Social networks predict patch discovery in a wild population of songbirds
Social networks predict patch discovery in a wild population of songbirds
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DOI：
10.1098/rspb.2012.1591
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发表时间：
2012-10-22
影响因子：
4.7
通讯作者：
Sheldon, B. C.
中科院分区：
文献类型：
--
作者：
Aplin, L. M.;Farine, D. R.;Sheldon, B. C.
动物在各种各样的环境中使用社会信息。许多物种都记录了个体广泛使用它来定位食物斑块，并且已经确定了各种发现机制。然而，人们对个体在获取和使用社会信息寻找食物方面是否存在差异知之甚少。我们测量了三个同域山雀物种（家庭山雀）的野生种群的社会网络，然后记录个人发现的新的食物补丁。通过使用最近开发的基于网络的扩散分析方法，我们表明，到达新的食物补丁的顺序预测的社会协会。仅基于群体搜索的模型并不能解释这种关系。此外，网络位置与补丁发现的可能性，与中央个人更有可能找到和使用新的觅食补丁比那些有限的社会联系。这些结果表明，社会网络分析的效用作为一种方法来调查社会信息的使用，并建议，更大的概率接收新的觅食补丁的社会信息赋予更多的社会联系的个人的好处。
Animals use social information in a wide variety of contexts. Its extensive use by individuals to locate food patches has been documented in a number of species, and various mechanisms of discovery have been identified. However, less is known about whether individuals differ in their access to, and use of, social information to find food. We measured the social network of a wild population of three sympatric tit species (family Paridae) and then recorded individual discovery of novel food patches. By using recently developed methods for network-based diffusion analysis, we show that order of arrival at new food patches was predicted by social associations. Models based only on group searching did not explain this relationship. Furthermore, network position was correlated with likelihood of patch discovery, with central individuals more likely to locate and use novel foraging patches than those with limited social connections. These results demonstrate the utility of social network analysis as a method to investigate social information use, and suggest that the greater probability of receiving social information about new foraging patches confers a benefit on more socially connected individuals.