1
|
Killen SS, Cortese D, Cotgrove L, Jolles JW, Munson A, Ioannou CC. The Potential for Physiological Performance Curves to Shape Environmental Effects on Social Behavior. Front Physiol 2021; 12:754719. [PMID: 34858209 PMCID: PMC8632012 DOI: 10.3389/fphys.2021.754719] [Citation(s) in RCA: 4] [Impact Index Per Article: 1.3] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [Track Full Text] [Download PDF] [Figures] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 08/06/2021] [Accepted: 10/19/2021] [Indexed: 01/03/2023] Open
Abstract
As individual animals are exposed to varying environmental conditions, phenotypic plasticity will occur in a vast array of physiological traits. For example, shifts in factors such as temperature and oxygen availability can affect the energy demand, cardiovascular system, and neuromuscular function of animals that in turn impact individual behavior. Here, we argue that nonlinear changes in the physiological traits and performance of animals across environmental gradients—known as physiological performance curves—may have wide-ranging effects on the behavior of individual social group members and the functioning of animal social groups as a whole. Previous work has demonstrated how variation between individuals can have profound implications for socially living animals, as well as how environmental conditions affect social behavior. However, the importance of variation between individuals in how they respond to changing environmental conditions has so far been largely overlooked in the context of animal social behavior. First, we consider the broad effects that individual variation in performance curves may have on the behavior of socially living animals, including: (1) changes in the rank order of performance capacity among group mates across environments; (2) environment-dependent changes in the amount of among- and within-individual variation, and (3) differences among group members in terms of the environmental optima, the critical environmental limits, and the peak capacity and breadth of performance. We then consider the ecological implications of these effects for a range of socially mediated phenomena, including within-group conflict, within- and among group assortment, collective movement, social foraging, predator-prey interactions and disease and parasite transfer. We end by outlining the type of empirical work required to test the implications for physiological performance curves in social behavior.
Collapse
Affiliation(s)
- Shaun S Killen
- Institute of Biodiversity, Animal Health and Comparative Medicine, University of Glasgow, Glasgow, United Kingdom
| | - Daphne Cortese
- Institute of Biodiversity, Animal Health and Comparative Medicine, University of Glasgow, Glasgow, United Kingdom
| | - Lucy Cotgrove
- Institute of Biodiversity, Animal Health and Comparative Medicine, University of Glasgow, Glasgow, United Kingdom
| | - Jolle W Jolles
- Center for Ecological Research and Forestry Applications (CREAF), Campus de Bellaterra (UAB), Barcelona, Spain
| | - Amelia Munson
- Institute of Biodiversity, Animal Health and Comparative Medicine, University of Glasgow, Glasgow, United Kingdom
| | - Christos C Ioannou
- School of Biological Sciences, University of Bristol, Bristol, United Kingdom
| |
Collapse
|
2
|
Wang X, Xia DP, Sun BH, Li JH. Coordination and consensus: the role of compromisers in Tibetan macaques. Curr Zool 2021; 67:411-418. [PMID: 34616938 PMCID: PMC8489031 DOI: 10.1093/cz/zoab047] [Citation(s) in RCA: 0] [Impact Index Per Article: 0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [Grants] [Track Full Text] [Download PDF] [Figures] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 11/24/2020] [Accepted: 06/15/2021] [Indexed: 11/14/2022] Open
Abstract
Coordination and consensus in collective behavior have attracted a lot of research interest. Although previous studies have investigated the role of compromisers in group consensus, they provide little insight into why compromisers would allow such social arrangements to persist. In this study, the potential relationship between group movements and conflict management in Tibetan macaques in Anhui province, China, was investigated using hierarchical cluster analyses. Some members with higher social centrality or social rank often formed a front-runner cluster during group movements. They had higher leadership success than individuals outside the front-runner cluster. Other members with lower social centrality or social rank often followed the group movements initiated by the front-runner cluster, and thus formed the compromiser cluster. Compromisers' proximity relations with front-runners increased with their following scores to front-runners. Compromisers had fewer events of being attacked when they followed group movements initiated by the front-runners. The compromising process made compromisers lose the choice of direction preference, but it could increase their individual safeties. This trade-off suggests that compromisers play a role of decision-maker in coordination and consensus scenarios among social animals.
Collapse
Affiliation(s)
- Xi Wang
- School of Resources and Environmental Engineering, Anhui University, Hefei 230601, China
- International Collaborative Research Center for Huangshan Biodiversity and Tibetan Macaque Behavioral Ecology, Hefei 230601, China
| | - Dong-Po Xia
- International Collaborative Research Center for Huangshan Biodiversity and Tibetan Macaque Behavioral Ecology, Hefei 230601, China
- School of Life Sciences, Anhui University, Hefei 230601, China
| | - Bing-Hua Sun
- School of Resources and Environmental Engineering, Anhui University, Hefei 230601, China
- International Collaborative Research Center for Huangshan Biodiversity and Tibetan Macaque Behavioral Ecology, Hefei 230601, China
| | - Jin-Hua Li
- School of Resources and Environmental Engineering, Anhui University, Hefei 230601, China
- International Collaborative Research Center for Huangshan Biodiversity and Tibetan Macaque Behavioral Ecology, Hefei 230601, China
- School of Life Sciences, Hefei Normal University, Hefei 230601, China
| |
Collapse
|
3
|
Miln C, Ward AJW, Seebacher F. Social rank and not physiological capacity determines competitive success in zebrafish ( Danio rerio). ROYAL SOCIETY OPEN SCIENCE 2021; 8:210146. [PMID: 33868699 PMCID: PMC8025299 DOI: 10.1098/rsos.210146] [Citation(s) in RCA: 2] [Impact Index Per Article: 0.7] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [Grants] [Track Full Text] [Figures] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 01/29/2021] [Accepted: 03/15/2021] [Indexed: 06/12/2023]
Abstract
Competition for resources shapes ecological and evolutionary relationships. Physiological capacities such as in locomotor performance can influence the fitness of individuals by increasing competitive success. Social hierarchy too can affect outcomes of competition by altering locomotor behaviour or because higher ranking individuals monopolize resources. Here, we tested the hypotheses that competitive success is determined by sprint performance or by social status. We show that sprint performance of individuals measured during escape responses (fast start) or in an accelerated sprint test did not correlate with realized sprint speed while competing for food within a social group of five fish; fast start and accelerated sprint speed were higher than realized speed. Social status within the group was the best predictor of competitive success, followed by realized speed. Social hierarchies in zebrafish are established within 7 days of their first encounter, and interestingly, there was a positive correlation between social status and realized speed 1 and 4 days after fish were placed in a group, but not after 7 days. These data indicate that physiological performance decreases in importance as social relationships are established. Also, maximal physiological capacities were not important for competitive success, but swimming speed changed with social context.
Collapse
Affiliation(s)
- Clare Miln
- School of Life and Environmental Sciences A08, University of Sydney, NSW 2006, Australia
| | - Ashley J. W. Ward
- School of Life and Environmental Sciences A08, University of Sydney, NSW 2006, Australia
| | - Frank Seebacher
- School of Life and Environmental Sciences A08, University of Sydney, NSW 2006, Australia
| |
Collapse
|
4
|
Schaerf TM, Herbert-Read JE, Ward AJW. A statistical method for identifying different rules of interaction between individuals in moving animal groups. J R Soc Interface 2021; 18:20200925. [PMID: 33784885 DOI: 10.1098/rsif.2020.0925] [Citation(s) in RCA: 12] [Impact Index Per Article: 4.0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Indexed: 12/19/2022] Open
Abstract
The emergent patterns of collective motion are thought to arise from application of individual-level rules that govern how individuals adjust their velocity as a function of the relative position and behaviours of their neighbours. Empirical studies have sought to determine such rules of interaction applied by 'average' individuals by aggregating data from multiple individuals across multiple trajectory sets. In reality, some individuals within a group may interact differently from others, and such individual differences can have an effect on overall group movement. However, comparisons of rules of interaction used by individuals in different contexts have been largely qualitative. Here we introduce a set of randomization methods designed to determine statistical differences in the rules of interaction between individuals. We apply these methods to a case study of leaders and followers in pairs of freely exploring eastern mosquitofish (Gambusia holbrooki). We find that each of the randomization methods is reliable in terms of: repeatability of p-values, consistency in identification of significant differences and similarity between distributions of randomization-based test statistics. We observe convergence of the distributions of randomization-based test statistics across repeat calculations, and resolution of any ambiguities regarding significant differences as the number of randomization iterations increases.
Collapse
Affiliation(s)
- T M Schaerf
- School of Science and Technology, University of New England, Armidale, New South Wales 2351, Australia
| | - J E Herbert-Read
- Department of Zoology, University of Cambridge, Cambridge CB2 3EJ, UK.,Aquatic Ecology, University of Lund, Lund 223 62, Sweden
| | - A J W Ward
- Animal Behaviour Lab, School of Life and Environmental Sciences, University of Sydney, Sydney, New South Wales 2006, Australia
| |
Collapse
|
5
|
Jolles JW, King AJ, Killen SS. The Role of Individual Heterogeneity in Collective Animal Behaviour. Trends Ecol Evol 2020; 35:278-291. [DOI: 10.1016/j.tree.2019.11.001] [Citation(s) in RCA: 92] [Impact Index Per Article: 23.0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 06/02/2019] [Revised: 11/04/2019] [Accepted: 11/08/2019] [Indexed: 01/09/2023]
|
6
|
Risk-taking and locomotion in foraging threespine sticklebacks (Gasterosteus aculeatus): the effect of nutritional stress is dependent on social context. Behav Ecol Sociobiol 2020. [DOI: 10.1007/s00265-019-2795-4] [Citation(s) in RCA: 6] [Impact Index Per Article: 1.5] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Indexed: 10/25/2022]
|
7
|
Seebacher F, Krause J. Epigenetics of Social Behaviour. Trends Ecol Evol 2019; 34:818-830. [DOI: 10.1016/j.tree.2019.04.017] [Citation(s) in RCA: 16] [Impact Index Per Article: 3.2] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 11/20/2018] [Revised: 04/04/2019] [Accepted: 04/29/2019] [Indexed: 12/27/2022]
|
8
|
Wilson ADM, Burns ALJ, Crosato E, Lizier J, Prokopenko M, Schaerf TM, Ward AJW. Conformity in the collective: differences in hunger affect individual and group behavior in a shoaling fish. Behav Ecol 2019. [DOI: 10.1093/beheco/arz036] [Citation(s) in RCA: 11] [Impact Index Per Article: 2.2] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Indexed: 11/14/2022] Open
Abstract
Abstract
Animal groups are often composed of individuals that vary according to behavioral, morphological, and internal state parameters. Understanding the importance of such individual-level heterogeneity to the establishment and maintenance of coherent group responses is of fundamental interest in collective behavior. We examined the influence of hunger on the individual and collective behavior of groups of shoaling fish, x-ray tetras (Pristella maxillaris). Fish were assigned to one of two nutritional states, satiated or hungry, and then allocated to 5 treatments that represented different ratios of satiated to hungry individuals (8 hungry, 8 satiated, 4:4 hungry:satiated, 2:6 hungry:satiated, 6:2 hungry:satiated). Our data show that groups with a greater proportion of hungry fish swam faster and exhibited greater nearest neighbor distances. Within groups, however, there was no difference in the swimming speeds of hungry versus well-fed fish, suggesting that group members conform and adapt their swimming speed according to the overall composition of the group. We also found significant differences in mean group transfer entropy, suggesting stronger patterns of information flow in groups comprising all, or a majority of, hungry individuals. In contrast, we did not observe differences in polarization, a measure of group alignment, within groups across treatments. Taken together these results demonstrate that the nutritional state of animals within social groups impacts both individual and group behavior, and that members of heterogenous groups can adapt their behavior to facilitate coherent collective motion.
Collapse
Affiliation(s)
- Alexander D M Wilson
- School of Biological and Marine Sciences, University of Plymouth, Devon, UK
- School of Life and Environmental Sciences, University of Sydney, Sydney, NSW, Australia
| | - Alicia L J Burns
- School of Life and Environmental Sciences, University of Sydney, Sydney, NSW, Australia
| | - Emanuele Crosato
- School of Civil Engineering, University of Sydney, Sydney, NSW, Australia
| | - Joseph Lizier
- School of Civil Engineering, University of Sydney, Sydney, NSW, Australia
| | - Mikhail Prokopenko
- School of Civil Engineering, University of Sydney, Sydney, NSW, Australia
| | - Timothy M Schaerf
- School of Science and Technology, University of New England, Armidale, NSW, Australia
| | - Ashley J W Ward
- School of Life and Environmental Sciences, University of Sydney, Sydney, NSW, Australia
| |
Collapse
|
9
|
Metabolic Costs of Feeding Predictively Alter the Spatial Distribution of Individuals in Fish Schools. Curr Biol 2018; 28:1144-1149.e4. [DOI: 10.1016/j.cub.2018.02.043] [Citation(s) in RCA: 32] [Impact Index Per Article: 5.3] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 11/30/2017] [Revised: 01/22/2018] [Accepted: 02/16/2018] [Indexed: 12/16/2022]
|