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Freiler MK, Smith GT. Neuroendocrine mechanisms contributing to the coevolution of sociality and communication. Front Neuroendocrinol 2023; 70:101077. [PMID: 37217079 PMCID: PMC10527162 DOI: 10.1016/j.yfrne.2023.101077] [Citation(s) in RCA: 1] [Impact Index Per Article: 1.0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [MESH Headings] [Grants] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Submit a Manuscript] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 12/28/2022] [Revised: 04/19/2023] [Accepted: 05/15/2023] [Indexed: 05/24/2023]
Abstract
Communication is inherently social, so signaling systems should evolve with social systems. The 'social complexity hypothesis' posits that social complexity necessitates communicative complexity and is generally supported in vocalizing mammals. This hypothesis, however, has seldom been tested outside the acoustic modality, and comparisons across studies are confounded by varying definitions of complexity. Moreover, proximate mechanisms underlying coevolution of sociality and communication remain largely unexamined. In this review, we argue that to uncover how sociality and communication coevolve, we need to examine variation in the neuroendocrine mechanisms that coregulate social behavior and signal production and perception. Specifically, we focus on steroid hormones, monoamines, and nonapeptides, which modulate both social behavior and sensorimotor circuits and are likely targets of selection during social evolution. Lastly, we highlight weakly electric fishes as an ideal system in which to comparatively address the proximate mechanisms underlying relationships between social and signal diversity in a novel modality.
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Affiliation(s)
- Megan K Freiler
- Department of Biology, Indiana University, Bloomington, IN, United States; Center for the Integrative Study of Animal Behavior, Indiana University, Bloomington, IN, United States.
| | - G Troy Smith
- Department of Biology, Indiana University, Bloomington, IN, United States; Center for the Integrative Study of Animal Behavior, Indiana University, Bloomington, IN, United States
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2
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Gastélum-Reyes JJ, Peñalba-Garmendia MC, Fu-Castillo A, Navarro-Gómez N, Castillo-Gámez RA, Meling-López AE. FOREIGN SPIDERS AND INSECTS IN ANELOSIMUS CF. ANALYTICUS (ARANEAE: THERIDIIDAE) NESTS IN THE SONORAN DESERT, MEXICO. SOUTHWEST NAT 2022. [DOI: 10.1894/0038-4909-66.3.193] [Citation(s) in RCA: 0] [Impact Index Per Article: 0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Indexed: 11/20/2022]
Affiliation(s)
- Julio Javier Gastélum-Reyes
- Departamento de Investigación Científica y Tecnológica de la Universidad de Sonora, Hermosillo, Sonora C.P. 83000, Mexico
| | | | - Agustín Fu-Castillo
- Departamento de Investigación Científica y Tecnológica de la Universidad de Sonora, Hermosillo, Sonora C.P. 83000, Mexico
| | - Narciso Navarro-Gómez
- Departamento de Investigación Científica y Tecnológica de la Universidad de Sonora, Hermosillo, Sonora C.P. 83000, Mexico
| | - Reyna Amanda Castillo-Gámez
- Departamento de Investigación Científica y Tecnológica de la Universidad de Sonora, Hermosillo, Sonora C.P. 83000, Mexico
| | - Alf Enrique Meling-López
- Departamento de Investigación Científica y Tecnológica de la Universidad de Sonora, Hermosillo, Sonora C.P. 83000, Mexico
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3
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Baker CJ, Frère CH, Franklin CE, Campbell HA, Irwin TR, Dwyer RG. Crocodile social environments dictated by male philopatry. Behav Ecol 2021. [DOI: 10.1093/beheco/arab120] [Citation(s) in RCA: 1] [Impact Index Per Article: 0.3] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Indexed: 11/13/2022] Open
Abstract
Abstract
Examining the social behaviors of solitary species can be challenging due to the rarity in which interactions occur and the large and often inaccessible areas which these animals inhabit. As shared space-use is a prerequisite for the expression of social behaviors, we can gain insights into the social environments of solitary species by examining the degree of spatial overlap between individuals. Over a 10-year period, we examined how spatial overlap amongst 105 estuarine crocodiles Crocodylus porosus was influenced by season, sex, and movement tactic. We discovered that crocodiles displayed highly consistent spatial overlaps with conspecifics between months and across years. Furthermore, male crocodiles that exhibited a greater degree of site fidelity displayed more stable social environments, while females and males that were less site-attached had more dynamic social environments with spatial overlaps between conspecifics peaking during the mating season. Our results demonstrate how long-term tracking of multiple individuals within the same population can be used to quantify the spatial structure and social environment of cryptic and solitary species.
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Affiliation(s)
- Cameron J Baker
- The School of Biological Sciences, The University of Queensland, Brisbane, Australia
| | - Céline H Frère
- Global Change Ecology Research Group, University of the Sunshine Coast, Sippy Downs, Australia
| | - Craig E Franklin
- The School of Biological Sciences, The University of Queensland, Brisbane, Australia
| | - Hamish A Campbell
- Research Institute for Environment & Livelihoods, Charles Darwin University, Darwin, Northern Territory, Australia
| | - Terri R Irwin
- Australia Zoo, 1638 Steve Irwin Way, Beerwah, Australia
| | - Ross G Dwyer
- The School of Biological Sciences, The University of Queensland, Brisbane, Australia
- Global Change Ecology Research Group, University of the Sunshine Coast, Sippy Downs, Australia
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4
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de Fatima Rocha Dias M, Rios V, Vasconcellos-Neto J, Viera C. Matriphagy in five species of the genus Anelosimus (Araneae: Theridiidae). BEHAVIOUR 2021. [DOI: 10.1163/1568539x-bja10119] [Citation(s) in RCA: 0] [Impact Index Per Article: 0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Indexed: 11/19/2022]
Abstract
Abstract
Parental care has evolved numerous times in many taxonomic groups of animals. Matriphagy, as an extreme example of parental care, is present in many social species, subsocial species, and even in solitary spiders. Here, we describe matriphagy in five species of Anelosimus of different levels of sociality: social (A. dubiosus), intermediate social (A. jabaquara), subsocial (A. vierae, A. baeza), and solitary (A. nigrescens). Each group contained a female and its brood, maintained under standardized laboratory conditions. All species showed matriphagy, regardless of their social level. Further studies are necessary to clarify whether matriphagy is a necessary precondition for the evolution of sociality in spiders, or if it is phylogenetically conserved in some families.
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Affiliation(s)
- M. de Fatima Rocha Dias
- Entomología, Facultad de Ciencias, Universidad de la República, Laboratorio Ecología del Comportamiento, Instituto de Biologia, Universidade Federal da Bahia, Brasil
- Núcleo de Etologia e Evolução, Instituto de Biologia, Universidade Federal da Bahia, Brasil
| | - V.P. Rios
- Núcleo de Etologia e Evolução, Instituto de Biologia, Universidade Federal da Bahia, Brasil
- Instituto Nacional de Ciência e Tecnologia em estudos inter e transdisciplinares em Ecologia e Evolução, Universidade Federal da Bahia, Brasil
| | - J. Vasconcellos-Neto
- Departamento de Biologia Animal, Instituto de Biologia, Unicamp, São Paulo, Brasil
| | - C. Viera
- Entomología, Facultad de Ciencias, Universidad de la República, Laboratorio Ecología del Comportamiento, Instituto de Biologia, Universidade Federal da Bahia, Brasil
- Instituto Nacional de Ciência e Tecnologia em estudos inter e transdisciplinares em Ecologia e Evolução, Universidade Federal da Bahia, Brasil
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5
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Gatchoff L, Stein LR. Venom and Social Behavior: The Potential of Using Spiders to Evaluate the Evolution of Sociality under High Risk. Toxins (Basel) 2021; 13:388. [PMID: 34071320 PMCID: PMC8227785 DOI: 10.3390/toxins13060388] [Citation(s) in RCA: 0] [Impact Index Per Article: 0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [MESH Headings] [Track Full Text] [Download PDF] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 04/11/2021] [Revised: 05/13/2021] [Accepted: 05/25/2021] [Indexed: 12/04/2022] Open
Abstract
Risks of sociality, including competition and conspecific aggression, are particularly pronounced in venomous invertebrates such as arachnids. Spiders show a wide range of sociality, with differing levels of cannibalism and other types of social aggression. To have the greatest chance of surviving interactions with conspecifics, spiders must learn to assess and respond to risk. One of the major ways risk assessment is studied in spiders is via venom metering, in which spiders choose how much venom to use based on prey and predator characteristics. While venom metering in response to prey acquisition and predator defense is well-studied, less is known about its use in conspecific interactions. Here we argue that due to the wide range of both sociality and venom found in spiders, they are poised to be an excellent system for testing questions regarding whether and how venom use relates to the evolution of social behavior and, in return, whether social behavior influences venom use and evolution. We focus primarily on the widow spiders, Latrodectus, as a strong model for testing these hypotheses. Given that successful responses to risk are vital for maintaining sociality, comparative analysis of spider taxa in which venom metering and sociality vary can provide valuable insights into the evolution and maintenance of social behavior under risk.
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Affiliation(s)
- Laura Gatchoff
- Department of Biology, University of Oklahoma, Norman, OK 73019, USA;
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6
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8
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Holland JG, Bloch G. The Complexity of Social Complexity: A Quantitative Multidimensional Approach for Studies of Social Organization. Am Nat 2020; 196:525-540. [PMID: 33064587 DOI: 10.1086/710957] [Citation(s) in RCA: 12] [Impact Index Per Article: 3.0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [MESH Headings] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Indexed: 11/04/2022]
Abstract
AbstractThe rapid increase in "big data" during the postgenomic era makes it crucial to appropriately measure the level of social complexity in comparative studies. We argue that commonly used qualitative classifications lump together species showing a broad range of social complexity and falsely imply that social evolution always progresses along a single linear stepwise trajectory that can be deduced from comparing extant species. To illustrate this point, we compared widely used social complexity measures in "primitively eusocial" bumble bees with "advanced eusocial" stingless bees, honey bees, and attine ants. We find that a single species can have both higher and lower levels of complexity compared with other taxa, depending on the social trait measured. We propose that measuring the complexity of individual social traits switches focus from semantic discussions and offers several directions for progress. First, quantitative social traits can be correlated with molecular, developmental, and physiological processes within and across lineages of social animals. This approach is particularly promising for identifying processes that influence or have been affected by social evolution. Second, key social complexity traits can be combined into multidimensional lineage-specific quantitative indices, enabling fine-scale comparison across species that are currently bundled within the same level of social complexity.
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9
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Fisher DN, Lichtenstein JLL, Costa-Pereira R, Yeager J, Pruitt JN. Assessing the repeatability, robustness to disturbance, and parent-offspring colony resemblance of collective behavior. J Evol Biol 2019; 33:410-421. [PMID: 31821669 DOI: 10.1111/jeb.13576] [Citation(s) in RCA: 0] [Impact Index Per Article: 0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 09/17/2019] [Accepted: 12/04/2019] [Indexed: 11/27/2022]
Abstract
Groups of animals possess phenotypes such as collective behaviour, which may determine the fitness of group members. However, the stability and robustness to perturbations of collective phenotypes in natural conditions is not established. Furthermore, whether group phenotypes are transmitted from parent to offspring groups with fidelity is required for understanding how selection on group phenotypes contributes to evolution, but parent-offspring resemblance at the group level is rarely estimated. We evaluated the repeatability, robustness to perturbation and parent-offspring resemblance of collective foraging aggressiveness in colonies of the social spider Anelosimus eximius. Among-colony differences in foraging aggressiveness were consistent over time but changed if the colony was perturbed through the removal of individuals or via individuals' removal and subsequent return. Offspring and parent colony behaviour were correlated at the phenotypic level, but only once the offspring colony had settled after being translocated, and the correlation overlapped with zero at the among-colony level. The parent-offspring resemblance was not driven by a shared elevation but could be due to other environmental factors. The behaviour of offspring colonies in a common garden laboratory setting was not correlated with the behaviour of the parent colony nor with the same colony's behaviour once it was returned to the field. The phenotypes of groups represent a potentially important tier of biological organization, and assessing the stability and heritability of such phenotypes helps us better understand their role in evolution.
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Affiliation(s)
- David N Fisher
- Department of Psychology, Neuroscience and Behaviour, McMaster University, Hamilton, ON, Canada
| | - James L L Lichtenstein
- Department of Ecology, Evolution and Marine Biology, University of California - Santa Barbara, Santa Barbara, CA, USA
| | - Raul Costa-Pereira
- Department of Psychology, Neuroscience and Behaviour, McMaster University, Hamilton, ON, Canada.,Departamento de Biologia Animal, Instituto de Biologia, Universidade Estadual de Campinas (UNICAMP), Campinas, São Paulo, Brazil
| | - Justin Yeager
- Biodiversidad Medio Ambiente y Salud (BIOMAS), Direccion General de Investigacion, Universidad de las Américas, Quito, Ecuador
| | - Jonathan N Pruitt
- Department of Psychology, Neuroscience and Behaviour, McMaster University, Hamilton, ON, Canada.,Department of Ecology, Evolution and Marine Biology, University of California - Santa Barbara, Santa Barbara, CA, USA
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10
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Grinsted L, Schou MF, Settepani V, Holm C, Bird TL, Bilde T. Prey to predator body size ratio in the evolution of cooperative hunting-a social spider test case. Dev Genes Evol 2019; 230:173-184. [PMID: 31768622 DOI: 10.1007/s00427-019-00640-w] [Citation(s) in RCA: 10] [Impact Index Per Article: 2.0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 07/18/2019] [Accepted: 10/30/2019] [Indexed: 11/30/2022]
Abstract
One of the benefits of cooperative hunting may be that predators can subdue larger prey. In spiders, cooperative, social species can capture prey many times larger than an individual predator. However, we propose that cooperative prey capture does not have to be associated with larger caught prey per se, but with an increase in the ratio of prey to predator body size. This can be achieved either by catching larger prey while keeping predator body size constant, or by evolving a smaller predator body size while maintaining capture of large prey. We show that within a genus of relatively large spiders, Stegodyphus, subsocial spiders representing the ancestral state of social species are capable of catching the largest prey available in the environment. Hence, within this genus, the evolution of cooperation would not provide access to otherwise inaccessible, large prey. Instead, we show that social Stegodyphus spiders are smaller than their subsocial counterparts, while catching similar sized prey, leading to the predicted increase in prey-predator size ratio with sociality. We further show that in a genus of small spiders, Anelosimus, the level of sociality is associated with an increased size of prey caught while predator size is unaffected by sociality, leading to a similar, predicted increase in prey-predator size ratio. In summary, we find support for our proposed 'prey to predator size ratio hypothesis' and discuss how relaxed selection on large body size in the evolution of social, cooperative living may provide adaptive benefits for ancestrally relatively large predators.
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Affiliation(s)
- Lena Grinsted
- School of Biological Sciences, Royal Holloway University of London, Egham, Surrey, TW20 0EX, UK
| | - Mads F Schou
- Department of Biology, Lund University, 22362, Lund, Sweden
| | - Virginia Settepani
- Department of Biology, Aarhus University, Ny Munkegade 114-116, 8000, Aarhus C, Denmark
| | - Christina Holm
- Department of Biology, Aarhus University, Ny Munkegade 114-116, 8000, Aarhus C, Denmark
| | - Tharina L Bird
- Department of Biological Sciences and Biotechnology, Botswana International University of Science and Technology (BIUST), Plot, 10071, Palapye, Botswana
| | - Trine Bilde
- Department of Biology, Aarhus University, Ny Munkegade 114-116, 8000, Aarhus C, Denmark.
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11
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Hing ML, Klanten OS, Wong MYL, Dowton M. Drivers of sociality in Gobiodon fishes: An assessment of phylogeny, ecology and life-history. Mol Phylogenet Evol 2019; 137:263-273. [PMID: 31125658 DOI: 10.1016/j.ympev.2019.05.020] [Citation(s) in RCA: 3] [Impact Index Per Article: 0.6] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 02/09/2019] [Revised: 05/20/2019] [Accepted: 05/20/2019] [Indexed: 10/26/2022]
Abstract
What drives the evolution of sociality in animals? Many robust studies in terrestrial organisms have pointed toward various kinship-based, ecological and life-history traits or phylogenetic constraint which have played a role in the evolution of sociality. These traits are not mutually exclusive and the exact combination of traits is likely taxon-specific. Phylogenetic comparative analyses have been instrumental in identifying social lineages and comparing various traits with non-social lineages to give broad evolutionary perspectives on the development of sociality. Few studies have attempted this approach in marine vertebrate systems. Social marine fishes are particularly interesting because many have a pelagic larval phase and non-conventional life-history strategies (e.g. bi-directional sex-change) not often observed in terrestrial animals. Such strategies provide novel insights into terrestrially-derived theories of social evolution. Here, we assess the strength of the phylogenetic signal of sociality in the Gobiodon genus with Pagel's lambda and Blomberg's K parameters. We found some evidence of a phylogenetic signal of sociality, but factors other than phylogenetic constraint also have a strong influence on the extant social state of each species. We then use phylogenetic generalized least squares analyses to examine several ecological and life-history traits that may have influenced the evolution of sociality in the genus. We found an interaction of habitat size and fish length was the strongest predictor of sociality. Sociality in larger species was more dependent on coral size than in smaller species, but smaller species were more social overall, regardless of coral size. Finally, we comment on findings regarding the validity of the species G. spilophthalmus which arose during the course of our research. These findings in a group of marine fishes add a unique perspective on the evolution of sociality to the excellent terrestrial work conducted in this field.
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Affiliation(s)
- Martin L Hing
- Centre for Sustainable Ecosystems Solutions, School of Earth, Atmospheric and Life Sciences, University of Wollongong, Australia.
| | - O Selma Klanten
- Fish Ecology Laboratory, School of Life Sciences, University of Technology Sydney, Australia
| | - Marian Y L Wong
- Centre for Sustainable Ecosystems Solutions, School of Earth, Atmospheric and Life Sciences, University of Wollongong, Australia
| | - Mark Dowton
- Molecular Horizons, School of Chemistry and Molecular Bioscience, University of Wollongong, Australia
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12
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13
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14
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15
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Repeated cyclone events reveal potential causes of sociality in coral-dwelling Gobiodon fishes. PLoS One 2018; 13:e0202407. [PMID: 30183723 PMCID: PMC6124712 DOI: 10.1371/journal.pone.0202407] [Citation(s) in RCA: 10] [Impact Index Per Article: 1.7] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Track Full Text] [Download PDF] [Figures] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 12/15/2017] [Accepted: 07/10/2018] [Indexed: 11/19/2022] Open
Abstract
Social organization is a key factor influencing a species' foraging and reproduction, which may ultimately affect their survival and ability to recover from catastrophic disturbance. Severe weather events such as cyclones can have devastating impacts to the physical structure of coral reefs and on the abundance and distribution of its faunal communities. Despite the importance of social organization to a species' survival, relatively little is known about how major disturbances such as tropical cyclones may affect social structures or how different social strategies affect a species' ability to cope with disturbance. We sampled group sizes and coral sizes of group-forming and pair-forming species of the Gobiid genus Gobiodon at Lizard Island, Great Barrier Reef, Australia, before and after two successive category 4 tropical cyclones. Group sizes of group-forming species decreased after each cyclone, but showed signs of recovery four months after the first cyclone. A similar increase in group sizes was not evident in group-forming species after the second cyclone. There was no change in mean pair-forming group size after either cyclone. Coral sizes inhabited by both group- and pair-forming species decreased throughout the study, meaning that group-forming species were forced to occupy smaller corals on average than before cyclone activity. This may reduce their capacity to maintain larger group sizes through multiple processes. We discuss these patterns in light of two non-exclusive hypotheses regarding the drivers of sociality in Gobiodon, suggesting that benefits of philopatry with regards to habitat quality may underpin the formation of social groups in this genus.
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16
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17
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Harwood G, Avilés L. The shortfall of sociality: group-living affects hunting performance of individual social spiders. Behav Ecol 2018. [DOI: 10.1093/beheco/ary099] [Citation(s) in RCA: 3] [Impact Index Per Article: 0.5] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Indexed: 11/14/2022] Open
Affiliation(s)
- Gyan Harwood
- School of Life Sciences, Arizona State University, Tempe, AZ, USA
| | - Leticia Avilés
- Department of Zoology, University of British Columbia, Vancouver, British Columbia, Canada
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18
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Trait overdispersion and the role of sociality in the assembly of social spider communities across the Americas. Proc Natl Acad Sci U S A 2018; 115:6010-6015. [PMID: 29784785 DOI: 10.1073/pnas.1721464115] [Citation(s) in RCA: 6] [Impact Index Per Article: 1.0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Indexed: 11/18/2022] Open
Abstract
Among the factors that may lead to differences in resource use among closely related species, body size and morphology have been traditionally considered to play a role in community assembly. Here we argue that for animals that live and forage in groups, level of sociality, reflecting differences in group size and cooperative tendencies, can be an additional and powerful dimension separating species in niche space. We compare 50+ communities of the social spider genus Anelosimus across the Americas against a null model that accounts for known effects of biotic and abiotic factors on the distribution of social systems in the genus. We show that these communities are more overdispersed than expected by chance in either or both body size and level of sociality, traits we have previously shown to be associated with differences in resource utilization (prey size, microhabitat, and phenology). We further show that the contribution of sociality to differences in the size of the prey captured is two to three times greater than that of body size, suggesting that changes in group size and cooperative tendencies may be more effective than changes in body size at separating species in niche space.
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19
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Sah P, Mann J, Bansal S. Disease implications of animal social network structure: A synthesis across social systems. J Anim Ecol 2018; 87:546-558. [PMID: 29247466 DOI: 10.1111/1365-2656.12786] [Citation(s) in RCA: 68] [Impact Index Per Article: 11.3] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 09/19/2017] [Accepted: 11/14/2017] [Indexed: 12/22/2022]
Abstract
The disease costs of sociality have largely been understood through the link between group size and transmission. However, infectious disease spread is driven primarily by the social organization of interactions in a group and not its size. We used statistical models to review the social network organization of 47 species, including mammals, birds, reptiles, fish and insects by categorizing each species into one of three social systems, relatively solitary, gregarious and socially hierarchical. Additionally, using computational experiments of infection spread, we determined the disease costs of each social system. We find that relatively solitary species have large variation in number of social partners, that socially hierarchical species are the least clustered in their interactions, and that social networks of gregarious species tend to be the most fragmented. However, these structural differences are primarily driven by weak connections, which suggest that different social systems have evolved unique strategies to organize weak ties. Our synthetic disease experiments reveal that social network organization can mitigate the disease costs of group living for socially hierarchical species when the pathogen is highly transmissible. In contrast, highly transmissible pathogens cause frequent and prolonged epidemic outbreaks in gregarious species. We evaluate the implications of network organization across social systems despite methodological challenges, and our findings offer new perspective on the debate about the disease costs of group living. Additionally, our study demonstrates the potential of meta-analytic methods in social network analysis to test ecological and evolutionary hypotheses on cooperation, group living, communication and resilience to extrinsic pressures.
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Affiliation(s)
- Pratha Sah
- Department of Biology, Georgetown University, Washington, DC, USA
| | - Janet Mann
- Department of Biology, Georgetown University, Washington, DC, USA.,Department of Psychology, Georgetown University, Washington, DC, USA
| | - Shweta Bansal
- Department of Biology, Georgetown University, Washington, DC, USA
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20
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Rubenstein DR, Botero CA, Lacey EA. Discrete but variable structure of animal societies leads to the false perception of a social continuum. ROYAL SOCIETY OPEN SCIENCE 2016; 3:160147. [PMID: 27293796 PMCID: PMC4892458 DOI: 10.1098/rsos.160147] [Citation(s) in RCA: 14] [Impact Index Per Article: 1.8] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [Track Full Text] [Figures] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 02/29/2016] [Accepted: 04/14/2016] [Indexed: 06/06/2023]
Abstract
Animal societies are typically divided into those in which reproduction within a group is monopolized by a single female versus those in which it is shared among multiple females. It remains controversial, however, whether these two forms of social structure represent distinct evolutionary outcomes or endpoints along a continuum of reproductive options. To address this issue and to determine whether vertebrates and insects exhibit the same patterns of variation in social structure, we examined the demographic and reproductive structures of 293 species of wasps, ants, birds and mammals. Using phylogenetically informed comparative analyses, we found strong evidence indicating that not all reproductive arrangements within social groups are viable in nature and that in societies with multiple reproductives, selection favours instead taxon-specific patterns of decrease in the proportion of breeders as a function of group size. These outcomes suggest that the selective routes to sociality differ depending upon whether monopolization of reproduction by one individual is possible and that variation within and among taxonomic groups may lead to the false perception of a continuum of social structures. Thus, the occurrence of very large societies may require either complete reproductive monopolization (monogyny/singular breeding) or the maintenance of a taxon-specific range of values for the proportional decrease in the number of breeders within a group (polygyny/plural breeding), both of which may reduce reproductive conflict among females.
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Affiliation(s)
- Dustin R Rubenstein
- Department of Ecology, Evolution and Environmental Biology, Columbia University, New York, NY 10027, USA; Center for Integrative Animal Behavior, Columbia University, New York, NY 10027, USA
| | - Carlos A Botero
- Department of Biology , Washington University in St Louis , St Louis, MO 63130 , USA
| | - Eileen A Lacey
- Museum of Vertebrate Zoology and Department of Integrative Biology , University of California , Berkeley, Berkeley, CA 94720 , USA
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21
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Sheehan MJ, Botero CA, Hendry TA, Sedio BE, Jandt JM, Weiner S, Toth AL, Tibbetts EA. Different axes of environmental variation explain the presence vs. extent of cooperative nest founding associations in Polistes paper wasps. Ecol Lett 2015; 18:1057-67. [PMID: 26248800 DOI: 10.1111/ele.12488] [Citation(s) in RCA: 49] [Impact Index Per Article: 5.4] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 06/08/2015] [Accepted: 07/08/2015] [Indexed: 11/26/2022]
Abstract
Ecological constraints on independent breeding are recognised as major drivers of cooperative breeding across diverse lineages. How the prevalence and degree of cooperative breeding relates to ecological variation remains unresolved. Using a large data set of cooperative nesting in Polistes wasps we demonstrate that different aspects of cooperative breeding are likely to be driven by different aspects of climate. Whether or not a species forms cooperative groups is associated with greater short-term temperature fluctuations. In contrast, the number of cooperative foundresses increases in more benign environments with warmer, wetter conditions. The same data set reveals that intraspecific responses to climate variation do not mirror genus-wide trends and instead are highly heterogeneous among species. Collectively these data suggest that the ecological drivers that lead to the origin or loss of cooperation are different from those that influence the extent of its expression within populations.
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Affiliation(s)
- Michael J Sheehan
- Integrative Biology and Museum of Vertebrate Zoology, UC Berkeley, Berkeley, CA, 94720, USA.,Ecology and Evolutionary Biology, University of Arizona, Tucson, AZ, 85721, USA.,Ecology and Evolutionary Biology, University of Michigan, Ann Arbor, MI, 48109, USA
| | - Carlos A Botero
- Department of Biology, Washington University in Saint Louis, St. Louis, MO, 63130, USA.,Initiative for Biological Complexity, North Carolina State University, Raleigh, NC, 27695, USA
| | - Tory A Hendry
- Ecology and Evolutionary Biology, University of Michigan, Ann Arbor, MI, 48109, USA.,Environmental Science, Policy, and Management, UC Berkeley, Berkeley, CA, 94720, USA
| | - Brian E Sedio
- Ecology and Evolutionary Biology, University of Michigan, Ann Arbor, MI, 48109, USA.,Smithsonian Tropical Research Institute, Balboa, Ancon, Panamá
| | - Jennifer M Jandt
- Ecology, Evolution and Organismal Biology, Iowa State University, Ames, IA, 50011, USA
| | - Susan Weiner
- Biological, Chemical and Physical Sciences, Roosevelt University, Chicago, IL, 60605, USA
| | - Amy L Toth
- Ecology, Evolution and Organismal Biology, Iowa State University, Ames, IA, 50011, USA
| | - Elizabeth A Tibbetts
- Ecology and Evolutionary Biology, University of Michigan, Ann Arbor, MI, 48109, USA
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22
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Gardner MG, Pearson SK, Johnston GR, Schwarz MP. Group living in squamate reptiles: a review of evidence for stable aggregations. Biol Rev Camb Philos Soc 2015; 91:925-936. [PMID: 26052742 DOI: 10.1111/brv.12201] [Citation(s) in RCA: 46] [Impact Index Per Article: 5.1] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 12/02/2014] [Revised: 05/06/2015] [Accepted: 05/15/2015] [Indexed: 01/19/2023]
Abstract
How sociality evolves and is maintained remains a key question in evolutionary biology. Most studies to date have focused on insects, birds, and mammals but data from a wider range of taxonomic groups are essential to identify general patterns and processes. The extent of social behaviour among squamate reptiles is under-appreciated, yet they are a promising group for further studies. Living in aggregations is posited as an important step in the evolution of more complex sociality. We review data on aggregations among squamates and find evidence for some form of aggregations in 94 species across 22 families. Of these, 18 species across 7 families exhibited 'stable' aggregations that entail overlapping home ranges and stable membership in long-term (years) or seasonal aggregations. Phylogenetic analysis suggests that stable aggregations have evolved multiple times in squamates. We: (i) identify significant gaps in our understanding; (ii) outline key traits which should be the focus of future research; and (iii) outline the potential for utilising reproductive skew theory to provide insights into squamate sociality.
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Affiliation(s)
- Michael G Gardner
- School of Biological Sciences, Flinders University of South Australia, GPO Box 2100, Adelaide, 5001, Australia. .,South Australian Museum, North Terrace, Adelaide, 5000, Australia.
| | - Sarah K Pearson
- School of Biological Sciences, Flinders University of South Australia, GPO Box 2100, Adelaide, 5001, Australia
| | - Gregory R Johnston
- School of Biological Sciences, Flinders University of South Australia, GPO Box 2100, Adelaide, 5001, Australia.,South Australian Museum, North Terrace, Adelaide, 5000, Australia
| | - Michael P Schwarz
- School of Biological Sciences, Flinders University of South Australia, GPO Box 2100, Adelaide, 5001, Australia
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23
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Legendre F, Deleporte P, Depraetere M, Gasc A, Pellens R, Grandcolas P. Dyadic behavioural interactions in cockroaches (Blaberidae): ecomorphological and evolutionary implications. BEHAVIOUR 2015. [DOI: 10.1163/1568539x-00003276] [Citation(s) in RCA: 3] [Impact Index Per Article: 0.3] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Indexed: 11/19/2022]
Abstract
Few studies have assessed the relative importance of morphological, ecological and phylogenetic factors in the evolution of social behaviour. We examine the role of these factors in social evolution among blaberid cockroaches. We first analyse and compare behavioural interactions in 13 species. We then ask how the nature of these interactions relates to body shape, phylogeny and habitat. We showed that, although these cockroaches display diverse behavioural interactions, a structure in these data exists with some species clustering together. We found that similarity in social interactions was related to species body shape, but not to ecology or phylogenetic relationships. We suggest that body shape plays an important role in the evolution of social behaviour and that this factor should be investigated further in future analyses.
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Affiliation(s)
- Frédéric Legendre
- UMR 7205 CNRS, UPMC, EPHE, Institut de Systématique, Evolution, Biodiversité (ISYEB), Muséum national d’Histoire naturelle, Sorbonne Universités, CP 50, 45 rue Buffon, 75005 Paris, France
| | - Pierre Deleporte
- UMR 6552 CNRS, Université de Rennes 1, Station Biologique F-35380 Paimpont, France
| | - Marion Depraetere
- UMR 7205 CNRS, UPMC, EPHE, Institut de Systématique, Evolution, Biodiversité (ISYEB), Muséum national d’Histoire naturelle, Sorbonne Universités, CP 50, 45 rue Buffon, 75005 Paris, France
| | - Amandine Gasc
- UMR 7205 CNRS, UPMC, EPHE, Institut de Systématique, Evolution, Biodiversité (ISYEB), Muséum national d’Histoire naturelle, Sorbonne Universités, CP 50, 45 rue Buffon, 75005 Paris, France
- Human-Environment Modeling and Analysis Laboratory (HEMA), Department of Forestry and Natural Resources, Purdue University, 203 S. Martin Jischke Drive, West Lafayette, IN 47907, USA
| | - Roseli Pellens
- UMR 7205 CNRS, UPMC, EPHE, Institut de Systématique, Evolution, Biodiversité (ISYEB), Muséum national d’Histoire naturelle, Sorbonne Universités, CP 50, 45 rue Buffon, 75005 Paris, France
| | - Philippe Grandcolas
- UMR 7205 CNRS, UPMC, EPHE, Institut de Systématique, Evolution, Biodiversité (ISYEB), Muséum national d’Histoire naturelle, Sorbonne Universités, CP 50, 45 rue Buffon, 75005 Paris, France
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24
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Ruch J, Riehl T, May-Collado LJ, Agnarsson I. Multiple origins of subsociality in crab spiders (Thomisidae). Mol Phylogenet Evol 2015; 82 Pt A:330-40. [DOI: 10.1016/j.ympev.2014.10.015] [Citation(s) in RCA: 6] [Impact Index Per Article: 0.7] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 04/09/2014] [Revised: 10/17/2014] [Accepted: 10/20/2014] [Indexed: 11/25/2022]
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25
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Ruch J, Riehl T, Michalik P. Re-description of Xysticus bimaculatus L. Koch, 1867 (Araneae, Thomisidae) and characterization of its subsocial lifestyle. Zookeys 2014:1-19. [PMID: 25147462 PMCID: PMC4137311 DOI: 10.3897/zookeys.427.7450] [Citation(s) in RCA: 3] [Impact Index Per Article: 0.3] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [Track Full Text] [Download PDF] [Figures] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 03/07/2014] [Accepted: 07/03/2014] [Indexed: 11/12/2022] Open
Abstract
Spiders have become an important model to study the evolution of sociality, but a lack of their detailed natural history and taxonomy hinders broader comparative studies. Group-living crab spiders (Thomisidae) provide an excellent contrast to other social spiders since they lack a communal capture web, which was thought to be a critical factor in the evolution of sociality. Only three non-webbuilding crab-spider species are known to be subsocial or social, all of which belong to the genus Diaea Thorell, 1869. The aim of this study is to describe the social lifestyle of Xysticus bimaculatus L. Koch, 1867 for the first time. Furthermore, we present a detailed re-description of this species and discuss its taxonomic implications. Like other subsocial crab spiders, X. bimaculatus builds nests from tree leaves. Nests contain up to 38 spiders and sometimes several adult females, indicating the species may be at a transitory stage between subsociality and permanent sociality.
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Affiliation(s)
- Jasmin Ruch
- Department of Biological Sciences, Macquarie University, North Ryde, NSW 2109, Australia ; Zoological Institute and Zoological Museum, Biocenter Grindel, University of Hamburg, Martin-Luther-King- Platz 3, 20146 Hamburg, Germany
| | - Torben Riehl
- Zoological Institute and Zoological Museum, Biocenter Grindel, University of Hamburg, Martin-Luther-King- Platz 3, 20146 Hamburg, Germany
| | - Peter Michalik
- Zoological Institute and Museum, Ernst-Moritz-Arndt-University, J.-S.-Bach-Str. 11/12, 17489 Greifswald, Germany
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26
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Legendre F, D'Haese CA, Deleporte P, Pellens R, Whiting MF, Schliep K, Grandcolas P. The evolution of social behaviour in Blaberid cockroaches with diverse habitats and social systems: phylogenetic analysis of behavioural sequences. Biol J Linn Soc Lond 2013. [DOI: 10.1111/bij.12199] [Citation(s) in RCA: 14] [Impact Index Per Article: 1.3] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Indexed: 11/29/2022]
Affiliation(s)
- Frédéric Legendre
- Origine, Structure et Evolution de la Biodiversité; Département Systématique et Evolution; Muséum national d'Histoire naturelle; UMR 7205 CNRS CP 50 45, rue Buffon 75005 Paris France
| | - Cyrille A. D'Haese
- Origine, Structure et Evolution de la Biodiversité; Département Systématique et Evolution; Muséum national d'Histoire naturelle; UMR 7205 CNRS CP 50 45, rue Buffon 75005 Paris France
| | - Pierre Deleporte
- Station Biologique; Université de Rennes 1; UMR 6552 CNRS F-35380 Paimpont France
| | - Roseli Pellens
- Origine, Structure et Evolution de la Biodiversité; Département Systématique et Evolution; Muséum national d'Histoire naturelle; UMR 7205 CNRS CP 50 45, rue Buffon 75005 Paris France
| | - Michael F. Whiting
- Department of Biology; Brigham Young University; 693 Widtsoe Building Provo UT 84602 USA
| | - Klaus Schliep
- Département Systématique et Evolution; Muséum national d'Histoire naturelle; Systématique, Adaptation, Evolution, Université Paris VI; UMR 7138 CNRS 9 quai St Bernard 75005 Paris France
| | - Philippe Grandcolas
- Origine, Structure et Evolution de la Biodiversité; Département Systématique et Evolution; Muséum national d'Histoire naturelle; UMR 7205 CNRS CP 50 45, rue Buffon 75005 Paris France
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27
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Majer M, Agnarsson I, Svenning JC, Bilde T. Social spiders of the genus Anelosimus occur in wetter, more productive environments than non-social species. Naturwissenschaften 2013; 100:1031-40. [PMID: 24177705 DOI: 10.1007/s00114-013-1106-6] [Citation(s) in RCA: 13] [Impact Index Per Article: 1.2] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 05/22/2013] [Revised: 09/23/2013] [Accepted: 10/07/2013] [Indexed: 11/27/2022]
Abstract
Latitude, rainfall, and productivity have been shown to influence social organisation and level of sociality in arthropods on large geographic scales. Social spiders form permanent group-living societies where they cooperate in brood care, web maintenance, and foraging. Sociality has evolved independently in a number of unrelated spider genera and may reflect convergent evolutionary responses to common environmental drivers. The genus Anelosimus contains a third of approximately 25 described permanently social spider species, eight to nine species that all occur in the Americas. To test for environmental correlates of sociality in Anelosimus across the Americas, we used logistic regression to detect effects of annual rainfall, productivity, and precipitation seasonality on the relative likelihood of occurrence of social and non-social Anelosimus spiders. Our analyses show that social species tend to occur at higher annual rainfall and productivity than non-social species, supporting the hypothesised effects of these environmental variables on the geographical distribution of social species. We did not find support for the hypothesis that permanently social species occur in areas with low precipitation seasonality. High annual precipitation and, to less extent, high productivity favour the occurrence of permanently group-living Anelosimus spiders relative to subsocial and solitary species. These results are partially consistent with previous findings for the Old World spider genus Stegodyphus, where a link between high habitat productivity and sociality was also found. Unlike Anelosimus, however, Stegodyphus typically occur in dry habitats negating a general importance of high precipitation for sociality. Sociality in spiders thus seems to be strongly linked to productivity, probably reflecting the need for relatively high availability of large prey to sustain social colonies.
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Affiliation(s)
- Marija Majer
- Department of Bioscience, Aarhus University, Ny Munkegade 116, 8000, Aarhus-C, Denmark,
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28
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Yip EC, Rayor LS. Maternal care and subsocial behaviour in spiders. Biol Rev Camb Philos Soc 2013; 89:427-49. [PMID: 24171917 DOI: 10.1111/brv.12060] [Citation(s) in RCA: 57] [Impact Index Per Article: 5.2] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 12/07/2012] [Revised: 08/07/2013] [Accepted: 08/14/2013] [Indexed: 11/29/2022]
Abstract
While most spiders are solitary and opportunistically cannibalistic, a variety of social organisations has evolved in a minority of spider species. One form of social organisation is subsociality, in which siblings remain together with their parent for some period of time but disperse prior to independent reproduction. We review the literature on subsocial and maternal behaviour in spiders to highlight areas in which subsocial spiders have informed our understanding of social evolution and to identify promising areas of future research. We show that subsocial behaviour has evolved independently at least 18 times in spiders, across a wide phylogenetic distribution. Subsocial behaviour is diverse in terms of the form of care provided by the mother, the duration of care and sibling association, the degree of interaction and cooperation among siblings, and the use of vibratory and chemical communication. Subsocial spiders are useful model organisms to study various topics in ecology, such as kin recognition and the evolution of cheating and its impact on societies. Further, why social behaviour evolved in some lineages and not others is currently a topic of debate in behavioural ecology, and we argue that spiders offer an opportunity to untangle the ecological causes of parental care, which forms the basis of many other animal societies.
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Affiliation(s)
- Eric C Yip
- Department of Entomology, Cornell University, Ithaca, NY, 14853, U.S.A
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29
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Indiscriminate care of offspring predates the evolution of sociality in alloparenting social spiders. Behav Ecol Sociobiol 2013. [DOI: 10.1007/s00265-013-1555-0] [Citation(s) in RCA: 8] [Impact Index Per Article: 0.7] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Indexed: 10/26/2022]
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