EAGER: Developing dynamic network-based movement models to explore collective decision-making

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How do groups of individuals reach a consensus about where to go and what to do? Collective decisions like these are one of the great challenges of group-living, and how group members mitigate conflicts of interest is central to understanding the evolution of complex social systems. Social connections among group-mates likely influence how collective decisions are made, but existing models generally assume that these relationships are undifferentiated. A new analytical framework to explore how differentiated social relationships impact collective decision-making is needed. Recent advances in the analysis of dynamic networks provide a powerful new approach to quantifying how relationships change over time. By combining the distinct sets of expertise of the PI and Co-PI, the proposed research will build on these advances to generate novel dynamic network-based collective movement models. Unique, high-resolution GPS tracking data from members of an entire baboon troop will be used to validate these models and to test existing theory about the relative importance of democratic vs. despotic decision making. The dynamic network-based movement models that are developed will be made freely available to the scientific community and should provide a flexible analytical platform for addressing similar questions in a wide range of allied disciplines. The activities supported by this award will provide training in network analysis to U.S. and Panamanian students via a 3-day workshop at the Smithsonian Tropical Research Institute. The project will also contribute to the interdisciplinary training of a post-doctoral researcher, potentiate collaborative research between two female researchers in STEM fields, and provide support for an early career scientist.