Social thermoregulation as a potential mechanism linking sociality and fitness: Barbary macaques with more social partners form larger huddles

Campbell, Liz A. D.; Tkaczynski, Patrick J.; Lehmann, Julia; Mouna, Mohamed; Majolo, Bonaventura

doi:10.1038/s41598-018-24373-4

Cited by 58 publications

(49 citation statements)

References 43 publications

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“…is relatively abundant; however, the availability of natural food in the study area declines steadily throughout the year as temperatures drop and winter snowfall makes foraging difficult and energetically costly (Majolo et al , ). Winter is a time of energetic deficit for Barbary macaques (Campbell et al, 2018 a , b ). This may shift the cost/benefit balance by making access to energy‐rich foods from tourists more valuable in autumn and winter: 38% of human‐macaque provisioning encounters in our study occurred within 20 m of a road (J. Waterman, unpubl.…”

Section: Discussionmentioning

confidence: 99%

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Effect of human activity on habitat selection in the endangered Barbary macaque

Waterman

Campbell

Maréchal

et al. 2019

Animal Conservation

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The exponential growth of human population and infrastructure is significantly reducing the amount of ecological resources available for wild animals. We analyzed the effect of human activity on Barbary macaques Macaca sylvanus, an endangered species restricted to the fragmented forests of Morocco and Algeria, using location data from five social groups inhabiting Ifrane National Park, Morocco. We used a resource selection function to explore the effects of anthropogenic disturbance on macaque habitat selection, using nine natural, social, and anthropogenic disturbance variables as predictors. Forest cover, home range overlap, herding route proximity, and road proximity were all significant predictors of habitat use. Macaques avoided areas used by local shepherds, to reduce the risk of attack by shepherds’ dogs, but approached roads to increase the chances of provisioning by tourists. However, herding route and road use varied seasonally in line with levels of human use, suggesting that macaques may be navigating their environment strategically (in space and time) to balance food acquisition and risk avoidance. The results of this study highlight the importance of assessing human impact on habitat selection in both space and time. Our data on seasonal variations in macaques’ use of roads can help prevent road injuries, a major source of mortality for provisioned macaques, by focusing management efforts by national park workers in time and space. Furthermore, understanding when and where macaques seek provisioning from tourists can help combat provisioning, which negatively impacts macaque health, behavior, and susceptibility to poaching.

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Section: Discussionmentioning

confidence: 99%

“…data). This consideration of energy balance affects selection of sleeping sites by Barbary macaques (Campbell et al , 2018 b ), and also their social behavior (Campbell et al , 2018 a ), so diurnal habitat use (use of roads) may be another strategy to maximize energy balance.…”

Section: Discussionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Effect of human activity on habitat selection in the endangered Barbary macaque

Waterman

Campbell

Maréchal

et al. 2019

Animal Conservation

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“…Grouping can also increase breeding success through alloparental care (e.g., Moehlman, 1979) and decreased predation vulnerability (Kamler et al, 2013a). Sociality can also provide thermoregulatory, energetic and physiological benefits through social thermoregulation (Campbell et al, 2018). Though social thermoregulation is little studied in canids, Hennemann et al (1983) found that crab-eating foxes reduced heat loss and oxygen consumption (a measure of basal metabolic rate) by 5-18% when huddling with a partner, suggesting huddling can significantly impact daily energy expenditure in this and other canid species (Hennemann et al, 1983).…”

Section: Social Structurementioning

confidence: 99%

Monogamy: Cause, Consequence, or Corollary of Success in Wild Canids?

et al. 2019

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The Canidae are successful, being a widespread, abundant, speciose, and adaptable family. Several canids in particular have recently experienced rapid expansions in range and abundance, with similar situations mirrored on several continents by different species. Despite extreme behavioral diversity between and within species, monogamy is a common denominator in canid societies. In this review, we ask why canids are monogamous and how monogamy is related to their success. We begin with an overview of canid social monogamy, describing the pair bonding, paternal care, and often alloparental care that is characteristic of the family, and discuss theories on the evolution of mammalian social monogamy. We discuss why and how monogamy is maintained in canids, either voluntarily or enforced, and how ecological conditions influence either the functional advantages of monogamy or ability for enforcement and thus whether social monogamy is maintained. Social monogamy does not necessitate exclusive mating and many canids exhibit extra-pair paternity. We consider the costs and benefits of extra-pair mating for male and female canids and how ecological conditions can shift this cost/benefit balance and thus affect its prevalence. Monogamy may be responsible for many of the unusual canid reproductive characteristics through facilitating alloparental care and monogamy enforcement, and the domestic dogs' departure from monogamy supports our interpretation that it is an adaptation to resource availability. In asking whether monogamy is responsible, at least in part, for their success, we propose the monogamy as pro-cooperative hypothesis, suggesting four characteristics have contributed to canid success: (1) ecological flexibility, (2) high mobility, (3) high reproductive rates, and (4) sociality/cooperation, with the latter two being consequences of monogamy. These four interconnected traits enhance one another and it is their combination, with monogamy at its foundation enabling cooperative sociality and thereby enhanced reproduction and survival, that together comprise the formula of canid success.

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“…Therefore, thermoregulatory demands, which presumably affect all individuals equally across units of different size, may constrain metabolic needs more than food does. In addition, individual characteristics (e.g., gregariousness) are likely important predictors of variation in glucocorticoid levels, especially where more social partners may provide certain benefits (e.g., thermoregulatory benefits: 27 ). Both of these hypotheses warrant further investigation.…”

Section: Main Textmentioning

confidence: 99%

The Goldilocks Effect: Female geladas in mid-sized groups have higher fitness

Johnson

Snyder‐Mackler

et al. 2018

Preprint

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The cost-to-benefit ratio of group-living is thought to vary with group size: 24 individuals in "optimal" groups should have higher fitness than individuals in groups that 25 are too large or small. However, the relationship between group size and individual 26 fitness has been difficult to establish, a gap we address here in the gelada. We 27 demonstrate group size effects on the production of surviving offspring and on female 28 mortality rates, which are largely explained by group-size variation in infanticide risk and 29 foraging competition. We also identify a mechanism by which females may alter group 30 size: in large groups, females groomed with less than half of their group, increasing the 31 likelihood of fissions. Our findings provide insight into how and why group size shapes 32 fitness in long-lived species. 33 34 survival 36 37 38 39 3Main Text: 40 Variability in group size within species reflects a delicate balance of the costs and 41 benefits of group living. For example, in large groups the costs of group-living (e.g., 42 foraging competition: 1-3) may begin to outweigh the benefits (e.g., decreased 43 predation risk : 1, 4, 5), to the detriment of individual group members. Individuals in 44 "optimal" groups, by contrast, should have the highest lifetime reproductive success 45 (i.e., fitness: 6) compared to others in the population (7). Although the link between 46 group size and fitness has long been suspected, it has been challenging to actually 47 demonstrate with empirical data. This is, in part, because fitness in long-lived species is 48 difficult to measure. Instead, short-term measures of reproductive performance (e.g., 49 birth rate) are often used as proxies for fitness. But, perhaps more problematic is that 50 the accuracy of measures of fitness (which are more accurate over a longer period of 51 time) are inversely related to the accuracy of measures of group size (which are more 52 accurate over a shorter period of time). To circumvent this problem, we developed a 53 novel measure of reproductive performance that accounts for changes in group size. 54 55Here, we used a wild primate, geladas (Theropithecus gelada), as a test species to 56 identify whether we have evidence for an optimal group size for females and, if so, 57 whether we can identify the selective forces that shape it. Geladas are long-lived, 58 folivorous primates that live in social groups (hereafter, "units") that vary in size from 1 59 to 13 adult femalesvariation that is present even within the same population (8). This 60 variability may be due to ecological pressures (e.g., due to the seasonal environment: 9) 61 as well as social pressures. For instance, infanticide is the leading cause of infant 62 4 mortality: immigrant males kill over half of the dependent infants in a unit (10). 63 Moreover, larger units experience more takeovers than smaller units (11). Females in 64 larger units might therefore incur disproportionately higher costs than females in smaller 65 units. 67We analyzed 9...

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Social thermoregulation as a potential mechanism linking sociality and fitness: Barbary macaques with more social partners form larger huddles

Cited by 58 publications

References 43 publications

Effect of human activity on habitat selection in the endangered Barbary macaque

Effect of human activity on habitat selection in the endangered Barbary macaque

Monogamy: Cause, Consequence, or Corollary of Success in Wild Canids?

The Goldilocks Effect: Female geladas in mid-sized groups have higher fitness

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