Emergent social structure is typically not associated with survival in a facultatively social mammal

Philson, Conner S.; Blumstein, Daniel T.

doi:10.1098/rsbl.2022.0511

Cited by 11 publications

(4 citation statements)

References 109 publications

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“…Further, only clustering coefficient and embeddedness were observed to have statistically significant differences in beta diversity, suggesting microbe presence and relative differences may explain some variation in social network position. These results suggest that there is a contributing factor of phylogenetic microbial diversity that may have important consequences for sociality, possibly contributing to fitness in this species [ 41 , 42 , 44 – 47 ].…”

Section: Discussionmentioning

confidence: 99%

“…Marmots are a good natural model to address the sociality-microbiome relationship due to their natural social variability and an available half-decade dataset consisting of individual social observations and microbial samples. Moreover, extensive studies have identified associations between social attributes and marmot fitness (survival: [41][42][43], alarm call propensity: [44], reproductive success: [45,46], and longevity: [47]), providing a strong foundation for exploring the sociality-microbiome relationship through a structured, exploratory analysis. While the direction of causality is difficult to determine, experimental evidence in laboratory rodent systems shows that changes in gut microbial abundance results in changes in social behaviour (reviewed in [10,16]), bolstering support for studying this direction of this relationship in our wild rodent system.…”

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

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The social microbiome: gut microbiome diversity and abundance are negatively associated with sociality in a wild mammal

Pfau,

Degregori,

Johnson

et al. 2023

R. Soc. open sci.

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The gut microbiome has a well-documented relationship with host fitness. Greater microbial diversity and abundance of specific microbes have been associated with improved fitness outcomes. Intestinal microbes also may be associated with patterns of social behaviour. However, these associations have been largely studied in captive animal models; we know less about microbiome composition as a potential driver of individual social behaviour and position in the wild. We used linear mixed models to quantify the relationship between fecal microbial composition, diversity and social network traits in a wild population of yellow-bellied marmots ( Marmota flaviventer ). We focused our analyses on microbes previously linked to sociability and neurobehavioural alterations in captive rodents, primates and humans. Using 5 years of data, we found microbial diversity (Shannon–Wiener and Faith's phylogenetic diversity) has a modest yet statistically significant negative relationship with the number of social interactions an individual engaged in. We also found a negative relationship between Streptococcus spp. relative abundance and two social network measures (clustering coefficient and embeddedness) that quantify an individual's position relative to others in their social group. These findings highlight a potentially consequential relationship between microbial composition and social behaviour in a wild social mammal.

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Section: Discussionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

The social microbiome: gut microbiome diversity and abundance are negatively associated with sociality in a wild mammal

Pfau,

Degregori,

Johnson

et al. 2023

R. Soc. open sci.

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“…The exclusion of undirected interactions or between unidentified individuals should not significantly influence social network measures [ 49 ]. The relatively low rate of unknown individuals in our observations [ 50 ], which occurred over the entire active season of these marmots, facilitates the reliability of our social network measure [ 49 , 51 , 52 ]. From these antagonistic networks, we calculated the GRC for groups of three or more adult females because GRC cannot be calculated for groups of two (electronic supplementary material, figure S1; code available on OSF [ 53 ]).…”

Section: Methodsmentioning

confidence: 99%

Social control is associated with increased reproductive skew in a wild mammal

Maldonado-Chaparro,

Philson,

Zhang

et al. 2024

Biol. Lett.

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In group-living species, reproductive variation among individuals of the same sex is widespread. By identifying the mechanisms underlying this reproductive skew, we gain fundamental insights into the evolution and maintenance of sociality. A common mechanism, social control, is typically studied by quantifying dominance, which is one of many attributes of sociality that describes how individuals exert influence on others and is an incomprehensive measure of social control as it accounts only for direct relationships. Here, we use the global reaching centrality (GRC), which quantifies the degree of hierarchy in a social network by accounting for both direct and indirect social relationships. Using a wild, free-living population of adult female yellow-bellied marmots ( Marmota flaviventris ), we found a positive relationship between the reproductive skew index and GRC: more despotic social groups have higher reproductive skew. The GRC was stronger predictor for skew than traditional measures of social control (i.e. dominance). This allows deeper insights into the diverse ways individuals control other group members’ reproduction, a core component in the evolution of sociality. Future studies of skew across taxa may profit by using more comprehensive, network-based measures of social control.

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“…Decreased sensitivity: Gregarious species living in large groups [122][123][124]. Social species residing in more connected, reciprocal, and socially homogeneous groups [19,[125][126][127].…”

Section: Social Organizationmentioning

confidence: 99%

In Case of Fire, Escape or Die: A Trait-Based Approach for Identifying Animal Species Threatened by Fire

Batista

Figueira

Solar

et al. 2023

Fire

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Recent studies have argued that changes in fire regimes in the 21st century are posing a major threat to global biodiversity. In this scenario, incorporating species’ physiological, ecological, and evolutionary traits with their local fire exposure might facilitate accurate identification of species most at risk from fire. Here, we developed a framework for identifying the animal species most vulnerable to extinction from fire-induced stress in the Brazilian savanna. The proposed framework addresses vulnerability from two components: (1) exposure, which refers to the frequency, extent, and magnitude to which a system or species experiences fire, and (2) sensitivity, which reflects how much species are affected by fire. Sensitivity is based on biological, physiological, and behavioral traits that can influence animals’ mortality “during” and “after” fire. We generated a Fire Vulnerability Index (FVI) that can be used to group species into four categories, ranging from extremely vulnerable (highly sensible species in highly exposed areas), to least vulnerable (low-sensitivity species in less exposed areas). We highlight the urgent need to broaden fire vulnerability assessment methods and introduce a new approach considering biological traits that contribute significantly to a species’ sensitivity alongside regional/local fire exposure.

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Emergent social structure is typically not associated with survival in a facultatively social mammal

Cited by 11 publications

References 109 publications

The social microbiome: gut microbiome diversity and abundance are negatively associated with sociality in a wild mammal

The social microbiome: gut microbiome diversity and abundance are negatively associated with sociality in a wild mammal

Social control is associated with increased reproductive skew in a wild mammal

In Case of Fire, Escape or Die: A Trait-Based Approach for Identifying Animal Species Threatened by Fire

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