Social networks in the Little Scrub Island ground lizard (Ameiva corax)

Eifler, Douglas A.; Eifler, Maria A.; Malela, Keoleboge; Childers, Jackie

doi:10.1007/s10164-016-0481-9

Cited by 6 publications

(6 citation statements)

References 37 publications

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“…For example, some species of solitary lizards exhibit social attraction to fruit resources (e.g., Podarcis lilfordi and Ameiva corax; Eifler & Eifler, 2014;Pérez-Cembranos & Pérez-Mellado, 2015) in which the presence of conspecifics at a resource may be a cue of patch richness (Pérez-Cembranos & Pérez-Mellado, 2015). Because aggressive behaviour among foraging lizards at fruit resources has been documented when the resources are moderately limited (Eifler & Eifler, 2014) and larger individuals are more capable of moving and opening fruit (Eifler et al, 2016), it is possible that larger, more F I G U R E 1 (a) Social status has predictable effects on individual resource access and space use that may explain individual-level variation in seed-dispersal effectiveness. Dominant individuals defend preferred resources, forcing subordinate individuals to supplement their diets to a greater extent with secondary resources.…”

Section: Soc I a L Stat Us A F F Ect S T H E Qua N T I T Y Of See D S...mentioning

confidence: 99%

“…For example, some species of solitary lizards exhibit social attraction to fruit resources (e.g., Podarcis lilfordi and Ameiva corax ; Eifler & Eifler, 2014; Pérez‐Cembranos & Pérez‐Mellado, 2015) in which the presence of conspecifics at a resource may be a cue of patch richness (Pérez‐Cembranos & Pérez‐Mellado, 2015). Because aggressive behaviour among foraging lizards at fruit resources has been documented when the resources are moderately limited (Eifler & Eifler, 2014) and larger individuals are more capable of moving and opening fruit (Eifler et al, 2016), it is possible that larger, more dominant individuals may have greater access to fruit resources and consequently disperse a greater quantity of seeds. As this example demonstrates, although the components necessary for socially mediated seed dispersal are present in this system, future studies are needed to determine the degree to which it occurs.…”

Section: Social Status Affects the Quantity Of Seeds Dispersedmentioning

confidence: 99%

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The important role of animal social status in vertebrate seed dispersal

Bartel

Orrock

2022

Ecology Letters

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Seed dispersal directly affects plant establishment, gene flow and fitness.Understanding patterns in seed dispersal is, therefore, fundamental to understanding plant ecology and evolution, as well as addressing challenges of extinction and global change. Our ability to understand dispersal is limited because seeds may be dispersed by multiple agents, and the effectiveness of these agents can be highly variable both among and within species. We provide a novel framework that links seed dispersal to animal social status, a key component of behaviour. Because social status affects individual resource access and movement, it provides a critical link to two factors that determine seed dispersal: the quantity of seeds dispersed and the spatial patterns of dispersal. Social status may have unappreciated effects on post-dispersal seed survival and recruitment when social status affects individual habitat use. Hence, environmental changes, such as selective harvesting and urbanisation, that affect animal social structure may have unappreciated consequences for seed dispersal. This framework highlights these exciting new hypotheses linking environmental change, social structure and seed dispersal. By outlining experimental approaches to test these hypotheses, we hope to facilitate studies across a wide diversity of plant-animal networks, which may uncover emerging hotspots or significant declines in seed dispersal.

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Section: Soc I a L Stat Us A F F Ect S T H E Qua N T I T Y Of See D S...mentioning

confidence: 99%

Section: Social Status Affects the Quantity Of Seeds Dispersedmentioning

confidence: 99%

The important role of animal social status in vertebrate seed dispersal

Bartel

Orrock

2022

Ecology Letters

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“…Social structure encompasses affiliative, cooperative, or tolerant social bonds as well as agonistic relationships [4]. The intensity, nature, and frequency of interactions contribute to the overall social structure, with dominance hierarchies sometimes, but not always, playing a role [5,6]. The accumulation of varying types of interactions forms the basis of a social structure, and for participating individuals results in costs and benefits to fitness.…”

Section: Social Structurementioning

confidence: 99%

“…However, agonistic displays have been relatively well-studied in lizards for the role they play in access to resources and mates [e.g., 5], perhaps because agonistic displays are more readily observed and defined in the field, and initiated under controlled experimental conditions. Despite the fact that many studies investigating sociality in reptiles do not make a clear distinction between social structure and organization, the complexity of reptile social behavior is increasingly being recognized [12] in both the overall social system [9], and in the frequency and complexity of cooperative behaviors (e.g., Pholidoscelis foraging behavior) [6]. Social network analysis provides a powerful tool for quantifying components of social structure, as networks are built by evaluating dyadic relationships with respect to phenotypes influencing sociality [13] and environmental influences like habitat complexity [14] and seasonality [15].…”

Section: Social Structurementioning

confidence: 99%

“…Social network analyses can be used to identify and quantify the social structure, including an evaluation of whether dominance hierarchies exist, whereas habitat use and spatial analyses can be used to reveal whether the social organization includes territoriality. Linkages between network and spatial analyses can reveal nuanced aspects of social systems that would not be evident if only one component was assessed [6].…”

Section: Social Systemmentioning

confidence: 99%

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The social system of the lava lizard, Microlophus atacamensis: the interplay between social structure and social organization

Utsumi

Staley

Núñez³

et al. 2022

Rev. Chil. de Hist. Nat.

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Background Animal social systems can be described through four main components: social structure, social organization, mating system, and care system. Social structure describes the relationships between individuals in a population, while social organization describes the group composition, size, and spatiotemporal variation of a population. We use the frameworks of social structure and social organization to study the social system of Microlophus atacamensis, a lizard found in the rocky intertidal zone along the Chilean coast. The area M. atacamensis inhabits poses specific challenges stemming from their use of two distinct habitat types in the intertidal zone: they forage in the cool areas near the water’s edge and use large rocks in more inland areas for basking and refuge. Methods Our assessment of their social system focused on two separate populations: one to characterize social structure by means of focal observations and social network analysis, and a second to assess social organization via home range and core area analyses. Further, we examined the social system in two habitat types that comprise the intertidal zone: cobble fields and interspersed large rocks. Results Social network analysis revealed an interconnected network with a few highly central individuals. Body size influenced the outcomes of aggressive interactions, with interactions being more common in cobble fields where males had more associates and more repeated interactions than females. Spatial analyses revealed that the social organization of M. atacamensis is characterized by (1) high home range overlap, specifically in the cobble fields and (2) relatively exclusive core areas dispersed across both habitat types. Conclusion A social system is composed of both cooperative and competitive behaviors. While our study focused on competitive interactions, the extent and influence of cooperative behaviors is still unclear and merits future research. We suggest that M. atacamensis has a variable social system in which territoriality on large rocks affects access to stationary resources in that habitat (e.g., basking sites and refuges), while competition in the cobble fields could lay the foundation for a system of dominance relationships controlling access to variable food resources in cobble field areas of the intertidal zone.

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Beyond color and pattern: elucidating the factors associated with intraspecific aggression in the mimic poison frog (Ranitomeya imitator)

Bieri,

Rubio,

Summers

2024

Evol Ecol

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Assortative or disassortative aggression – when individuals display more aggression towards conspecifics with similar or different phenotypic characteristics – can either maintain polymorphisms or facilitate gene flow between populations depending on which direction the aggression is aimed. Deciphering which factors elicit or prevent aggression is crucial to improving our knowledge of the origin and maintenance of reproductive barriers and subsequent speciation. The Peruvian mimic poison frog, Ranitomeya imitator, is a monogamous and territorial species that has evolved into four distinct color-pattern morphs in a mimetic radiation. Here we use historical landscape genetic data and competition trials between male individuals sourced from different populations and color-pattern morphs to show that the level of aggression between individuals is not associated with color morph or body size but rather with source population. Individuals spent more time in combat with individuals from their own deme (genetically homogeneous population), irrespective of color morph or size. These findings indicate that genotypic similarity is correlated with increased aggression in R. imitator, though the mechanism by which R. imitator males identify conspecifics as territorial threats remains unclear. As body size and color morph were not significantly associated with aggression levels, this study emphasizes the necessity of further research to identify whether other phenotypic traits are influencing territorial behavior between male frogs, and if these factors play a role in increasing gene flow, or conversely, the formation of reproductive barriers between populations.

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Social networks in the Little Scrub Island ground lizard (Ameiva corax)

Cited by 6 publications

References 37 publications

The important role of animal social status in vertebrate seed dispersal

The important role of animal social status in vertebrate seed dispersal

The social system of the lava lizard, Microlophus atacamensis: the interplay between social structure and social organization

Beyond color and pattern: elucidating the factors associated with intraspecific aggression in the mimic poison frog (Ranitomeya imitator)

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