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Ruttenberg DM, Levin SA, Wingreen NS, Kocher SD. Variation in season length and development time is sufficient to drive the emergence and coexistence of social and solitary behavioral strategies. BIORXIV : THE PREPRINT SERVER FOR BIOLOGY 2024:2024.06.18.599518. [PMID: 38948882 PMCID: PMC11212982 DOI: 10.1101/2024.06.18.599518] [Citation(s) in RCA: 0] [Impact Index Per Article: 0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [Grants] [Track Full Text] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Indexed: 07/02/2024]
Abstract
Season length and its associated variables can influence the expression of social behaviors, including the occurrence of eusociality in insects. Eusociality can vary widely across environmental gradients, both within and between different species. Numerous theoretical models have been developed to examine the life history traits that underlie the emergence and maintenance of eusociality, yet the impact of seasonality on this process is largely uncharacterized. Here, we present a theoretical model that incorporates season length and offspring development time into a single, individual-focused model to examine how these factors can shape the costs and benefits of social living. We find that longer season lengths and faster brood development times are sufficient to favor the emergence and maintenance of a social strategy, while shorter seasons favor a solitary one. We also identify a range of season lengths where social and solitary strategies can coexist. Moreover, our theoretical predictions are well-matched to the natural history and behavior of two flexibly-eusocial bee species, suggesting our model can make realistic predictions about the evolution of different social strategies. Broadly, this work reveals the crucial role that environmental conditions can have in shaping social behavior and its evolution and underscores the need for further models that explicitly incorporate such variation to study evolutionary trajectories of eusociality.
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Affiliation(s)
- Dee M Ruttenberg
- Lewis-Sigler Institute for Integrative Genomics, Princeton University
- Department of Ecology and Evolutionary Biology, Princeton University
| | - Simon A Levin
- Lewis-Sigler Institute for Integrative Genomics, Princeton University
- Department of Ecology and Evolutionary Biology, Princeton University
| | - Ned S Wingreen
- Lewis-Sigler Institute for Integrative Genomics, Princeton University
- Department of Molecular Biology, Princeton University
| | - Sarah D Kocher
- Lewis-Sigler Institute for Integrative Genomics, Princeton University
- Department of Ecology and Evolutionary Biology, Princeton University
- Howard Hughes Medical Institute
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Rogers JF, Vandendoren M, Prather JF, Landen JG, Bedford NL, Nelson AC. Neural cell-types and circuits linking thermoregulation and social behavior. Neurosci Biobehav Rev 2024; 161:105667. [PMID: 38599356 PMCID: PMC11163828 DOI: 10.1016/j.neubiorev.2024.105667] [Citation(s) in RCA: 0] [Impact Index Per Article: 0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [MESH Headings] [Grants] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 01/03/2024] [Revised: 04/05/2024] [Accepted: 04/07/2024] [Indexed: 04/12/2024]
Abstract
Understanding how social and affective behavioral states are controlled by neural circuits is a fundamental challenge in neurobiology. Despite increasing understanding of central circuits governing prosocial and agonistic interactions, how bodily autonomic processes regulate these behaviors is less resolved. Thermoregulation is vital for maintaining homeostasis, but also associated with cognitive, physical, affective, and behavioral states. Here, we posit that adjusting body temperature may be integral to the appropriate expression of social behavior and argue that understanding neural links between behavior and thermoregulation is timely. First, changes in behavioral states-including social interaction-often accompany changes in body temperature. Second, recent work has uncovered neural populations controlling both thermoregulatory and social behavioral pathways. We identify additional neural populations that, in separate studies, control social behavior and thermoregulation, and highlight their relevance to human and animal studies. Third, dysregulation of body temperature is linked to human neuropsychiatric disorders. Although body temperature is a "hidden state" in many neurobiological studies, it likely plays an underappreciated role in regulating social and affective states.
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Affiliation(s)
- Joseph F Rogers
- Department of Zoology & Physiology, University of Wyoming, Laramie, WY, USA; University of Wyoming Sensory Biology Center, USA
| | - Morgane Vandendoren
- Department of Zoology & Physiology, University of Wyoming, Laramie, WY, USA; University of Wyoming Sensory Biology Center, USA
| | - Jonathan F Prather
- Department of Zoology & Physiology, University of Wyoming, Laramie, WY, USA
| | - Jason G Landen
- Department of Zoology & Physiology, University of Wyoming, Laramie, WY, USA; University of Wyoming Sensory Biology Center, USA
| | - Nicole L Bedford
- Department of Zoology & Physiology, University of Wyoming, Laramie, WY, USA
| | - Adam C Nelson
- Department of Zoology & Physiology, University of Wyoming, Laramie, WY, USA; University of Wyoming Sensory Biology Center, USA.
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3
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Fattorini N, Lovari S, Franceschi S, Chiatante G, Brunetti C, Baruzzi C, Ferretti F. Animal conflicts escalate in a warmer world. THE SCIENCE OF THE TOTAL ENVIRONMENT 2023; 871:161789. [PMID: 36716887 DOI: 10.1016/j.scitotenv.2023.161789] [Citation(s) in RCA: 0] [Impact Index Per Article: 0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [MESH Headings] [Track Full Text] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 10/24/2022] [Revised: 12/29/2022] [Accepted: 01/19/2023] [Indexed: 06/18/2023]
Abstract
The potential for climate change to affect animal behaviour is widely recognized, yet its possible consequences on aggressiveness are still unclear. If warming and drought limit the availability of food resources, climate change may elicit an increase of intraspecific conflicts stemming from resource competition. By measuring aggressivity indices in a group-living, herbivorous mammal (the Apennine chamois Rupicapra pyrenaica ornata) in two sites differing in habitat quality, and coupling them with estimates of plant productivity, we investigated whether harsh climatic conditions accumulated during the growing season influenced agonistic contests at feeding via vegetation-mediated effects, and their interaction with the site-specific habitat quality. We focused on females, which exhibit intra-group contest competition to access nutritious food patches. Accounting for confounding variables, we found that (1) the aggression rate between foraging individuals increased with the warming accumulated over previous weeks; (2) the probability to deliver more aggressive behaviour patterns toward contestants increased with decreasing rainfall recorded in previous weeks; (3) the effects of cumulative warming and drought on aggressivity indices occurred at time windows spanning 15-30 days, matching those found on vegetation productivity; (4) the effects of unfavourable climatic conditions via vegetation growth on aggressivity were independent of the site-specific habitat quality. Simulations conducted on our model species predict a ~50 % increase in aggression rate following the warming projected over the next 60 years. Where primary productivity will be impacted by warming and drought, our findings suggest that the anticipated climate change scenarios may trigger bottom-up consequences on intraspecific animal conflicts. This study opens the doors for a better understanding of the multifactorial origin of aggression in group-living foragers, emphasising how the escalation of agonistic contests could emerge as a novel response of animal societies to ongoing global warming.
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Affiliation(s)
- Niccolò Fattorini
- Department of Life Sciences, University of Siena, Via P.A. Mattioli 4, 53100 Siena, Italy; NBFC, National Biodiversity Future Center, 90133 Palermo, Italy.
| | - Sandro Lovari
- Department of Life Sciences, University of Siena, Via P.A. Mattioli 4, 53100 Siena, Italy; Maremma Natural History Museum, Strada Corsini 5, 58100 Grosseto, Italy
| | - Sara Franceschi
- Department of Economics and Statistics, University of Siena, Piazza San Francesco 8, 53100 Siena, Italy
| | - Gianpasquale Chiatante
- NBFC, National Biodiversity Future Center, 90133 Palermo, Italy; Department of Biology, University of Florence, Via Madonna del Piano 6, 50019 Sesto Fiorentino, Italy
| | - Claudia Brunetti
- Department of Life Sciences, University of Siena, Via P.A. Mattioli 4, 53100 Siena, Italy
| | - Carolina Baruzzi
- Department of Life Sciences, University of Siena, Via P.A. Mattioli 4, 53100 Siena, Italy; Department of Wildlife Ecology and Conservation, North Florida Research and Education Center, University of Florida, 155 Research Rd., Quincy, FL 32351, USA
| | - Francesco Ferretti
- Department of Life Sciences, University of Siena, Via P.A. Mattioli 4, 53100 Siena, Italy; NBFC, National Biodiversity Future Center, 90133 Palermo, Italy
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4
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Social consequences of rapid environmental change. Trends Ecol Evol 2023; 38:337-345. [PMID: 36473809 DOI: 10.1016/j.tree.2022.11.005] [Citation(s) in RCA: 6] [Impact Index Per Article: 6.0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 04/26/2022] [Revised: 11/03/2022] [Accepted: 11/08/2022] [Indexed: 12/05/2022]
Abstract
While direct influences of the environment on population growth and resilience are well studied, indirect routes linking environmental changes to population consequences are less explored. We suggest that social behavior is key for understanding how anthropogenic environmental changes affect the resilience of animal populations. Social structures of animal groups are evolved and emergent phenotypes that often have demographic consequences for group members. Importantly, environmental drivers may directly influence the consequences of social structure or indirectly influence them through modifications to social interactions, group composition, or group size. We have developed a framework to study these demographic consequences. Estimating the strength of direct and indirect pathways will give us tools to understand, and potentially manage, the effect of human-induced rapid environmental changes.
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Pilakouta N, O'Donnell PJ, Crespel A, Levet M, Claireaux M, Humble JL, Kristjánsson BK, Skúlason S, Lindström J, Metcalfe NB, Killen SS, Parsons KJ. A warmer environment can reduce sociability in an ectotherm. GLOBAL CHANGE BIOLOGY 2023; 29:206-214. [PMID: 36259414 PMCID: PMC10092372 DOI: 10.1111/gcb.16451] [Citation(s) in RCA: 5] [Impact Index Per Article: 5.0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [MESH Headings] [Grants] [Track Full Text] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 04/28/2022] [Revised: 08/15/2022] [Accepted: 09/25/2022] [Indexed: 05/05/2023]
Abstract
The costs and benefits of being social vary with environmental conditions, so individuals must weigh the balance between these trade-offs in response to changes in the environment. Temperature is a salient environmental factor that may play a key role in altering the costs and benefits of sociality through its effects on food availability, predator abundance, and other ecological parameters. In ectotherms, changes in temperature also have direct effects on physiological traits linked to social behaviour, such as metabolic rate and locomotor performance. In light of climate change, it is therefore important to understand the potential effects of temperature on sociality. Here, we took the advantage of a 'natural experiment' of threespine sticklebacks from contrasting thermal environments in Iceland: geothermally warmed water bodies (warm habitats) and adjacent ambient-temperature water bodies (cold habitats) that were either linked (sympatric) or physically distinct (allopatric). We first measured the sociability of wild-caught adult fish from warm and cold habitats after acclimation to a low and a high temperature. At both acclimation temperatures, fish from the allopatric warm habitat were less social than those from the allopatric cold habitat, whereas fish from sympatric warm and cold habitats showed no differences in sociability. To determine whether differences in sociability between thermal habitats in the allopatric population were heritable, we used a common garden breeding design where individuals from the warm and the cold habitat were reared at a low or high temperature for two generations. We found that sociability was indeed heritable but also influenced by rearing temperature, suggesting that thermal conditions during early life can play an important role in influencing social behaviour in adulthood. By providing the first evidence for a causal effect of rearing temperature on social behaviour, our study provides novel insights into how a warming world may influence sociality in animal populations.
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Affiliation(s)
- Natalie Pilakouta
- School of Biodiversity, One Health and Veterinary MedicineUniversity of GlasgowGlasgowUK
- School of Biological SciencesUniversity of AberdeenAberdeenUK
| | - Patrick J. O'Donnell
- School of Biodiversity, One Health and Veterinary MedicineUniversity of GlasgowGlasgowUK
| | - Amélie Crespel
- School of Biodiversity, One Health and Veterinary MedicineUniversity of GlasgowGlasgowUK
- Department of BiologyUniversity of TurkuTurkuFinland
| | - Marie Levet
- School of Biodiversity, One Health and Veterinary MedicineUniversity of GlasgowGlasgowUK
- Department of Biological SciencesUniversity of MontrealMontrealCanada
| | - Marion Claireaux
- School of Biodiversity, One Health and Veterinary MedicineUniversity of GlasgowGlasgowUK
- Norwegian Institute of Marine ResearchBergenNorway
| | - Joseph L. Humble
- School of Biodiversity, One Health and Veterinary MedicineUniversity of GlasgowGlasgowUK
| | | | - Skúli Skúlason
- Department of Aquaculture and Fish BiologyHólar UniversitySauðárkrókurIceland
- Icelandic Museum of Natural HistoryReykjavíkIceland
| | - Jan Lindström
- School of Biodiversity, One Health and Veterinary MedicineUniversity of GlasgowGlasgowUK
| | - Neil B. Metcalfe
- School of Biodiversity, One Health and Veterinary MedicineUniversity of GlasgowGlasgowUK
| | - Shaun S. Killen
- School of Biodiversity, One Health and Veterinary MedicineUniversity of GlasgowGlasgowUK
| | - Kevin J. Parsons
- School of Biodiversity, One Health and Veterinary MedicineUniversity of GlasgowGlasgowUK
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