1
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Parthasarathy B, Somanathan H, Wright J. Long‐Term Behavioural Syndrome in Subadult Indian Social Spiders But Not Over the Short‐Term or in Juveniles. Ethology 2021. [DOI: 10.1111/eth.13229] [Citation(s) in RCA: 0] [Impact Index Per Article: 0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Indexed: 11/28/2022]
Affiliation(s)
| | - Hema Somanathan
- School of Biology Indian Institute of Science Education and Research Thiruvananthapuram India
| | - Jonathan Wright
- Department of Biology Centre for Biodiversity Dynamics (CBD) Norwegian University of Science and Technology (NTNU) Trondheim Norway
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2
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Retraction: Individual personalities shape task differentiation in a social spider. Proc Biol Sci 2021; 288:20210335. [PMID: 33715432 PMCID: PMC7944085 DOI: 10.1098/rspb.2021.0335] [Citation(s) in RCA: 0] [Impact Index Per Article: 0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Indexed: 11/12/2022] Open
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3
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Somogyi AÁ, Tartally A, Maák IE, Barta Z. Colony size, nestmate density and social history shape behavioural variation in
Formica fusca
colonies. Ethology 2020. [DOI: 10.1111/eth.13022] [Citation(s) in RCA: 1] [Impact Index Per Article: 0.3] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Indexed: 11/28/2022]
Affiliation(s)
- Anna Ágnes Somogyi
- Department of Evolutionary Zoology and Human Biology University of Debrecen Debrecen Hungary
- Juhász-Nagy Pál Doctoral School University of Debrecen Debrecen Hungary
| | - András Tartally
- Department of Evolutionary Zoology and Human Biology University of Debrecen Debrecen Hungary
| | - István Elek Maák
- Department of Ecology University of Szeged Szeged Hungary
- Museum and Institute of Zoology Polish Academy of Sciences Warsaw Poland
| | - Zoltán Barta
- MTA‐DE Behavioural Ecology Research Group Department of Evolutionary Zoology and Human Biology University of Debrecen Debrecen Hungary
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4
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Tang JY, Fu SJ. The relationship between personality and the collective motion of schooling fish. J ETHOL 2020. [DOI: 10.1007/s10164-020-00655-1] [Citation(s) in RCA: 3] [Impact Index Per Article: 0.8] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Indexed: 12/25/2022]
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5
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Hannebaum SL, Wagnon GS, Brown CR. Variation in neophobia among cliff swallows at different colonies. PLoS One 2019; 14:e0226886. [PMID: 31869383 PMCID: PMC6927619 DOI: 10.1371/journal.pone.0226886] [Citation(s) in RCA: 1] [Impact Index Per Article: 0.2] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [MESH Headings] [Grants] [Track Full Text] [Download PDF] [Figures] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 07/14/2019] [Accepted: 12/08/2019] [Indexed: 11/18/2022] Open
Abstract
Animal groups often represent nonrandom subsets of individuals, and increasing evidence indicates that individuals may sort among groups based on their personalities. The size of a group can predict its personality composition in some species due to differential suitability of a personality for groups of certain sizes, and the group itself may function more effectively if particular personality types are present. We quantified cliff swallow (Petrochelidon pyrrhonota) behavioral measures using linear and generalized linear mixed models to identify whether they: (1) varied among individuals within colonies and among colonies, (2) were related to reproductive success, and (3) predicted levels of parental care. Significant among-individual and among-colony site variation in a cliff swallow's latency to enter its nest when presented with a novel stimulus was revealed. We also found significant among-individual variation in the number of attacks directed toward a novel stimulus at the nest and in the response to broadcast of a cliff swallow alarm call recording, but among site variation in these measures was not significant. We did not find evidence for behavioral syndromes linking the personalities measured. Differences among individuals in latency to enter the nest and the number of attacks were not significantly related to reproductive success or to the extent to which birds fed their nestlings. However, extent of nestling feeding was significantly predicted by the number of mist net captures. The limited evidence in general of systematic variation in the behavior we measured among cliff swallow colonies may reflect the different and sometimes opposing selection pressures on behavior in different social environments. Future work should perhaps examine variation in other behavioral traits, such as foraging, in cliff swallow colonies of different sizes.
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Affiliation(s)
- Stacey L. Hannebaum
- Department of Biological Sciences, University of Tulsa, Tulsa, Oklahoma, United States of America
- * E-mail:
| | - Gigi S. Wagnon
- Department of Biological Sciences, University of Tulsa, Tulsa, Oklahoma, United States of America
| | - Charles R. Brown
- Department of Biological Sciences, University of Tulsa, Tulsa, Oklahoma, United States of America
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6
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Wright CM, Lichtenstein JLL, Luscuskie LP, Montgomery GA, Pinter-Wollman N, Pruitt JN. Better safe than sorry: spider societies mitigate risk by prioritizing caution. Behav Ecol 2019. [DOI: 10.1093/beheco/arz069] [Citation(s) in RCA: 0] [Impact Index Per Article: 0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Indexed: 11/13/2022] Open
Abstract
A major benefit of living in a group is the ability to learn from others. We investigated how spider societies learn and respond to important information when that information is held by the majority or by single influential or generic individuals. We found that groups adopted a “better safe than sorry” strategy and exhibited caution when the group or any individual, regardless of their presumed social influence, had been previously exposed to danger.
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Affiliation(s)
- Colin M Wright
- Department of Biology, The Pennsylvania State University, University Park, PA, USA
| | - James L L Lichtenstein
- Department of Ecology, Evolution and Marine Biology, University of California at Santa Barbara, Santa Barbara, CA, USA
| | - Lauren P Luscuskie
- Department of Ecology, Evolution and Marine Biology, University of California at Santa Barbara, Santa Barbara, CA, USA
| | - Graham A Montgomery
- Department of Ecology, Evolution and Marine Biology, University of California at Santa Barbara, Santa Barbara, CA, USA
| | - Noa Pinter-Wollman
- Department of Ecology and Evolutionary Biology, University of California Los Angeles, Los Angeles, CA, USA
| | - Jonathan N Pruitt
- Department of Psychology, Neurobiology & Behaviour, McMaster University, Hamilton, Ontario, Canada
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7
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Lichtenstein JLL, Fisher DN, McEwen BL, Nondorf DT, Calvache E, Schmitz C, Elässer J, Pruitt JN. Collective aggressiveness limits colony persistence in high- but not low-elevation sites at Amazonian social spiders. J Evol Biol 2019; 32:1362-1367. [PMID: 31464022 DOI: 10.1111/jeb.13532] [Citation(s) in RCA: 5] [Impact Index Per Article: 1.0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 03/19/2019] [Revised: 08/10/2019] [Accepted: 08/22/2019] [Indexed: 11/25/2022]
Abstract
Identifying the traits that foster group survival in contrasting environments is important for understanding local adaptation in social systems. Here, we evaluate the relationship between the aggressiveness of social spider colonies and their persistence along an elevation gradient using the Amazonian spider, Anelosimus eximius. We found that colonies of A. eximius exhibit repeatable differences in their collective aggressiveness (latency to attack prey stimuli) and that colony aggressiveness is linked with persistence in a site-specific manner. Less aggressive colonies are better able to persist at high-elevation sites, which lack colony-sustaining large-bodied prey, whereas colony aggression was not related to chance of persistence at low-elevation sites. This suggests that low aggressiveness promotes colony survival in high-elevation, prey-poor habitats, perhaps via increased tolerance to resource limitation. These data reveal that the collective phenotypes that relate to colony persistence vary by site, and thus, the path of social evolution in these environments is likely to be affected.
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Affiliation(s)
- James L L Lichtenstein
- Department of Ecology, Evolution & Marine Biology, University of California - Santa Barbara, Santa Barbara, CA, USA
| | - David N Fisher
- Department of Psychology, Neuroscience & Behaviour, McMaster University, Hamilton, ON, Canada
| | - Brendan L McEwen
- Department of Psychology, Neuroscience & Behaviour, McMaster University, Hamilton, ON, Canada
| | - Daniel T Nondorf
- Department of Ecology and Evolutionary Biology, University of Michigan, Ann Arbor, MI, USA
| | - Esteban Calvache
- Department of Biology, Pontifica Universidad Católica del Ecuador, Quito, Ecuador
| | | | | | - Jonathan N Pruitt
- Department of Ecology, Evolution & Marine Biology, University of California - Santa Barbara, Santa Barbara, CA, USA.,Department of Psychology, Neuroscience & Behaviour, McMaster University, Hamilton, ON, Canada
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8
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Little AG, Fisher DN, Schoener TW, Pruitt JN. Population differences in aggression are shaped by tropical cyclone-induced selection. Nat Ecol Evol 2019; 3:1294-1297. [PMID: 31427730 DOI: 10.1038/s41559-019-0951-x] [Citation(s) in RCA: 9] [Impact Index Per Article: 1.8] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 03/06/2019] [Accepted: 06/21/2019] [Indexed: 11/09/2022]
Abstract
Extreme events, such as tropical cyclones, are destructive and influential forces. However, observing and recording the ecological effects of these statistically improbable, yet profound 'black swan' weather events is logistically difficult. By anticipating the trajectory of tropical cyclones, and sampling populations before and after they make landfall, we show that these extreme events select for more aggressive colony phenotypes in the group-living spider Anelosimus studiosus. This selection is great enough to drive regional variation in colony phenotypes, despite the fact that tropical cyclone strikes are irregular, occurring only every few years, even in particularly prone regions. These data provide compelling evidence for tropical cyclone-induced selection driving the evolution of an important functional trait and show that black swan events contribute to within-species diversity and local adaptation.
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Affiliation(s)
- Alexander G Little
- Department of Ecology, Evolution and Marine Biology, University of California, Santa Barbara, Santa Barbara, CA, USA.,Department of Psychology, Neuroscience and Behaviour, McMaster University, Hamilton, Ontario, Canada
| | - David N Fisher
- Department of Psychology, Neuroscience and Behaviour, McMaster University, Hamilton, Ontario, Canada
| | - Thomas W Schoener
- Department of Ecology and Evolutionary Biology, University of California, Davis, Davis, CA, USA
| | - Jonathan N Pruitt
- Department of Ecology, Evolution and Marine Biology, University of California, Santa Barbara, Santa Barbara, CA, USA. .,Department of Psychology, Neuroscience and Behaviour, McMaster University, Hamilton, Ontario, Canada.
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9
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Parthasarathy B, Somanathan H. Behavioral responses vary with prey species in the social spider, Stegodyphus sarasinorum. Behav Ecol 2019. [DOI: 10.1093/beheco/arz032] [Citation(s) in RCA: 3] [Impact Index Per Article: 0.6] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Indexed: 12/20/2022] Open
Abstract
Abstract
Predators living in social groups often show consistent interindividual differences in prey capture behavior that may be linked to personality. Though personality predisposes individuals for certain behaviors, responses can also be influenced by context. Studies examining personality-dependent participation in prey capture have largely employed only one prey species, offering the predator no choice. In nature, predators encounter a range of prey species, therefore participation in or leading a prey capture event must also depend on prey attributes (e.g., size and risk). In the social spider Stegodyphus sarasinorum, collective prey capture is mediated by personality types as a consequence of which some individuals are consistently more likely to attack. Here, we examined if an individual’s consistency to attack persisted within and between the 2 prey species (honeybees and grasshoppers) and if the same individuals attacked first with both prey species. Our results showed that interindividual differences in attacking persisted within and between the 2 prey species. Spiders showed greater participation in attacking grasshoppers relative to bees. Identities of the first attackers were not the same for bees and grasshoppers. Spiders showed greater consistency over time in attacking bees relative to grasshoppers. Bees attracted fewer attackers than size-matched grasshoppers. These results suggest that greater task specialization may be necessary to successfully subdue bees. Spiders handled bees more cautiously, which is likely to explain the observed plasticity in attacking the 2 prey species. Thus, participation in prey capture in social spiders is influenced by the attributes of prey species.
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Affiliation(s)
- Bharat Parthasarathy
- IISER-TVM Centre for Research and Education in Ecology and Evolution (ICREEE), School of Biology, Indian Institute of Science Education and Research, Thiruvananthapuram, Kerala, India
| | - Hema Somanathan
- IISER-TVM Centre for Research and Education in Ecology and Evolution (ICREEE), School of Biology, Indian Institute of Science Education and Research, Thiruvananthapuram, Kerala, India
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10
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Perez A, Montiglio PO, Wey TW, Sih A. Male social plasticity influences transient dynamics in the emergence of alternative mating systems in water striders. Behav Ecol 2019. [DOI: 10.1093/beheco/arz108] [Citation(s) in RCA: 3] [Impact Index Per Article: 0.6] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Indexed: 12/28/2022] Open
Abstract
AbstractAnimal mating systems are often studied with the goal of understanding why species, populations, or groups vary from one another in the system they display. Although these differences are often treated as basically stable, it is also known that mating systems may shift over time (e.g., from one breeding season to the next). There has been some study of how ecological factors correlate with these changes; however, few, if any, studies have investigated how the phenotypic composition of a group governs the timing and probability of these mating system transitions. Groups of stream water striders (Aquarius remigis) can experience rapid changes in mating system dynamics, with small groups often transitioning into a system in which a single, large male monopolizes mating opportunities. We asked if variation in individual- and group-level traits associated with morphology and behavior (e.g., size of the largest individual, average activity behavioral type in the group) could partially explain the variability in how rapidly groups make this transition, if they make it at all. We show that groups with males that exhibit higher social plasticity tended to take longer to transition to a mating system dominated by a single male. Our results, therefore, suggest that groups in identical ecological conditions can diverge in their mating systems based on how much individuals in the group change their behavior in response to the behavior of other members of the group.
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Affiliation(s)
- Adrian Perez
- Department of Entomology, University of California at Davis, Davis, CA, USA
| | - Pierre-Olivio Montiglio
- Department of Environmental Sciences and Policy, University of California at Davis, Davis, CA, USA
- Université du Québec à Montréal, Montréal, Quebec, Canada
| | - Tina W Wey
- Department of Environmental Sciences and Policy, University of California at Davis, Davis, CA, USA
- Université de Sherbrooke, Sherbrooke, Quebec, Canada
| | - Andrew Sih
- Department of Environmental Sciences and Policy, University of California at Davis, Davis, CA, USA
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11
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Härkönen L, Alioravainen N, Vainikka A, Hyvärinen P. Night reveals individuality in a shoaling fish. Behav Ecol 2019. [DOI: 10.1093/beheco/arz015] [Citation(s) in RCA: 0] [Impact Index Per Article: 0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Indexed: 11/15/2022] Open
Affiliation(s)
- Laura Härkönen
- Department of Ecology and Genetics, University of Oulu, Pentti Kaiteran katu, Oulu, Finland
- Department of Environmental Science, Policy, and Management, University of California, Berkeley, Berkeley, CA, USA
- Aquatic population dynamics, Natural Resources Institute Finland (Luke), Paavo Havaksen tie, Oulu, Finland
| | - Nico Alioravainen
- Department of Environmental and Biological Sciences, University of Eastern Finland, Joensuu, Finland
| | - Anssi Vainikka
- Department of Environmental and Biological Sciences, University of Eastern Finland, Joensuu, Finland
| | - Pekka Hyvärinen
- Aquatic population dynamics, Kainuu Fisheries Research Station, Natural Resources Institute Finland (Luke), Manamansalontie,Paltamo, Finland
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12
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Pruitt JN, McEwen BL, Cassidy ST, Najm GM, Pinter-Wollman N. Experimental evidence of frequency-dependent selection on group behaviour. Nat Ecol Evol 2019; 3:702-707. [PMID: 30911148 DOI: 10.1038/s41559-019-0852-z] [Citation(s) in RCA: 6] [Impact Index Per Article: 1.2] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 11/22/2018] [Accepted: 02/25/2019] [Indexed: 11/09/2022]
Abstract
Evolutionary ecologists often seek to identify the mechanisms maintaining intraspecific variation. In social animals, whole groups can exhibit between-group differences in their collective traits. We examined whether negative frequency-dependent selection (that is, a rare-type advantage) could help to maintain between-group variation. We engineered neighbourhoods of social spider colonies bearing bold or shy foraging phenotypes and monitored their fecundity in situ. We found that bold colonies enjoyed a rare-type advantage that is lost as the frequency of bold colonies in a neighbourhood increases. The success of shy colonies was not frequency dependent. These dynamics seem to be driven by a foraging advantage of bold colonies that is lost in bold neighbourhoods because prey become scarce, and shy colonies perform better than bold colonies under low-resource conditions. Thus, to understand selection on collective traits, it is insufficient to examine groups in isolation. The phenotypic environment in which groups reside and compete must also be considered.
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Affiliation(s)
- Jonathan N Pruitt
- Department of Ecology, Evolution & Marine Biology, University of California-Santa Barbara, Santa Barbara, CA, USA. .,Department of Psychology, Neuroscience & Behaviour, McMaster University, Hamilton, Ontario, Canada.
| | - Brendan L McEwen
- Department of Psychology, Neuroscience & Behaviour, McMaster University, Hamilton, Ontario, Canada
| | - Steven T Cassidy
- Department of Ecology and Evolutionary Biology, University of Tennessee, Knoxville, TN, USA
| | - Gabriella M Najm
- Department of Ecology & Evolutionary Biology, University of California-Los Angeles, Los Angeles, CA, USA
| | - Noa Pinter-Wollman
- Department of Ecology & Evolutionary Biology, University of California-Los Angeles, Los Angeles, CA, USA
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13
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Early ontogenic emergence of personality and its long-term persistence in a social spider. Behav Ecol Sociobiol 2019. [DOI: 10.1007/s00265-019-2645-4] [Citation(s) in RCA: 5] [Impact Index Per Article: 1.0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Indexed: 10/27/2022]
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14
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Wright CM, Lichtenstein JLL, Doering GN, Pretorius J, Meunier J, Pruitt JN. Collective personalities: present knowledge and new frontiers. Behav Ecol Sociobiol 2019. [DOI: 10.1007/s00265-019-2639-2] [Citation(s) in RCA: 7] [Impact Index Per Article: 1.4] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Indexed: 12/27/2022]
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15
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Jolles JW, Laskowski KL, Boogert NJ, Manica A. Repeatable group differences in the collective behaviour of stickleback shoals across ecological contexts. Proc Biol Sci 2019; 285:rspb.2017.2629. [PMID: 29436496 PMCID: PMC5829202 DOI: 10.1098/rspb.2017.2629] [Citation(s) in RCA: 51] [Impact Index Per Article: 10.2] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [Track Full Text] [Download PDF] [Figures] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 11/24/2017] [Accepted: 01/12/2018] [Indexed: 12/25/2022] Open
Abstract
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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Affiliation(s)
- Jolle W Jolles
- Department of Zoology, University of Cambridge, Downing Street, Cambridge CB2 3DT, UK .,Department of Collective Behaviour, Max Planck Institute for Ornithology, Konstanz 78457, Germany.,Department of Biology, University of Konstanz, Konstanz 78457, Germany
| | - Kate L Laskowski
- Department of Biology and Ecology of Fishes, Leibniz Institute of Freshwater Ecology and Inland Fisheries, Müggelseedamm 310, 12587 Berlin, Germany
| | - Neeltje J Boogert
- Department of Zoology, University of Cambridge, Downing Street, Cambridge CB2 3DT, UK.,Centre for Ecology and Conservation, University of Exeter, Penryn TR10 9FE, UK
| | - Andrea Manica
- Department of Zoology, University of Cambridge, Downing Street, Cambridge CB2 3DT, UK
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16
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17
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Knebel D, Ayali A, Guershon M, Ariel G. Intra- versus intergroup variance in collective behavior. SCIENCE ADVANCES 2019; 5:eaav0695. [PMID: 30613780 PMCID: PMC6314827 DOI: 10.1126/sciadv.aav0695] [Citation(s) in RCA: 12] [Impact Index Per Article: 2.4] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [MESH Headings] [Grants] [Track Full Text] [Download PDF] [Figures] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 08/13/2018] [Accepted: 11/27/2018] [Indexed: 06/09/2023]
Abstract
Animal collective motion arises from the intricate interactions between the natural variability among individuals, and the homogenizing effect of the group, working to generate synchronization and maintain coherence. Here, these interactions were studied using marching locust nymphs under controlled laboratory settings. A novel experimental approach compared single animals, small groups, and virtual groups composed of randomly shuffled real members. We found that the locust groups developed unique, group-specific behavioral characteristics, reflected in large intergroup and small intragroup variance (compared with the shuffled groups). Behavioral features that differed between single animals and groups, but not between group types, were classified as essential for swarm formation. Comparison with Markov chain models showed that individual tendencies and the interaction network among animals dictate the group characteristics. Deciphering the bidirectional interactions between individual and group properties is essential for understanding the swarm phenomenon and predicting large-scale swarm behaviors.
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Affiliation(s)
- D. Knebel
- School of Zoology, Faculty of Life Sciences, Tel Aviv University, Tel Aviv, Israel
- Department of Mathematics, Bar Ilan University, Ramat-Gan, Israel
| | - A. Ayali
- School of Zoology, Faculty of Life Sciences, Tel Aviv University, Tel Aviv, Israel
- Sagol School of Neuroscience, Tel Aviv University, Tel Aviv, Israel
| | - M. Guershon
- School of Zoology, Faculty of Life Sciences, Tel Aviv University, Tel Aviv, Israel
- The Steinhardt Museum of Natural History, Tel Aviv University, Tel Aviv 69778, Israel
| | - G. Ariel
- Department of Mathematics, Bar Ilan University, Ramat-Gan, Israel
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18
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Abstract
A holistic understanding of superorganism biology requires study of colony sociometry, or the quantitative relationships among growth, nest architecture, morphology, and behavior. For ant colonies that obligately nest within plant hosts, their sociometry is likely intertwined with the plant, which has implications for the evolution, strength, and stability of the mutualism. In the Azteca-Cecropia mutualism, plants provide ants with food rewards and hollow stems for nesting in return for protection from herbivores. Several interesting questions arise when considering ant-plant sociometry: are colony growth and plant growth synchronized? How do colonies distribute themselves within the stem of their host plant? How do plant traits influence worker morphology? How is collective personality related to tree structure, nest organization, and worker morphology? To address these questions, we investigated patterns within and relationships among five major sociometric categories of colonies in the field - plant traits, colony size, nest organization, worker morphology, and collective personality. We found that colony sociometry was intimately intertwined with host plant traits. Colony and plant growth rates were synchronized, suggesting that positive feedback between plant and colony growth stabilizes the mutualism. The colony's distribution inside the host tree tended to follow leaf growth, with most workers, brood, and the queen in the top half of the tree. Worker morphology correlated with plant size instead of colony size or age, which suggests that plant traits influence worker development. Colony personality was independent of colony distribution and tree structure but may correlate with worker size such that colonies with smaller, less variable workers had more aggressive personalities. This study provides insights into how ant-plant structural relationships may contribute to plant protection and the strength of mutualisms.
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19
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Hunt ER, Mi B, Fernandez C, Wong BM, Pruitt JN, Pinter-Wollman N. Social interactions shape individual and collective personality in social spiders. Proc Biol Sci 2018; 285:20181366. [PMID: 30185649 PMCID: PMC6158534 DOI: 10.1098/rspb.2018.1366] [Citation(s) in RCA: 18] [Impact Index Per Article: 3.0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [MESH Headings] [Grants] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 06/19/2018] [Accepted: 08/09/2018] [Indexed: 11/12/2022] Open
Abstract
The behavioural composition of a group and the dynamics of social interactions can both influence how social animals work collectively. For example, individuals exhibiting certain behavioural tendencies may have a disproportionately large impact on the group, and so are referred to as keystone individuals, while interactions between individuals can facilitate information transmission about resources. Despite the potential impact of both behavioural composition and interactions on collective behaviour, the relationship between consistent behaviours (also known as personalities) and social interactions remains poorly understood. Here, we use stochastic actor-oriented models to uncover the interdependencies between boldness and social interactions in the social spider Stegodyphus dumicola We find that boldness has no effect on the likelihood of forming social interactions, but interactions do affect boldness, and lead to an increase in the boldness of the shyer individual. Furthermore, spiders tend to interact with the same individuals as their neighbours. In general, boldness decreases over time, but once an individual's boldness begins to increase, this increase accelerates, suggesting a positive feedback mechanism. These dynamics of interactions and boldness result in skewed boldness distributions of a few bold individuals and many shy individuals, as observed in nature. This group behavioural composition facilitates efficient collective behaviours, such as rapid collective prey attack. Thus, by examining the relationship between behaviour and interactions, we reveal the mechanisms that underlie the emergence of adaptive group composition and collective behaviour.
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Affiliation(s)
- Edmund R Hunt
- Department of Ecology and Evolutionary Biology, University of California, Los Angeles, CA 90095, USA
| | - Brian Mi
- BioCircuits Institute, University of California, San Diego, La Jolla, CA 92093, USA
| | - Camila Fernandez
- BioCircuits Institute, University of California, San Diego, La Jolla, CA 92093, USA
| | - Brandyn M Wong
- BioCircuits Institute, University of California, San Diego, La Jolla, CA 92093, USA
| | - Jonathan N Pruitt
- Department of Ecology, Evolution, and Marine Biology, University of California, Santa Barbara, CA 93106, USA
| | - Noa Pinter-Wollman
- Department of Ecology and Evolutionary Biology, University of California, Los Angeles, CA 90095, USA
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20
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Carere C, Audebrand C, Rödel HG, d'Ettorre P. Individual behavioural type and group performance in Formica fusca ants. Behav Processes 2018; 157:402-407. [PMID: 30036642 DOI: 10.1016/j.beproc.2018.07.009] [Citation(s) in RCA: 14] [Impact Index Per Article: 2.3] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 01/24/2018] [Revised: 07/11/2018] [Accepted: 07/19/2018] [Indexed: 01/12/2023]
Abstract
The link between individual and group-level behaviour may help understanding cooperation and division of labour in social animals. Despite the recent surge of studies, especially in social insects, the way individual differences translate into group performance remains debated. One hypothesis is that groups may simply differ in the average personality of their members and this would translate into inter-group differences in collective behaviour. We tested the hypothesis of a linear relationship between individual and group phenotype in the ant Formica fusca by using same-age groups of workers after measuring an individual behavioural trait. Individual exploratory activity in an open-field arena was significantly repeatable. Based on this trait, groups were composed, each consisting of 6 individuals with similar exploration tendency housed with 3 cocoons and a refuge. Individual exploratory activity was associated with the performance in cocoon recovery at the group level: groups composed of high exploratory individuals started transporting displaced cocoons significantly earlier and transported more cocoons into the refuge than groups with low exploratory workers. When in a group, more exploratory animals showed significantly more returns to the refuge than less exploratory ones and tended to transport more cocoons. These results show a direct linear link between individual and collective behaviour, suggesting that colony personality reflects the average personality of workers involved in a given task.
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Affiliation(s)
- Claudio Carere
- Laboratoire d'Ethologie Expérimentale et Comparée EA4443, Université Paris 13, Sorbonne Paris Cité, Paris, France; Department of Ecological and Biological Sciences, University of Tuscia, Italy.
| | - Celine Audebrand
- Laboratoire d'Ethologie Expérimentale et Comparée EA4443, Université Paris 13, Sorbonne Paris Cité, Paris, France
| | - Heiko G Rödel
- Laboratoire d'Ethologie Expérimentale et Comparée EA4443, Université Paris 13, Sorbonne Paris Cité, Paris, France
| | - Patrizia d'Ettorre
- Laboratoire d'Ethologie Expérimentale et Comparée EA4443, Université Paris 13, Sorbonne Paris Cité, Paris, France
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21
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Coutant T, Bagur S, Gilbert C. Development of an observational quantitative temperament test in three common parrot species. Appl Anim Behav Sci 2018. [DOI: 10.1016/j.applanim.2018.01.007] [Citation(s) in RCA: 6] [Impact Index Per Article: 1.0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Indexed: 12/30/2022]
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22
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Crall JD, Gravish N, Mountcastle AM, Kocher SD, Oppenheimer RL, Pierce NE, Combes SA. Spatial fidelity of workers predicts collective response to disturbance in a social insect. Nat Commun 2018; 9:1201. [PMID: 29615611 PMCID: PMC5882771 DOI: 10.1038/s41467-018-03561-w] [Citation(s) in RCA: 47] [Impact Index Per Article: 7.8] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [MESH Headings] [Track Full Text] [Download PDF] [Figures] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 07/11/2017] [Accepted: 02/22/2018] [Indexed: 11/30/2022] Open
Abstract
Individuals in social insect colonies cooperate to perform collective work. While colonies often respond to changing environmental conditions by flexibly reallocating workers to different tasks, the factors determining which workers switch and why are not well understood. Here, we use an automated tracking system to continuously monitor nest behavior and foraging activity of uniquely identified workers from entire bumble bee (Bombus impatiens) colonies foraging in a natural outdoor environment. We show that most foraging is performed by a small number of workers and that the intensity and distribution of foraging is actively regulated at the colony level in response to forager removal. By analyzing worker nest behavior before and after forager removal, we show that spatial fidelity of workers within the nest generates uneven interaction with relevant localized information sources, and predicts which workers initiate foraging after disturbance. Our results highlight the importance of spatial fidelity for structuring information flow and regulating collective behavior in social insect colonies.
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Affiliation(s)
- James D Crall
- Department of Organismic and Evolutionary Biology, Harvard University, 26 Oxford St., Cambridge, MA, 02143, USA.
| | - Nick Gravish
- Mechanical and Aerospace Engineering, University of California San Diego, Engineer Ln, San Diego, CA, 92161, USA
| | | | - Sarah D Kocher
- Lewis-Sigler Institute for Integrative Genomics, Princeton University, Princeton, NJ, 08540, USA
| | - Robert L Oppenheimer
- Department of Biological Sciences, University of New Hampshire, 105 Main St., Durham, NH, 03824, USA
| | - Naomi E Pierce
- Department of Organismic and Evolutionary Biology, Harvard University, 26 Oxford St., Cambridge, MA, 02143, USA
| | - Stacey A Combes
- Department of Neurobiology, Physiology, and Behavior, University of California Davis, Davis, CA, 95616, USA
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23
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Parthasarathy B, Somanathan H. Body condition and food shapes group dispersal but not solitary dispersal in a social spider. Behav Ecol 2018. [DOI: 10.1093/beheco/ary013] [Citation(s) in RCA: 4] [Impact Index Per Article: 0.7] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Indexed: 11/13/2022] Open
Affiliation(s)
- Bharat Parthasarathy
- IISER-TVM Centre for Research and Education in Ecology and Evolution (ICREEE), School of Biology, Indian Institute of Science Education and Research, Thiruvananthapuram, Kerala, India
| | - Hema Somanathan
- IISER-TVM Centre for Research and Education in Ecology and Evolution (ICREEE), School of Biology, Indian Institute of Science Education and Research, Thiruvananthapuram, Kerala, India
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24
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Verdon M, Morrison RS, Hemsworth PH. Forming groups of aggressive sows based on a predictive test of aggression does not affect overall sow aggression or welfare. Behav Processes 2018; 150:17-24. [PMID: 29474852 DOI: 10.1016/j.beproc.2018.02.016] [Citation(s) in RCA: 7] [Impact Index Per Article: 1.2] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 07/27/2017] [Revised: 01/28/2018] [Accepted: 02/19/2018] [Indexed: 11/26/2022]
Abstract
This experiment examined the effects of group composition on sow aggressive behaviour and welfare. Over 6 time replicates, 360 sows (parity 1-6) were mixed into groups (10 sows per pen, 1.8 m2/sow) composed of animals that were predicted to be aggressive (n = 18 pens) or groups composed of animals that were randomly selected (n = 18 pens). Predicted aggressive sows were selected based on a model-pig test that has been shown to be related to the aggressive behaviour of parity 2 sows when subsequently mixed in groups. Measurements were taken on aggression delivered post-mixing, and aggression delivered around feeding, fresh skin injuries and plasma cortisol concentrations at days 2 and 24 post-mixing. Live weight gain, litter size (born alive, total born, stillborn piglets), and farrowing rate were also recorded. Manipulating the group composition based on predicted sow aggressiveness had no effect (P > 0.05) on sow aggression delivered at mixing or around feeding, fresh injuries, cortisol, weight gain from day 2 to day 24, farrowing rate, or litter size. The lack of treatment effects in the present experiment could be attributed to (1) a failure of the model-pig test to predict aggression in older sows in groups, or (2) the dependence of the expression of the aggressive phenotype on factors such as social experience and characteristics (e.g., physical size and aggressive phenotype) of pen mates. This research draws attention to the intrinsic difficulties associated with predicting behaviour across contexts, particularly when the behaviour is highly dependent on interactions with conspecifics, and highlights the social complexities involved in the presentation of a behavioural phenotype.
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Affiliation(s)
- Megan Verdon
- Animal Welfare Science Centre, Faculty of Veterinary and Agricultural Sciences, University of Melbourne, Victoria, 3010, Australia; Tasmanian Institute of Agriculture, Faculty of Science, Engineering and Technology, University of Tasmania, Tasmania, 7320, Australia.
| | - R S Morrison
- Rivalea Australia, Corowa, New South Wales, 2646, Australia
| | - P H Hemsworth
- Animal Welfare Science Centre, Faculty of Veterinary and Agricultural Sciences, University of Melbourne, Victoria, 3010, Australia
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25
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Pruitt JN, Wright CM, Lichtenstein JLL, Chism GT, McEwen BL, Kamath A, Pinter-Wollman N. Selection for Collective Aggressiveness Favors Social Susceptibility in Social Spiders. Curr Biol 2018; 28:100-105.e4. [PMID: 29276129 PMCID: PMC5871622 DOI: 10.1016/j.cub.2017.11.038] [Citation(s) in RCA: 20] [Impact Index Per Article: 3.3] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [MESH Headings] [Grants] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 08/19/2017] [Revised: 09/29/2017] [Accepted: 11/16/2017] [Indexed: 12/25/2022]
Abstract
Particularly socially influential individuals are present in many groups [1-8], but it is unclear whether their emergence is determined by their social influence versus the social susceptibility of others [9]. The social spider Stegodyphus dumicola shows regional variation in apparent leader-follower dynamics. We use this variation to evaluate the relative contributions of leader social influence versus follower social susceptibility in driving this social order. Using chimeric colonies that combine potential leaders and followers, we discover that leader-follower dynamics emerge from the site-specific social susceptibility of followers. We further show that the presence of leaders increases colony survival in environments where leader-follower dynamics occur. Thus, leadership is driven by the "social susceptibility" of the population majority, rather than the social influence of key group members.
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Affiliation(s)
- Jonathan N Pruitt
- Department of Ecology, Evolution and Marne Biology, University of California, Santa Barbara, Santa Barbara, CA 93106, USA.
| | - Colin M Wright
- Department of Ecology, Evolution and Marne Biology, University of California, Santa Barbara, Santa Barbara, CA 93106, USA
| | - James L L Lichtenstein
- Department of Ecology, Evolution and Marne Biology, University of California, Santa Barbara, Santa Barbara, CA 93106, USA
| | - Gregory T Chism
- Graduate Interdisciplinary Program in Entomology and Insect Science, University of Arizona, Tucson, AZ 85721, USA
| | - Brendan L McEwen
- Department of Biological Sciences, University of Pittsburgh, Pittsburgh, PA 37906, USA
| | - Ambika Kamath
- Department of Ecology, Evolution and Marne Biology, University of California, Santa Barbara, Santa Barbara, CA 93106, USA
| | - Noa Pinter-Wollman
- Department of Ecology and Evolutionary Biology, University of California, Los Angeles, Los Angeles, CA 90095, USA
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26
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Impact of colony size on survival and sanitary strategies in fungus-infected ant colonies. Behav Ecol Sociobiol 2017. [DOI: 10.1007/s00265-017-2415-0] [Citation(s) in RCA: 12] [Impact Index Per Article: 1.7] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Indexed: 12/28/2022]
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27
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Fisher DN, McAdam AG. Social traits, social networks and evolutionary biology. J Evol Biol 2017; 30:2088-2103. [DOI: 10.1111/jeb.13195] [Citation(s) in RCA: 31] [Impact Index Per Article: 4.4] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 06/30/2017] [Revised: 10/08/2017] [Accepted: 10/12/2017] [Indexed: 01/20/2023]
Affiliation(s)
- D. N. Fisher
- Department for Integrative Biology; University of Guelph; Guelph Ontario Canada
| | - A. G. McAdam
- Department for Integrative Biology; University of Guelph; Guelph Ontario Canada
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28
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Bockoven AA, Coates CJ, Eubanks MD. Colony‐level behavioural variation correlates with differences in expression of the
foraging
gene in red imported fire ants. Mol Ecol 2017; 26:5953-5960. [DOI: 10.1111/mec.14347] [Citation(s) in RCA: 17] [Impact Index Per Article: 2.4] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 11/02/2016] [Revised: 08/24/2017] [Accepted: 09/05/2017] [Indexed: 11/28/2022]
Affiliation(s)
| | - Craig J. Coates
- Department of Entomology Texas A&M University College Station TX USA
| | - Micky D. Eubanks
- Department of Entomology Texas A&M University College Station TX USA
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29
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Giehr J, Heinze J, Schrempf A. Group demography affects ant colony performance and individual speed of queen and worker aging. BMC Evol Biol 2017; 17:173. [PMID: 28764664 PMCID: PMC5540184 DOI: 10.1186/s12862-017-1026-8] [Citation(s) in RCA: 12] [Impact Index Per Article: 1.7] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [Track Full Text] [Download PDF] [Figures] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 02/17/2017] [Accepted: 07/26/2017] [Indexed: 11/10/2022] Open
Abstract
Background The performance and fitness of social societies mainly depends on the efficiency of interactions between reproductive individuals and helpers. Helpers need to react to the group’s requirements and to adjust their tasks accordingly, while the reproductive individual has to adjust its reproductive rate. Social insects provide a good system to study the interrelations between individual and group characteristics. In general, sterile workers focus on brood care and foraging while the queen lays eggs. Reproductive division of labor is determined by caste and not interchangeable as, e.g., in social mammals or birds. Hence, changing social and environmental conditions require a flexible response by each caste. In the ant Cardiocondyla obscurior, worker task allocation is based on age polyethism, with young workers focusing on brood care and old workers on foraging. Here, we examine how group age demography affects colony performance and fitness in colonies consisting of only old or young workers and a single old or young queen. We hypothesized that both groups will be fully functional, but that the forced task shift affects the individuals’ performance. Moreover, we expected reduced worker longevity in groups with only young workers due to precocious foraging but no effect on queen longevity depending on group composition. Results Neither the performance of queens nor that of workers declined strongly with time per se, but offspring number and weight were influenced by queen age and the interaction between queen and worker age. Individual residual life expectancy strongly depended on colony demography instead of physiological age. While worker age affected queen longevity only slightly, exposing old workers to the conditions of colony founding increased their life spans by up to 50% relative to workers that had emerged shortly before colony set-up. Conclusions The social environment strongly affected the tempo of aging and senescence in C. obscurior, highlighting the plasticity of life expectancy in social insects. Furthermore, colonies obtained the highest reproductive output when consisting of same-aged queens and workers independent of their physiological age. However, workers appeared to be able to adjust their behavior to the colony’s needs and not to suffer from age-dependent restrictions. Electronic supplementary material The online version of this article (doi:10.1186/s12862-017-1026-8) contains supplementary material, which is available to authorized users.
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Affiliation(s)
- Julia Giehr
- Zoology/ Evolutionary Biology, University of Regensburg, D-93053, Regensburg, Germany.
| | - Jürgen Heinze
- Zoology/ Evolutionary Biology, University of Regensburg, D-93053, Regensburg, Germany
| | - Alexandra Schrempf
- Zoology/ Evolutionary Biology, University of Regensburg, D-93053, Regensburg, Germany
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30
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Wright CM, Lichtenstein JLL, Montgomery GA, Luscuskie LP, Pinter-Wollman N, Pruitt JN. Exposure to predators reduces collective foraging aggressiveness and eliminates its relationship with colony personality composition. Behav Ecol Sociobiol 2017; 71:126. [PMID: 29606787 PMCID: PMC5871624 DOI: 10.1007/s00265-017-2356-7] [Citation(s) in RCA: 13] [Impact Index Per Article: 1.9] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [Grants] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 01/11/2017] [Revised: 07/11/2017] [Accepted: 07/17/2017] [Indexed: 11/29/2022]
Abstract
Predation is a ubiquitous threat that often plays a central role in determining community dynamics. Predators can impact prey species by directly consuming them, or indirectly causing prey to modify their behavior. Direct consumption has classically been the focus of research on predator-prey interactions, but substantial evidence now demonstrates that the indirect effects of predators on prey populations are at least as strong as, if not stronger than, direct consumption. Social animals, particularly those that live in confined colonies, rely on coordinated actions that may be vulnerable to the presence of a predator, thus impacting the society's productivity and survival. To examine the effect of predators on the behavior of social animal societies, we observed the collective foraging of social spider colonies (Stegodyphus dumicola) when they interact with dangerous predatory ants either directly, indirectly, or both. We found that when colonies were exposed directly and indirectly to ant cues, they attacked prey with approximately 40-50% fewer spiders, and 40-90% slower than colonies that were not exposed to any predator cues. Furthermore, exposure to predatory ants disassociated the well-documented positive relationship between colony behavioral composition (proportion of bold spiders) and foraging aggressiveness (number of attackers) in S. dumicola, which is vital for colony growth. Thus, the indirect effects of predator presence may limit colony success. These results suggest that enemy presence could compromise the organizational attributes of animal societies.
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Affiliation(s)
- Colin M Wright
- Department of Ecology, Evolution and Marine Biology, University of California at Santa Barbara, Santa Barbara, CA, USA
| | - James L L Lichtenstein
- Department of Ecology, Evolution and Marine Biology, University of California at Santa Barbara, Santa Barbara, CA, USA
| | - Graham A Montgomery
- Department of Ecology, Evolution and Marine Biology, University of California at Santa Barbara, Santa Barbara, CA, USA
- Department of Ecology and Evolutionary Biology, University of California Los Angeles, Los Angeles, CA 90095-1606, USA
| | - Lauren P Luscuskie
- Department of Ecology, Evolution and Marine Biology, University of California at Santa Barbara, Santa Barbara, CA, USA
- Department of Ecology and Evolutionary Biology, University of California Los Angeles, Los Angeles, CA 90095-1606, USA
| | - Noa Pinter-Wollman
- Department of Ecology and Evolutionary Biology, University of California Los Angeles, Los Angeles, CA 90095-1606, USA
| | - Jonathan N Pruitt
- Department of Ecology, Evolution and Marine Biology, University of California at Santa Barbara, Santa Barbara, CA, USA
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31
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Abstract
A host of animals build architectural constructions. Such constructions frequently vary with environmental and individual/colony conditions, and their architecture directly influences behavior and fitness. The nests of ant colonies drive and enable many of their collective behaviors, and as such are part of their 'extended phenotype'. Since ant colonies have been recently shown to differ in behavior and life history strategy, we ask whether colonies differ in another trait: the architecture of the constructions they create. We allowed Temnothorax rugatulus rock ants, who create nests by building walls within narrow rock gaps, to repeatedly build nest walls in a fixed crevice but under two environmental conditions. We find that colonies consistently differ in their architecture across environments and over nest building events. Colony identity explained 12-40% of the variation in nest architecture, while colony properties and environmental conditions explained 5-20%, as indicated by the condition and marginal R2 values. When their nest boxes were covered, which produced higher humidity and lower airflow, colonies built thicker, longer, and heavier walls. Colonies also built more robust walls when they had more brood, suggesting a protective function of wall thickness. This is, to our knowledge, the first study to explicitly investigate the repeatability of nestbuilding behavior in a controlled environment. Our results suggest that colonies may face tradeoffs, perhaps between factors such as active vs. passive nest defense, and that selection may act on individual construction rules as a mechanisms to mediate colony-level behavior.
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Affiliation(s)
- Nicholas DiRienzo
- University of Arizona, Department of Ecology and Evolutionary Biology, Tucson, AZ, United States of America
- * E-mail:
| | - Anna Dornhaus
- University of Arizona, Department of Ecology and Evolutionary Biology, Tucson, AZ, United States of America
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32
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Monceau K, Dechaume-Moncharmont FX, Moreau J, Lucas C, Capoduro R, Motreuil S, Moret Y. Personality, immune response and reproductive success: an appraisal of the pace-of-life syndrome hypothesis. J Anim Ecol 2017; 86:932-942. [PMID: 28425582 DOI: 10.1111/1365-2656.12684] [Citation(s) in RCA: 25] [Impact Index Per Article: 3.6] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 11/28/2016] [Accepted: 04/07/2017] [Indexed: 01/18/2023]
Abstract
The pace-of-life syndrome (POLS) hypothesis is an extended concept of the life-history theory that includes behavioural traits. The studies challenging the POLS hypothesis often focus on the relationships between a single personality trait and a physiological and/or life-history trait. While pathogens represent a major selective pressure, few studies have been interested in testing relationships between behavioural syndrome, and several fitness components including immunity. The aim of this study was to address this question in the mealworm beetle, Tenebrio molitor, a model species in immunity studies. The personality score was estimated from a multidimensional syndrome based of four repeatable behavioural traits. In a first experiment, we investigated its relationship with two measures of fitness (reproduction and survival) and three components of the innate immunity (haemocyte concentration, and levels of activity of the phenoloxidase including the total proenzyme and the naturally activated one) to challenge the POLS hypothesis in T. molitor. Overall, we found a relationship between behavioural syndrome and reproductive success in this species, thus supporting the POLS hypothesis. We also showed a sex-specific relationship between behavioural syndrome and basal immune parameters. In a second experiment, we tested whether this observed relationship with innate immunity could be confirmed in term of differential survival after challenging by entomopathogenic bacteria, Bacillus thuringiensis. In this case, no significant relationship was evidenced. We recommend that future researchers on the POLS should control for differences in evolutionary trajectory between sexes and to pay attention to the choice of the proxy used, especially when looking at immune traits.
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Affiliation(s)
- Karine Monceau
- UMR CNRS 6282 Biogéosciences, Equipe Ecologie Evolutive, Université de Bourgogne Franche-Comté, 6 bd Gabriel, 21000, Dijon, France
| | | | - Jérôme Moreau
- UMR CNRS 6282 Biogéosciences, Equipe Ecologie Evolutive, Université de Bourgogne Franche-Comté, 6 bd Gabriel, 21000, Dijon, France
| | - Camille Lucas
- UMR CNRS 6282 Biogéosciences, Equipe Ecologie Evolutive, Université de Bourgogne Franche-Comté, 6 bd Gabriel, 21000, Dijon, France
| | - Rémi Capoduro
- UMR CNRS 6282 Biogéosciences, Equipe Ecologie Evolutive, Université de Bourgogne Franche-Comté, 6 bd Gabriel, 21000, Dijon, France
| | - Sébastien Motreuil
- UMR CNRS 6282 Biogéosciences, Equipe Ecologie Evolutive, Université de Bourgogne Franche-Comté, 6 bd Gabriel, 21000, Dijon, France
| | - Yannick Moret
- UMR CNRS 6282 Biogéosciences, Equipe Ecologie Evolutive, Université de Bourgogne Franche-Comté, 6 bd Gabriel, 21000, Dijon, France
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Montiglio PO, Wey TW, Sih A. Effects of the group’s mix of sizes and personalities on the emergence of alternative mating systems in water striders. Behav Ecol 2017. [DOI: 10.1093/beheco/arx070] [Citation(s) in RCA: 6] [Impact Index Per Article: 0.9] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Indexed: 11/12/2022] Open
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34
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Evans LJ, Smith KE, Raine NE. Fast learning in free-foraging bumble bees is negatively correlated with lifetime resource collection. Sci Rep 2017; 7:496. [PMID: 28356567 PMCID: PMC5428240 DOI: 10.1038/s41598-017-00389-0] [Citation(s) in RCA: 32] [Impact Index Per Article: 4.6] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [MESH Headings] [Track Full Text] [Download PDF] [Figures] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 06/27/2016] [Accepted: 01/31/2017] [Indexed: 11/09/2022] Open
Abstract
Despite widespread interest in the potential adaptive value of individual differences in cognition, few studies have attempted to address the question of how variation in learning and memory impacts their performance in natural environments. Using a novel split-colony experimental design we evaluated visual learning performance of foraging naïve bumble bees (Bombus terrestris) in an ecologically relevant associative learning task under controlled laboratory conditions, before monitoring the lifetime foraging performance of the same individual bees in the field. We found appreciable variation among the 85 workers tested in both their learning and foraging performance, which was not predicted by colony membership. However, rather than finding that foragers benefited from enhanced learning performance, we found that fast and slow learners collected food at comparable rates and completed a similar number of foraging bouts per day in the field. Furthermore, bees with better learning abilities foraged for fewer days; suggesting a cost of enhanced learning performance in the wild. As a result, slower learning individuals collected more resources for their colony over the course of their foraging career. These results demonstrate that enhanced cognitive traits are not necessarily beneficial to the foraging performance of individuals or colonies in all environments.
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Affiliation(s)
- Lisa J Evans
- School of Biological Sciences, Royal Holloway University of London, Egham, Surrey, TW20 0EX, UK.
- The New Zealand Institute for Plant and Food Research, Hamilton, 3240, New Zealand.
| | - Karen E Smith
- School of Biological Sciences, Royal Holloway University of London, Egham, Surrey, TW20 0EX, UK
| | - Nigel E Raine
- School of Biological Sciences, Royal Holloway University of London, Egham, Surrey, TW20 0EX, UK
- School of Environmental Sciences, University of Guelph, Guelph, Ontario, N1G 2W1, Canada
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35
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Planas-Sitjà I, Laurent Salazar MO, Sempo G, Deneubourg JL. Emigration dynamics of cockroaches under different disturbance regimes do not depend on individual personalities. Sci Rep 2017; 7:44528. [PMID: 28300147 PMCID: PMC5353543 DOI: 10.1038/srep44528] [Citation(s) in RCA: 3] [Impact Index Per Article: 0.4] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Track Full Text] [Download PDF] [Figures] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 06/16/2016] [Accepted: 02/10/2017] [Indexed: 11/09/2022] Open
Abstract
Group-level properties, such as collective movements or decisions, can be considered an outcome of the interplay between individual behavior and social interactions. However, the respective influences of individual preferences and social interactions are not evident. In this research, we study the implications of behavioral variability on the migration dynamics of a group of gregarious insects (Periplaneta americana) subjected to two different disturbance regimes (one without disturbances and another one with high frequency of disturbances). The results indicate that individuals presented consistent behavior during the nighttime (active phase of cockroaches) in both conditions. Moreover, we used a modeling approach to test the role of personality during the migration process. The model considers identical individuals (no personality) without memory and no direct inter-attraction between individuals. The agreement between theoretical and experimental results shows that behavioral variability play a secondary role during migration dynamics. Our results showing individual personality during the nighttime (spontaneous decision to forage) but not during the emigration process (induced by environmental disturbances) highlight the plasticity of personality traits.
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Affiliation(s)
- I Planas-Sitjà
- Unit of Social Ecology - CP 231, Université libre de Bruxelles (ULB), Campus Plaine, Boulevard du Triomphe, Building NO - level 5, B-1050 Bruxelles, Belgium
| | - M O Laurent Salazar
- Unit of Social Ecology - CP 231, Université libre de Bruxelles (ULB), Campus Plaine, Boulevard du Triomphe, Building NO - level 5, B-1050 Bruxelles, Belgium
| | - G Sempo
- Unit of Social Ecology - CP 231, Université libre de Bruxelles (ULB), Campus Plaine, Boulevard du Triomphe, Building NO - level 5, B-1050 Bruxelles, Belgium
| | - J L Deneubourg
- Unit of Social Ecology - CP 231, Université libre de Bruxelles (ULB), Campus Plaine, Boulevard du Triomphe, Building NO - level 5, B-1050 Bruxelles, Belgium
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36
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Rittschof CC. Sequential social experiences interact to modulate aggression but not brain gene expression in the honey bee ( Apis mellifera). Front Zool 2017; 14:16. [PMID: 28270855 PMCID: PMC5335736 DOI: 10.1186/s12983-017-0199-8] [Citation(s) in RCA: 11] [Impact Index Per Article: 1.6] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [Track Full Text] [Download PDF] [Figures] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 10/21/2016] [Accepted: 02/20/2017] [Indexed: 01/13/2023] Open
Abstract
BACKGROUND In highly structured societies, individuals behave flexibly and cooperatively in order to achieve a particular group-level outcome. However, even in social species, environmental inputs can have long lasting effects on individual behavior, and variable experiences can even result in consistent individual differences and constrained behavioral flexibility. Despite the fact that such constraints on behavior could have implications for behavioral optimization at the social group level, few studies have explored how social experiences accumulate over time, and the mechanistic basis of these effects. In the current study, I evaluate how sequential social experiences affect individual and group level aggressive phenotypes, and individual brain gene expression, in the highly social honey bee (Apis mellifera). To do this, I combine a whole colony chronic predator disturbance treatment with a lab-based manipulation of social group composition. RESULTS Compared to the undisturbed control, chronically disturbed individuals show lower aggression levels overall, but also enhanced behavioral flexibility in the second, lab-based social context. Disturbed bees display aggression levels that decline with increasing numbers of more aggressive, undisturbed group members. However, group level aggressive phenotypes are similar regardless of the behavioral tendencies of the individuals that make up the group, suggesting a combination of underlying behavioral tendency and negative social feedback influences the aggressive behaviors displayed, particularly in the case of disturbed individuals. An analysis of brain gene expression showed that aggression related biomarker genes reflect an individual's disturbance history, but not subsequent social group experience or behavioral outcomes. CONCLUSIONS In highly social animals with collective behavioral phenotypes, social context may mask underlying variation in individual behavioral tendencies. Moreover, gene expression patterns may reflect behavioral tendency, while behavioral outcomes are further regulated by social cues perceived in real-time.
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Affiliation(s)
- Clare C Rittschof
- Department of Entomology, University of Kentucky, S-225 Ag. Science Center North, Lexington, KY 40546 USA
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37
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Ruiz-Guajardo JC, Grossenbacher DL, Grosberg RK, Palmer TM, Stanton ML. Impacts of worker density in colony-level aggression, expansion, and survival of the acacia-ant Crematogaster mimosae. ECOL MONOGR 2017. [DOI: 10.1002/ecm.1245] [Citation(s) in RCA: 3] [Impact Index Per Article: 0.4] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Indexed: 11/08/2022]
Affiliation(s)
- Juan Carlos Ruiz-Guajardo
- Department of Evolution and Ecology; Center for Population Biology; University of California; Davis California 95616 USA
| | - Dena L. Grossenbacher
- Biological Sciences Department; California Polytechnic State University; San Luis Obispo California 93407 USA
| | - Richard K. Grosberg
- Department of Evolution and Ecology; Center for Population Biology; University of California; Davis California 95616 USA
| | - Todd M. Palmer
- Department of Biology; University of Florida; Gainesville Florida 32611 USA
| | - Maureen L. Stanton
- Department of Evolution and Ecology; Center for Population Biology; University of California; Davis California 95616 USA
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Queen personality type predicts nest-guarding behaviour, colony size and the subsequent collective aggressiveness of the colony. Anim Behav 2017. [DOI: 10.1016/j.anbehav.2016.11.025] [Citation(s) in RCA: 10] [Impact Index Per Article: 1.4] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Indexed: 01/13/2023]
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Abstract
Abstract
Humbug damselfish, Dascyllus aruanus, are a common coral reef fish that form stable social groups with size-based social hierarchies. Here we caught whole wild groups of damselfish and tested whether social groups tended to be comprised of animals that are more similar to one another in terms of their behavioural type, than expected by chance. First we found that individuals were repeatable in their level of activity and exploration, and that this was independent of both absolute size and within-group dominance rank, indicating that animals were behaviourally consistent. Secondly, despite the fact that individuals were tested independently, the behaviour of members of the same groups was significantly more similar than expected under a null model, suggesting that individual behaviour develops and is shaped by conformity to the behaviour of other group members. This is one of the first studies to demonstrate this group-level behavioural conformity in wild-caught groups.
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Affiliation(s)
- Alicia L.J. Burns
- a Animal Behaviour Lab, School of Life and Environmental Sciences, University of Sydney, Sydney, NSW, Australia
- bTaronga Conservation Society Australia, Bradleys Head Road, Mosman, NSW, Australia
| | - Timothy M. Schaerf
- a Animal Behaviour Lab, School of Life and Environmental Sciences, University of Sydney, Sydney, NSW, Australia
- cSchool of Science and Technology, University of New England, Armidale, NSW, Australia
| | - Ashley J.W. Ward
- a Animal Behaviour Lab, School of Life and Environmental Sciences, University of Sydney, Sydney, NSW, Australia
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Chang CC, Ng PJ, Li D. Aggressive jumping spiders make quicker decisions for preferred prey but not at the cost of accuracy. Behav Ecol 2016. [DOI: 10.1093/beheco/arw174] [Citation(s) in RCA: 3] [Impact Index Per Article: 0.4] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Indexed: 11/14/2022] Open
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Brooker RM, Feeney WE, White JR, Manassa RP, Johansen JL, Dixson DL. Using insights from animal behaviour and behavioural ecology to inform marine conservation initiatives. Anim Behav 2016; 120:211-221. [PMID: 29104297 PMCID: PMC5665575 DOI: 10.1016/j.anbehav.2016.03.012] [Citation(s) in RCA: 12] [Impact Index Per Article: 1.5] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [Grants] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Indexed: 11/25/2022]
Abstract
The impacts of human activities on the natural world are becoming increasingly apparent, with rapid development and exploitation occurring at the expense of habitat quality and biodiversity. Declines are especially concerning in the oceans, which hold intrinsic value due to their biological uniqueness as well as their substantial sociological and economic importance. Here, we review the literature and investigate whether incorporation of knowledge from the fields of animal behaviour and behavioural ecology may improve the effectiveness of conservation initiatives in marine systems. In particular, we consider (1) how knowledge of larval behaviour and ecology may be used to inform the design of marine protected areas, (2) how protecting species that hold specific ecological niches may be of particular importance for maximizing the preservation of biodiversity, (3) how current harvesting techniques may be inadvertently skewing the behavioural phenotypes of stock populations and whether changes to current practices may lessen this skew and reinforce population persistence, and (4) how understanding the behavioural and physiological responses of species to a changing environment may provide essential insights into areas of particular vulnerability for prioritized conservation attention. The complex nature of conservation programmes inherently results in interdisciplinary responses, and the incorporation of knowledge from the fields of animal behaviour and behavioural ecology may increase our ability to stem the loss of biodiversity in marine environments.
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Affiliation(s)
- Rohan M. Brooker
- School of Marine Science and Policy, University of Delaware, Lewes, DE, U.S.A
| | - William E. Feeney
- School of Marine Science and Policy, University of Delaware, Lewes, DE, U.S.A
- School of Biological Sciences, University of Queensland, Brisbane, QLD, Australia
- Department of Zoology, University of Cambridge, Cambridge, U.K
| | - James R. White
- College of Tropical and Marine Science, James Cook University, Townsville, QLD, Australia
- ARC Centre of Excellence for Coral Reef Studies, James Cook University, Townsville, QLD, Australia
| | - Rachel P. Manassa
- Water Studies Centre, School of Chemistry, Monash University, Melbourne, VIC, Australia
| | - Jacob L. Johansen
- Marine Science Institute, University of Texas, Port Aransas, TX, U.S.A
| | - Danielle L. Dixson
- School of Marine Science and Policy, University of Delaware, Lewes, DE, U.S.A
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Pinter-Wollman N, Keiser CN, Wollman R, Pruitt JN. The Effect of Keystone Individuals on Collective Outcomes Can Be Mediated through Interactions or Behavioral Persistence. Am Nat 2016; 188:240-52. [PMID: 27420788 PMCID: PMC5475371 DOI: 10.1086/687235] [Citation(s) in RCA: 20] [Impact Index Per Article: 2.5] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [MESH Headings] [Grants] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Indexed: 12/29/2022]
Abstract
Collective behavior emerges from interactions among group members who often vary in their behavior. The presence of just one or a few keystone individuals, such as leaders or tutors, may have a large effect on collective outcomes. These individuals can catalyze behavioral changes in other group members, thus altering group composition and collective behavior. The influence of keystone individuals on group function may lead to trade-offs between ecological situations, because the behavioral composition they facilitate may be suitable in one situation but not another. We use computer simulations to examine various mechanisms that allow keystone individuals to exert their influence on group members. We further discuss a trade-off between two potentially conflicting collective outcomes, cooperative prey attack and disease dynamics. Our simulations match empirical data from a social spider system and produce testable predictions for the causes and consequences of the influence of keystone individuals on group composition and collective outcomes. We find that a group's behavioral composition can be impacted by the keystone individual through changes to interaction patterns or behavioral persistence over time. Group behavioral composition and the mechanisms that drive the distribution of phenotypes influence collective outcomes and lead to trade-offs between disease dynamics and cooperative prey attack.
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Affiliation(s)
- Noa Pinter-Wollman
- BioCircuits Institute, University of California, San Diego, La Jolla, California 92093
- San Diego Center for Systems Biology, University of California, San Diego, La Jolla, California 92093
| | - Carl N. Keiser
- Department of Biological Sciences, University of Pittsburgh, Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania 15260
| | - Roy Wollman
- San Diego Center for Systems Biology, University of California, San Diego, La Jolla, California 92093
- Department of Chemistry and Biochemistry and Section for Cellular and Developmental Biology, University of California, San Diego, La Jolla, California 92093
| | - Jonathan N. Pruitt
- Department of Ecology, Evolution, and Marine Biology, University of California, Santa Barbara, California 93106
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Wright CM, Keiser CN, Pruitt JN. Colony personality composition alters colony-level plasticity and magnitude of defensive behaviour in a social spider. Anim Behav 2016. [DOI: 10.1016/j.anbehav.2016.03.002] [Citation(s) in RCA: 25] [Impact Index Per Article: 3.1] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Indexed: 01/17/2023]
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Keiser CN, Pinter-Wollman N, Augustine DA, Ziemba MJ, Hao L, Lawrence JG, Pruitt JN. Individual differences in boldness influence patterns of social interactions and the transmission of cuticular bacteria among group-mates. Proc Biol Sci 2016; 283:20160457. [PMID: 27097926 PMCID: PMC4855390 DOI: 10.1098/rspb.2016.0457] [Citation(s) in RCA: 32] [Impact Index Per Article: 4.0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [MESH Headings] [Grants] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 02/29/2016] [Accepted: 03/30/2016] [Indexed: 12/15/2022] Open
Abstract
Despite the importance of host attributes for the likelihood of associated microbial transmission, individual variation is seldom considered in studies of wildlife disease. Here, we test the influence of host phenotypes on social network structure and the likelihood of cuticular bacterial transmission from exposed individuals to susceptible group-mates using female social spiders (Stegodyphus dumicola). Based on the interactions of resting individuals of known behavioural types, we assessed whether individuals assorted according to their behavioural traits. We found that individuals preferentially interacted with individuals of unlike behavioural phenotypes. We next applied a green fluorescent protein-transformed cuticular bacterium,Pantoeasp., to individuals and allowed them to interact with an unexposed colony-mate for 24 h. We found evidence for transmission of bacteria in 55% of cases. The likelihood of transmission was influenced jointly by the behavioural phenotypes of both the exposed and susceptible individuals: transmission was more likely when exposed spiders exhibited higher 'boldness' relative to their colony-mate, and when unexposed individuals were in better body condition. Indirect transmission via shared silk took place in only 15% of cases. Thus, bodily contact appears key to transmission in this system. These data represent a fundamental step towards understanding how individual traits influence larger-scale social and epidemiological dynamics.
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Affiliation(s)
- Carl N Keiser
- Department of Biological Sciences, University of Pittsburgh, Pittsburgh, PA 15260, USA
| | - Noa Pinter-Wollman
- BioCircuits Institute, University of California, San Diego, La Jolla, CA 92093, USA
| | - David A Augustine
- Department of Biological Sciences, University of Pittsburgh, Pittsburgh, PA 15260, USA
| | - Michael J Ziemba
- Department of Biological Sciences, University of Pittsburgh, Pittsburgh, PA 15260, USA
| | - Lingran Hao
- BioCircuits Institute, University of California, San Diego, La Jolla, CA 92093, USA
| | - Jeffrey G Lawrence
- Department of Biological Sciences, University of Pittsburgh, Pittsburgh, PA 15260, USA
| | - Jonathan N Pruitt
- Department of Biological Sciences, University of Pittsburgh, Pittsburgh, PA 15260, USA Department of Ecology, Evolution, and Marine Biology, University of California, Santa Barbara, CA 93106, USA
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Keiser CN, Wright CM, Pruitt JN. Increased bacterial load can reduce or negate the effects of keystone individuals on group collective behaviour. Anim Behav 2016. [DOI: 10.1016/j.anbehav.2016.02.010] [Citation(s) in RCA: 16] [Impact Index Per Article: 2.0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Indexed: 12/27/2022]
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Laskowski KL, Montiglio PO, Pruitt JN. Individual and Group Performance Suffers from Social Niche Disruption. Am Nat 2016; 187:776-85. [PMID: 27172596 DOI: 10.1086/686220] [Citation(s) in RCA: 29] [Impact Index Per Article: 3.6] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [MESH Headings] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Indexed: 11/03/2022]
Abstract
The social niche specialization hypothesis predicts that animal personalities emerge as a result of individuals occupying different social niches within a group. Here we track individual personality and performance and collective performance among groups of social spiders where we manipulated the familiarity of the group members. We show that individual personalities, as measured by consistent individual differences in boldness behavior, strengthen with increasing familiarity and that these personalities can be disrupted by a change in group membership. Changing group membership negatively impacted both individual and group performance. Individuals in less familiar groups lost weight, and these groups were less successful at performing vital collective tasks. These results provide a mechanism for the evolution of stable social groups by demonstrating that social niche reestablishment carries a steep cost for both individuals and groups. Social niche specialization may therefore provide a potential first step on the path toward more organized social systems.
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Keiser CN, Shearer TA, DeMarco AE, Brittingham HA, Knutson KA, Kuo C, Zhao K, Pruitt JN. Cuticular bacteria appear detrimental to social spiders in mixed but not monoculture exposure. Curr Zool 2016; 62:377-384. [PMID: 29491926 PMCID: PMC5829440 DOI: 10.1093/cz/zow015] [Citation(s) in RCA: 13] [Impact Index Per Article: 1.6] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [Track Full Text] [Download PDF] [Figures] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 05/29/2015] [Accepted: 10/22/2015] [Indexed: 12/15/2022] Open
Abstract
Much of an animal’s health status, life history, and behavior are dictated by
interactions with its endogenous and exogenous bacterial communities. Unfortunately,
interactions between hosts and members of their resident bacterial community are often
ignored in animal behavior and behavioral ecology. Here, we aim to identify the nature of
host–microbe interactions in a nonmodel organism, the African social spider
Stegodyphus dumicola. We collected and identified bacteria from the
cuticles of spiders in situ and then exposed spiders to bacterial
monocultures cultures via topical application or injection. We also topically inoculated
spiders with a concomitant “cocktail” of bacteria and measured the behavior of spiders
daily for 24 days after inoculation. Lastly, we collected and identified bacteria from the
cuticles of prey items in the capture webs of spiders, and then fed spiders domestic
crickets which had been injected with these bacteria. We also injected 1 species of
prey-borne bacteria into the hemolymph of spiders. Only Bacillus
thuringiensis caused increased mortality when injected into the hemolymph of
spiders, whereas no bacterial monocultures caused increased mortality when applied
topically, relative to control solutions. However, a bacterial cocktail of cuticular
bacteria caused weight loss and mortality when applied topically, yet did not detectibly
alter spider behavior. Consuming prey injected with prey-borne bacteria was associated
with an elongated lifespan in spiders. Thus, indirect evidence from multiple experiments
suggests that the effects of these bacteria on spider survivorship appear contingent on
their mode of colonization and whether they are applied in monoculture or within a mixed
cocktail. We urge that follow-up studies should test these host–microbe interactions
across different social contexts to determine the role that microbes play in colony
performance.
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Affiliation(s)
- Carl N Keiser
- Department of Biological Sciences, University of Pittsburgh, Pittsburgh, PA 15260 USA
| | - Taylor A Shearer
- Department of Biological Sciences, University of Pittsburgh, Pittsburgh, PA 15260 USA
| | - Alexander E DeMarco
- Department of Biological Sciences, University of Pittsburgh, Pittsburgh, PA 15260 USA
| | - Hayley A Brittingham
- Department of Biological Sciences, University of Pittsburgh, Pittsburgh, PA 15260 USA
| | - Karen A Knutson
- Department of Biological Sciences, University of Pittsburgh, Pittsburgh, PA 15260 USA
| | - Candice Kuo
- Department of Biological Sciences, University of Pittsburgh, Pittsburgh, PA 15260 USA
| | - Katherine Zhao
- Department of Biological Sciences, University of Pittsburgh, Pittsburgh, PA 15260 USA
| | - Jonathan N Pruitt
- Department of Biological Sciences, University of Pittsburgh, Pittsburgh, PA 15260 USA
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Pruitt JN, Wright CM, Keiser CN, DeMarco AE, Grobis MM, Pinter-Wollman N. The Achilles' heel hypothesis: misinformed keystone individuals impair collective learning and reduce group success. Proc Biol Sci 2016; 283:20152888. [PMID: 26817771 PMCID: PMC4795039 DOI: 10.1098/rspb.2015.2888] [Citation(s) in RCA: 20] [Impact Index Per Article: 2.5] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [MESH Headings] [Grants] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 12/01/2015] [Accepted: 01/04/2016] [Indexed: 01/05/2023] Open
Abstract
Many animal societies rely on highly influential keystone individuals for proper functioning. When information quality is important for group success, such keystone individuals have the potential to diminish group performance if they possess inaccurate information. Here, we test whether information quality (accurate or inaccurate) influences collective outcomes when keystone individuals are the first to acquire it. We trained keystone or generic individuals to attack or avoid novel stimuli and implanted these trained individuals within groups of naive colony-mates. We subsequently tracked how quickly groups learned about their environment in situations that matched (accurate information) or mismatched (inaccurate information) the training of the trained individual. We found that colonies with just one accurately informed individual were quicker to learn to attack a novel prey stimulus than colonies with no informed individuals. However, this effect was no more pronounced when the informed individual was a keystone individual. In contrast, keystones with inaccurate information had larger effects than generic individuals with identical information: groups containing keystones with inaccurate information took longer to learn to attack/avoid prey/predator stimuli and gained less weight than groups harbouring generic individuals with identical information. Our results convey that misinformed keystone individuals can become points of vulnerability for their societies.
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Affiliation(s)
- Jonathan N Pruitt
- Department of Biological Sciences, University of Pittsburgh, Pittsburgh, PA, USA Department of Ecology, Evolution, and Marine Biology, University of California, Santa Barbara, CA, USA
| | - Colin M Wright
- Department of Biological Sciences, University of Pittsburgh, Pittsburgh, PA, USA
| | - Carl N Keiser
- Department of Biological Sciences, University of Pittsburgh, Pittsburgh, PA, USA
| | - Alex E DeMarco
- Department of Biological Sciences, East Tennessee State University, Johnson City, TN, USA
| | - Matthew M Grobis
- Department of Ecology and Evolutionary Biology, Princeton University, Princeton, NJ, USA
| | - Noa Pinter-Wollman
- BioCircuits Institute, University of California San Diego, La Jolla, CA, USA
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