Effects of group size and personality on social foraging: the distribution of sheep across patches

Michelena, Pablo; Sibbald, A. R.; Erhard, Hans W.; McLeod, James E.

doi:10.1093/beheco/arn126

Cited by 110 publications

(79 citation statements)

References 46 publications

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“…Other studies have also demonstrated that nearest neighbour distance is greater on cooler days (Le Pendu et al 1996;Michelena et al 2009). It has also been noted that during heavy persistent rainfall sheep will cease grazing, significantly reduce their activity and seek shelter (Champion et al 1994), and ewes spend more time with their young when they are resting, rather than grazing (Morgan and Arnold 1974).…”

Section: Discussionmentioning

confidence: 85%

“…Of the limited data that exists for sheep, previous research has shown that boldness affects grazing behaviour, with bolder animals being more willing to venture from the flock (Michelena et al 2009). This supports the idea that temperament can influence sociality, but the current study demonstrates this for the first time in individual preference.…”

Section: Discussionmentioning

confidence: 99%

“…In a production setting the complexity and size of the paddock influences group formation, with sheep clustering together in smaller paddocks, but preferring to spread out when space is available (Dwyer and Lawrence 1999). Group activity, age difference and breed differences also contribute to group dynamics; with sheep dispersing when grazing and staying closer together when resting (Michelena et al 2009), and sheep of similar ages associate together and spend time apart from those different in age (Lawrence 1990). …”

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

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Temperament, age and weather predict social interaction in the sheep flock

Doyle

Broster

Barnes

et al. 2016

Behavioural Processes

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Please cite this article as: Doyle, Rebecca E., Broster, John C., Barnes, Kirsty, Browne, William J., Temperament, age and weather predict social interaction in the sheep flock.Behavioural Processes http://dx.doi.org/10. 1016/j.beproc.2016.08.004 This is a PDF file of an unedited manuscript that has been accepted for publication. As a service to our customers we are providing this early version of the manuscript. The manuscript will undergo copyediting, typesetting, and review of the resulting proof before it is published in its final form. Please note that during the production process errors may be discovered which could affect the content, and all legal disclaimers that apply to the journal pertain. Highlights: Sheep appear to have temperament-related social preference for specific individuals within a flock. Age, rainfall and temperature all affected social interactions of the sheep flock. Vocalisations and movement scores in the isolation box test are well correlated over time, but the two types of behaviours were poorly correlated with each other, suggesting they reflect different things. Multiple Membership Multiple Classification modelling is a useful way to analyse social structures of the flock and make predictions on how animal or environment circumstances affect social behaviour. AbstractThe aim of the current study was to investigate the social relationships between individual sheep, and factors that influence this, through the novel application of the statistical multiple

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Section: Discussionmentioning

confidence: 85%

Section: Discussionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

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Temperament, age and weather predict social interaction in the sheep flock

Doyle

Broster

Barnes

et al. 2016

Behavioural Processes

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“…As a result, fragmentation can occur within groups composed predominately of bolder individuals (Dyer et al, 2009;Michelena et al, 2009). In contrast to this earlier work, I found no effect of group personality composition on a guppy's probability of initiating or ending bouts of shoaling, nor did group composition or individual personality determine how much time an individual spent alone.…”

Section: Discussioncontrasting

confidence: 93%

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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“…shall see later resilience phenotype, could be closely linked to disease susceptibility in farm animals, whereas the impact of selection for production traits on the SAM/HPA balance noted above could be contributing to increased disease susceptibility in high-production genotypes (Rauw et al 1998). Use of environmental resources can differ between behavioural types, as demonstrated by the influence of boldness/ shyness on grazing behaviours in sheep (Michelena et al 2009). Some differences in susceptibility to stress-related disease and some differences in reactivity to immunological stimuli have been noted between coping styles.…”

Section: Coping Stylesmentioning

confidence: 99%

Resilience in farm animals: biology, management, breeding and implications for animal welfare

2016

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Abstract.A capacity for the animal to recover quickly from the impact of physical and social stressors and disease challenges is likely to improve evolutionary fitness of wild species and welfare and performance of farm animals. Salience and valence of stimuli sensed through neurosensors, chemosensors and immunosensors are perceived and integrated centrally to generate emotions and engage physiological, behavioural, immune, cognitive and morphological responses that defend against noxious challenges. These responses can be refined through experience to provide anticipatory and learned reactions at lower cost than innate less-specific reactions. Influences of behaviour type, coping style, and affective state and the relationships between immune responsiveness, disease resistance and resilience are reviewed. We define resilience as the capacity of animals to cope with short-term perturbations in their environment and return rapidly to their pre-challenge status. It is manifested in response to episodic, sporadic or situation-specific attributes of the environment and can be optimised via facultative learning by the individual. It is a comparative measure of differences between individuals in the outcomes that follow exposure to potentially adverse situations. In contrast, robustness is the capacity to maintain productivity in a wide range of environments without compromising reproduction, health and wellbeing. Robustness is manifested in response to persistent or cyclical attributes of the environment and is effected via activity of innate regulatory pathways. We suggest that for farm animals, husbandry practices that incorporate physical and social stressors and interactions with humans such as weaning, change of housing, and introduction to the milking parlour can be used to characterise resilience phenotypes. In these settings, resilience is likely to be more readily identified through the rate of return of variables to pre-challenge or normal status rather than through measuring the activity of diverse stress response and adaptation mechanisms. Our strategy for phenotyping resilience of sheep and cattle during weaning is described. Opportunities are examined to increase resilience through genetic selection and through improved management practices that provide emotional and cognitive enrichment and stress inoculation.Additional keywords: affective state, allostasis, animal behaviour, animal temperament, animal welfare, disease resistance, genetic selection, homeostasis, resilience, robustness, stress inoculation.

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Effects of group size and personality on social foraging: the distribution of sheep across patches

Cited by 110 publications

References 46 publications

Temperament, age and weather predict social interaction in the sheep flock

Temperament, age and weather predict social interaction in the sheep flock

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

Resilience in farm animals: biology, management, breeding and implications for animal welfare

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