Research questions should drive edge definitions in social network studies

Carter, Alecia J.; Lee, Alexander E.G.; Marshall, Harry H.

doi:10.1016/j.anbehav.2015.03.020

Cited by 14 publications

(15 citation statements)

References 16 publications

Supporting

Mentioning

Contrasting

Unclassified

Order By: Relevance

“…Ultimately, whether this problem depends on the research question (Carter, Lee, & Marshall, 2015). If edges are intended to simply represent contacts between individuals, then the importance of using approaches that control for gregariousness or location preferences may be diminished because researchers are often more interested in quantifying emergent network structures than uncovering social preferences that drive social network structure.…”

mentioning

confidence: 99%

Calculating effect sizes in animal social network analysis

et al. 2020

View full text Add to dashboard Cite

has arisen mainly due to researchers' past tendency to over focus on statistical significance, rather than a balanced consideration of it along with biological importance of model effects. Consequently, there is growing movement towards the use of approaches that place greater emphasis on biological importance through effect sizes, such as model comparisons and Bayesian inference (Burnham, Anderson,

show abstract

mentioning

confidence: 99%

Calculating effect sizes in animal social network analysis

et al. 2020

View full text Add to dashboard Cite

show abstract

“…Community 1 was gradually split into three separate communities; most of the other foxes that changed community were subordinates and did so in autumn or winter, when increased extraterritorial movements [57] lead to higher inter-group encounter rates [52]. This may make social groups appear less distinct: communities are far easier to define when connections are rare between, and common within, groups [101]. It could also be that fox communities overlap [102], but this seems unlikely in a territorial species.…”

Section: Discussionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Understanding the intricacy of canid social systems: Structure and temporal stability of red fox (Vulpes vulpes) groups

Dorning

2019

PLoS ONE

View full text Add to dashboard Cite

Red foxes have a highly flexible social system. Despite numerous studies worldwide, our understanding of the pattern and stability of fox social relationships remains limited. We applied social network analysis to camera trap data collected at high-quality foraging patches to examine the social structure of a population of urban red foxes. Foxes encountered a conspecific on 13% of patch visits, and had significant preferred and avoided companionships in all seasons. They also associated in communities that matched territorial space use, confirming that territories can be analysed separately to increase power without excluding too many social partners. Foxes maintained stable, long-term relationships with other territory residents, but the average longevity of relationships varied seasonally, suggesting that social connectivity, particularly between foxes from different social groups, is influenced by their annual life cycle. The probability of re-association after a given time lag was highest in spring and summer, during cub birth and rearing, and lowest in the winter mating season, when mean relationship duration was shorter. 33% of fox relationships lasted for four consecutive seasons and were probably between territory residents. 14% lasted for around 20 days and were probably between residents and visitors from adjacent territories. The majority (53%) lasted less than one day, particularly during dispersal and mating, and were probably between foxes from non-adjacent social groups. Social structure varied between groups; in one group the death of the dominant male caused significant social disruption for two seasons. This is the first application of social network analysis to multiple red fox social groups. However, our analyses were based on interactions at high quality food patches; social connections may differ when foxes are resting, travelling and foraging elsewhere in their territory. Our results will inform management practices, particularly for disease spread and population control.

show abstract

“…Our study provides evidence that using a network of VR2W acoustic receivers may not be judicious in exploring the social network of a benthic shark species at its mating aggregation due to potential low rate of movements over large spatial scales. We therefore encourage marine ecologists to think about the ecological research questions considered and the scales and contexts at which they can be answered [ 29 ]. Broad networks of acoustic receivers with large detection ranges (e.g.…”

Section: Discussionmentioning

confidence: 99%

“…As research questions should drive edge definition in social networks [ 29 , 30 ], it is important to consider whether different scale-dependent methods of network construction are appropriate to estimate realistic social encounters, especially in large marine benthic animals, which spend most of the day resting on the bottom. Animal social networks are often constructed from proximity data on the spatio-temporal co-occurrence of identifiable subjects as a proxy for interaction networks [ 5 , 31 ], but the validity of this assumption has rarely been tested despite the importance of defining edges in social networks [ 29 , 30 ]. Despite the appealing use of acoustic receivers to automatically build social networks in aquatic animals, such method might not be effective because of broad detection ranges.…”

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Does detection range matter for inferring social networks in a benthic shark using acoustic telemetry?

et al. 2017

View full text Add to dashboard Cite

Accurately estimating contacts between animals can be critical in ecological studies such as examining social structure, predator–prey interactions or transmission of information and disease. While biotelemetry has been used successfully for such studies in terrestrial systems, it is still under development in the aquatic environment. Acoustic telemetry represents an attractive tool to investigate spatio-temporal behaviour of marine fish and has recently been suggested for monitoring underwater animal interactions. To evaluate the effectiveness of acoustic telemetry in recording interindividual contacts, we compared co-occurrence matrices deduced from three types of acoustic receivers varying in detection range in a benthic shark species. Our results demonstrate that (i) associations produced by acoustic receivers with a large detection range (i.e. Vemco VR2W) were significantly different from those produced by receivers with smaller ranges (i.e. Sonotronics miniSUR receivers and proximity loggers) and (ii) the position of individuals within their network, or centrality, also differed. These findings suggest that acoustic receivers with a large detection range may not be the best option to represent true social networks in the case of a benthic marine animal. While acoustic receivers are increasingly used by marine ecologists, we recommend users first evaluate the influence of detection range to depict accurate individual interactions before using these receivers for social or predator–prey studies. We also advocate for combining multiple receiver types depending on the ecological question being asked and the development of multi-sensor tags or testing of new automated proximity loggers, such as the Encounternet system, to improve the precision and accuracy of social and predator–prey interaction studies.

show abstract

Research questions should drive edge definitions in social network studies

Cited by 14 publications

References 16 publications

Calculating effect sizes in animal social network analysis

Calculating effect sizes in animal social network analysis

Understanding the intricacy of canid social systems: Structure and temporal stability of red fox (Vulpes vulpes) groups

Does detection range matter for inferring social networks in a benthic shark using acoustic telemetry?

Contact Info

Product

Resources

About