Collaborative Research: Process and consequences of social partner choice revealed by multilayer network analysis

许多动物与社会伙伴一起生活在合作的群体中。群居动物的成功既受到动物自身特征的影响，也受到其社会伙伴特征的影响。行为生物学的一个基本目标是了解动物如何选择伴侣，并确定这些伴侣选择对合作行为和未来成功的影响。在形成群体之前，动物与潜在的社会伙伴在多种情况下进行互动，既包括合作互动，也包括竞争互动。这项研究将开发一种新的框架来理解动物如何整合多种社会环境中的互动来做出伴侣选择。它将进一步测试合作伙伴选择决策的差异如何影响个人和团队的成功。揭示动物如何选择伴侣并形成持久的纽带，将有助于我们理解社会性是如何演变的，以及为什么它会持续下去。科学教育将是该项目的重要组成部分，包括为学生提供研究机会，为来自不同群体的中学女孩开发科学导师计划。拟议的工作将利用自动动物跟踪和社交网络分析方面的最新进展，评估伴侣选择决定的原因和后果。伴侣的选择将在蜂巢创始后纸黄蜂Polistes fuscatus中进行分析。北极蜂经历了一段伴侣“购物”的时期，在此期间，黄蜂形成并化解了许多短期的社会关系，然后安顿下来，在稳定的合作群体中筑巢。首先，这项研究将测试购物期间不同类型的互动如何中介伴侣选择决定，以及不同个体的伴侣选择过程如何不同。其次，这项研究将考察成本如何影响伴侣选择的过程和结果。第三，研究将通过比较不同组成群体的社会动力和成功程度来评估选择伴侣的选择性好处。通过整合合作伙伴选择的近期和最终检查，研究精细的行为机制，以及长期健康后果，我们拟议的工作将提供一个强大的模型来测试社会进化的基本过程。该奖项反映了NSF的法定使命，并通过使用基金会的智力优势和更广泛的影响审查标准进行评估，被认为值得支持。

Many animals live in cooperative groups with social partners. The success of social animals is influenced by both an animal’s own characteristics and by the characteristics of its social partners. A fundamental goal of behavioral biology is to understand how animals choose partners and determine the impact of these partner choices on cooperative behavior and future success. Before forming groups, animals interact with potential social partners in multiple situations involving both cooperative and competitive interactions. This research will develop a novel framework to understand how animals integrate interactions in multiple social situations to make partner choices. It will further test how differences in partner choice decisions influence individual and group success. Uncovering how animals choose partners and form long lasting bonds will advance our understanding of how sociality has evolved and why it persists. Science education will be an important component of this project, including research opportunities for students, developing science mentorship programs for middle school girls from groups who are The proposed work will take advantage of recent advances in automated animal tracking and social network analysis to assess the causes and consequences of partner choice decisions. Partner choice will be analyzed in nest-founding queen paper wasps, Polistes fuscatus. Polistes go through a period of partner ‘shopping’, during which wasps form and dissolve many short-term social relationships before settling down to nest in stable cooperative groups. First, the research will test how different types of interactions during the shopping period mediate partner choice decisions and how the process of partner choice differs across individuals. Second, the research will examine how costs influence the process and outcome of partner choice. Third, the research will assess the selective benefits of partner choice by comparing social dynamics and success of groups with different composition. By integrating proximate and ultimate examinations of partner choice, studying fine-scale behavioral mechanisms, and long-term fitness consequence, our proposed work will provide a powerful model to test fundamental processes of social evolution.This award reflects NSF's statutory mission and has been deemed worthy of support through evaluation using the Foundation's intellectual merit and broader impacts review criteria.