrocarbons compared to young queens, an endogenous shift that was attributed to age, as all egg-laying queens were fecund and kept with the same number of workers. Our findings contribute to the understanding of reproductive dominance in the context of an individual’s life history.

scholarly journals Neighborhood bully: no difference in territorial response toward neighbors or strangers in marmots

2020 ◽  
Vol 31 (5) ◽  
pp. 1129-1141
Author(s):  
Mariona Ferrandiz-Rovira ◽  
Timothée Zidat ◽  
Pierre Dupont ◽  
Vérane Berger ◽  
Célia Rézouki ◽  
...  
Keyword(s):  
Social Status ◽  
Group Living ◽  
Holistic Approach ◽  
Specific Response ◽  
Dear Enemy ◽  
Social Species ◽  
Threat Level ◽  
Dear Enemy Phenomenon ◽  
Living Species ◽  
Threat Levels

Abstract Territorial animals are expected to adjust their response to intruders according to the perceived threat level. One of the factors that drives threat level is the identity of the intruder. The dear enemy phenomenon theory postulates that individuals should respond with lower intensity to neighbors, already possessing a territory, than to strangers that may fight to evict them. In social species, the hierarchical status of the intruder might also mediate this response. Such behavioral adjustments presuppose a capacity to discriminate between individuals posing different threat levels. Here, we tested the behavioral response of Alpine marmots to territorial intrusions in a wild population. We compared both dominant females’ and males’ responses to scents from neighbor and stranger dominant males (dear enemy phenomenon) and to dominant and subordinate stranger males (social status-specific response). In addition, we tested for any covariance between male scents and social status. We showed that female and male dominant marmots do not adjust the intensity of their behavioral responses to whether the intruder’s territory is bordering or not (neighbors or strangers) or to the intruder’s social status, even though dominant and subordinate males are thought to pose different threats and social status is encoded in scents. Thus, we did not find support for the dear enemy phenomenon and conclude instead that, in dominant Alpine marmots, no intruder should enter a foreign territory. Research taking a more holistic approach of the evolution and maintenance of territoriality is required to understand the flexibility of responses to intruders in group-living species.

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