What, if anything, is a social niche?

Saltz, Julia B.; Geiger, Adam P.; Anderson, Raleigh; Johnson, Benjamin J. M.; Marren, Rachel

doi:10.1007/s10682-015-9792-5

Cited by 59 publications

(84 citation statements)

References 68 publications

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“…In ecology, the traits by which individuals alter their own environments are described as 'niche-constructing' traits (Odling-Smee et al, 2013); these include behaviors that influence the social environment, that is, 'social niche-constructing' traits (reviewed in Saltz et al, 2016). To avoid confusing implications of the word 'niche' and as the fitness effects of behavior are not the focus of the current study, I will use the term 'social environment construction' to describe the ways in which individuals' behaviors (or other traits) influence their social environments (Saltz et al, 2016).…”

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

“…To avoid confusing implications of the word 'niche' and as the fitness effects of behavior are not the focus of the current study, I will use the term 'social environment construction' to describe the ways in which individuals' behaviors (or other traits) influence their social environments (Saltz et al, 2016). Therefore, social environment construction occurs when an individual's behavior affects the composition and/or dynamics of its social environment and genetic variation in social environment construction would occur when that behavior differs among genotypes.…”

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

“…In animals, studies focused explicitly on social environment construction are just beginning (reviewed in Saltz et al, 2016). Several studies have documented the existence of genetic variation in social environment construction (Brown and Brown, 2000;Lea et al, 2010;Saltz and Foley, 2011;Saltz, 2011), but none have directly examined the effects of such genetic variation on behavioral development (Saltz and Nuzhdin, 2014).…”

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

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Genetic variation in social environment construction influences the development of aggressive behavior in Drosophila melanogaster

Saltz

2016

Heredity

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Individuals are not merely subject to their social environments; they choose and create them, through a process called social environment (or social niche) construction. When genotypes differ in social environment-constructing behaviors, different genotypes are expected to experience different social environments. As social experience often affects behavioral development, quantitative genetics and psychology theories predict that genetic variation in social environment construction should have an important role in determining phenotypic variation; however, this hypothesis has not been tested directly. I identify multiple mechanisms of social environment construction that differ among natural genotypes of Drosophila melanogaster and investigate their consequences for the development of aggressive behavior. Male genotypes differed in the group sizes that they preferred and in their aggressive behavior; both of these behaviors influenced social experience, demonstrating that these behaviors function as social environment-constructing traits. Further, the effects of social experience-as determined in part by social environment construction-carried over to affect focal male aggression at a later time and with a new opponent. These results provide manipulative experimental support for longstanding hypotheses in psychology, that genetic variation in social environment construction has a causal role in behavioral development. More broadly, these results imply that studies of the genetic basis of complex traits should be expanded to include mechanisms by which genetic variation shapes the environments that individuals experience.

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Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

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Genetic variation in social environment construction influences the development of aggressive behavior in Drosophila melanogaster

Saltz

2016

Heredity

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“…To the same topic, Kim Niche construction and theory of agricultural origins. Case studies in punctuated equilibrium 7 of plants and animals, both microscopic and macroscopic, including humans (Gould, Eldredge 1977;Gould 1989;Jones et al 1994;Laland et al 2016;Saltz et al 2016;Zeder 2016). NCT is equally promising for applications in archaeology, for which purpose even the elementary (unpretentious) renaming of the Neolithic Package as a mobile eco-system that is capable of environmental or climatic habitattracking may help students and researchers alike to achieve a qualitatively better understanding of the complex processes underlying Neolithisation.…”

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confidence: 99%

Niche Construction and Theory of Agricultural Origins. Case studies in punctuated equilibrium

Weninger

2017

Doc. praeh.

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IntroductionA central challenge to the theory of agricultural origins (TAO) concerns the integration and joint interpretation of the increasingly large amounts of numeric empirical data made available by participating scientific disciplines, for example, cultural studies, archaeobotany, archaeozoology, plant and animal genetics, radiometric dating, palaeogeography, palaeoclimatology, and others. In a recently published study, Kristen Gremillion et al. (2014) have argued that it may be possible to unify the scientific results pertaining to TAO under the umbrella of neo-Darwinian evolutionary theory. To the same topic, Kim Niche construction and theory of agricultural origins. Case studies in punctuated equilibrium 7 of plants and animals, both microscopic and macroscopic, including humans (Gould, Eldredge 1977;Gould 1989;Jones et al. 1994;Laland et al. 2016;Saltz et al. 2016;Zeder 2016). NCT is equally promising for applications in archaeology, for which purpose even the elementary (unpretentious) renaming of the Neolithic Package as a mobile eco-system that is capable of environmental or climatic habitattracking may help students and researchers alike to achieve a qualitatively better understanding of the complex processes underlying Neolithisation. In the long run, however, quantitative modelling of archaeological NCT appears to be necessary. Punctuated Equilibrium (PE)In the following, let us explore what might happen in archaeological NCT discourse if concepts derived from the neo-darwinian theory of punctuated equilibrium (Gould, Eldredge 1977;Gould 2007) are taken into consideration. In contrast to classical Darwinian forecasting, the geological record shows not a slow and continuous fossil development (graduation), but instead long periods of stasis with no observable change. Then follows an abrupt switch from one species to the next (punctuation), with no apparent transition. According to Darwin's (and others'), explanation, the geological observation of a seemingly abrupt and quasi-instantaneous origination of new palaeontological species is caused by the notoriously imperfect character of the fossil record due to stratigraphic disturbance, incomplete preservation, and fragmentary research (Gould, Eldredge 1993.223). For PE theory, in contrast, the abrupt origination of species is the result neither of noisy or missing data, nor of an unobserved geographic switch in habitat, but the expected and meaningful consequence of a rapid genetic switch from one species to the next, following the law of natural selection. In a nutshell, most species originate in such brief moments of time, that expected 'transitions' have no apparent manifestation in the geological stratigraphy (Gould 2007).But how does PE work? As indicated above, many PE related processes are (today) subsumed under what is more commonly called the Theory of Complex Systems (or similar), but I propose we continue to use the term PE. An example from physics would be coulomb excitation, whereby a subatomic particle passes so close to an atomic nuc...

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“…However, my results indicate that whether shy individuals rely on social information to a greater extent than bold individuals may depend on elements of their social environment-e.g., some social contexts may offer greater opportunities to observe or interact with knowledgeable individuals than others. The extent to which individuals might select their social environment in order to maximize their access to information or other social resources is a fascinating topic for future work (Oh & Badyaev, 2010;Saltz et al, 2016).…”

Section: Discussionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Social dynamics, network structure, and information diffusion in fish shoals.

Hasenjager¹

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for always ensuring my library was well-stocked, and for fostering my enduring love of the natural world. Animal populations are often highly structured, with individuals differing in terms of whom they interact with and how frequently they do so. The resulting pattern of relationships constitutes a population's social network. In this dissertation, I examine how environmental variation can shape social networks and influence information flow within them. In Chapter I, I review the history of social network analysis in animal behavior research, and discuss recent insights generated by network approaches in behavioral ecology. I focus on the fields of: social learning, collective behavior, animal personalities, and cooperation. Animal network studies are often criticized for a lack of replication at the network level and an over-reliance on descriptive approaches in lieu of hypothesis testing. Small, shoaling fish may provide a means to address these concerns, as manipulative experiments can be conducted on replicate social groups under captive conditions. Chapters III-V examine the impacts of environmental variation on the social networks of Trinidadian guppy (Poecilia reticulata) shoals, the social dynamics from which they emerge, and information diffusion within them. In the experiments described in Chapter III, I manipulated shoal composition in terms of within-group familiarity.Mixed shoals of familiar and unfamiliar fish exhibited greater homogeneity in network vi structure relative to other groups, which likely contributed to the rapid diffusion of foraging information observed within them. In the experiments discussed in Chapter IV, Imanipulated the within-shoal mixture of personality types. In addition to impacting frequencies of partner switching and patterns of phenotypic assortment, individual-and group-level personality variation had strong effects on the initial acquisition of novel foraging information and the speed of its transmission through a group. In the experiments in Chapter V, I manipulated the ambient predation risk perceived by groups.High-risk conditions were associated with shifts in network structure consistent with attempts to minimize predation risk. High ambient risk also impeded the acquisition and subsequent transmission of foraging information, likely due to heightened neophobia and/or an increase in the perceived costs of personal sampling. I conclude in Chapter VI by considering the broader implications of my work and highlighting promising avenues for future research.vii

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What, if anything, is a social niche?

Cited by 59 publications

References 68 publications

Genetic variation in social environment construction influences the development of aggressive behavior in Drosophila melanogaster

Genetic variation in social environment construction influences the development of aggressive behavior in Drosophila melanogaster

Niche Construction and Theory of Agricultural Origins. Case studies in punctuated equilibrium

Social dynamics, network structure, and information diffusion in fish shoals.

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