The modulating role of group stability on fitness effects of group size is different in females and males of a communally rearing rodent

Ebensperger, Luis A.; Correa, Loreto; León, Cecilia; Ramírez‐Estrada, Juan; Abades, Sebastián; Villegas, Álvaro; Hayes, Loren D.

doi:10.1111/1365-2656.12566

Cited by 41 publications

(31 citation statements)

References 95 publications

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“…Degus are highly social, particularly sensitive to isolation (studied primarily in pups [23]), and there is converging evidence that females in particular are predisposed to make new relationships. The high sociality and gregariousness of this species makes sense in the context of their behavioral ecology: female degus has been found to increase with higher numbers of individuals within a group [39], but there is a high turnover of group membership over time [28] suggesting potential survival benefits to prosocial interactions with new individuals. Female degus are also known to share burrows with multiple, often genetically unrelated peers [25][26][27]29,30,32,40] (in some cases even cohabitating with unrelated species [40]).…”

Section: Discussionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Multiple dimensions of social motivation in adult female degus

Lidhar

Thakur

David

et al. 2020

Preprint

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AbstractA full understanding of a species’ sociality requires knowledge of their specific social motivations. Following social isolation, animals may show general interest in companionship as a buffer for stress or loneliness, but may also be driven to re-establish expectations and dyadic roles with individuals they had been previously separated from. By deconstructing social behavior across experimental manipulations, it may become possible to disentangle these motivational factors. Physical and vocal interactions were recorded from adult female degu dyads during a series of 20 minute reunion sessions across four experiments. Experiments 1 and 2 found that degu interactions increased following isolation, but also increased after dyads were separated without isolation from other conspecifics. Isolation resulted in more early-session interactions, higher allogrooming before rear-sniffing, and a higher ratio of chitter to non-chitter vocalizations. Experiment 3 showed that a non-social, footshock stressor selectively increased early-session interaction, and Experiment 4 revealed high interaction rates between strangers, with more non-chitter vocalizations and late-session rear-sniffing, and reduced pre-rear-sniff allogrooming. A novel, repeated-k-means clustering approach helped to further specify differences in vocalizations between conditions; e.g., “chaff”-type syllables were more common when relationships were new or potentially being renewed. Results suggest that degus are motivated to establish or re-establish expectations with one-another, and these interactions can differ from those associated with the stress of isolation.

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Section: Discussionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Multiple dimensions of social motivation in adult female degus

Lidhar

Thakur

David

et al. 2020

Preprint

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“…To avoid these costs, having a stable social organization might be the optimal solution for species evolving in stable or predictable environments. However, if the costs and benefits of social stability differ between sexes (Ebensperger et al 2016), inter-sexual conflict could facilitate changes in social organization within populations. IVSO might be expected in species that have large geographical ranges encompassing very different environments.…”

Section: Why Did Ivso Evolve?mentioning

confidence: 99%

Social flexibility and environmental unpredictability in African striped mice

Schradin

Pillay

Bertelsmeier

2019

Behav Ecol Sociobiol

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Many species show intra-specific variation in their social organization (IVSO), which means the composition of their social groups can change between solitary living, pair-living or living in groups. Understanding IVSO is important because it demonstrates species resilience to environmental change and can help us to study ultimate and proximate reasons for groupliving by comparing solitary and group-living individuals in a single species. It has long been realized that the environment plays a key role in explaining the occurrence of IVSO. IVSO is expected to have evolved in variable environments and can thus be a key adaptation to environmental change. It has previously been shown that four different mechanisms relying on the environment exist that can lead to IVSO: environmental disrupters, genetic differentiation, developmental plasticity, and social flexibility. All four mechanisms depend on the environment such that focusing only on environmental factors alone cannot explain IVSO. Importantly, only three represent evolved mechanisms, while environmental disrupters leading to the death of important group members induce non-adaptive IVSO. Environmental disrupters can be expected to cause IVSO even in species where IVSO is also an adaptive response. Here we focus on the questions of why IVSO occurs and why it evolved. To understand IVSO at the species level it is important to conduct continuous long-term studies to differentiate between non-adaptive and adaptive IVSO. We predict that IVSO evolves in environments that vary in important ecological variables, such as rainfall, food availability, and population density. IVSO might also depend on life history factors, especially longevity. IVSO is predicted to be more common in species with a short lifespan and that breed only for one breeding season, being selected to respond optimally to the prevailing environmental situation. Finally, we emphasise the importance of accounting for IVSO when studying social evolution, especially in comparative studies, since not every species can be assigned to one single form of social organization. For such comparative studies, it is important to have reliable databases based on the primary literature.

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“…To avoid these costs, having a stable social organization might be the optimal solution for species evolving in stable or predictable environments. However, if the costs and benefits of social stability differ between sexes (Ebensperger et al., ), intersexual conflict could facilitate changes in social organization within populations. IVSO might be expected in species that have large geographical ranges encompassing very different environments.…”

Section: Why Did Ivso Evolve?mentioning

confidence: 99%

The evolution of intraspecific variation in social organization

et al. 2018

Self Cite

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Many species show intraspecific variation in their social organization (IVSO), which means the composition of their social groups can change between solitary living, pair living, or living in groups. Understanding IVSO is important because it demonstrates species resilience to environmental change and can help us to study ultimate and proximate reasons for group living by comparing solitary and group‐living individuals in a single species. It has long been realized that the environment plays a key role in explaining the occurrence of IVSO. IVSO is expected to have evolved in variable environments and can thus be a key adaptation to environmental change. It has previously been suggested that four different mechanisms relying on the environment exist that can lead to IVSO: environmental disrupters, genetic differentiation, developmental plasticity, and social flexibility. All four mechanisms depend on the environment such that focusing only on environmental factors alone cannot explain IVSO. Importantly, only three represent evolved mechanisms, while environmental disrupters leading to the death of important group members induce nonadaptive IVSO. Environmental disrupters can be expected to cause IVSO even in species where IVSO is also an adaptive response. Here, we focus on the questions of why IVSO occurs and why it evolved. To understand IVSO at the species level, it is important to conduct continuous long‐term studies to differentiate between nonadaptive and adaptive IVSO. We predict that IVSO evolves in environments that vary in important ecological variables, such as rainfall, food availability, and population density. IVSO might also depend on life history factors, especially longevity. IVSO is predicted to be more common in species with a short life span and that breed only for one breeding season, being selected to respond optimally to the prevailing environmental situation. Finally, we emphasize the importance of accounting for IVSO when studying social evolution, especially in comparative studies, as not every species can be assigned to one single form of social organization. For such comparative studies, it is important to use data based on the primary literature.

show abstract

The modulating role of group stability on fitness effects of group size is different in females and males of a communally rearing rodent

Cited by 41 publications

References 95 publications

Multiple dimensions of social motivation in adult female degus

Multiple dimensions of social motivation in adult female degus

Social flexibility and environmental unpredictability in African striped mice

The evolution of intraspecific variation in social organization

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