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Consistent sociality but flexible social associations across temporal and spatial foraging contexts in a colonial breeder
Author(s) -
Jones Teri B.,
Green Jonathan A.,
Patrick Samantha C.,
Evans Julian C.,
Wells Melanie R.,
RodríguezMalagón Marlenne A.,
Arnould John P. Y.
Publication year - 2020
Publication title -
ecology letters
Language(s) - English
Resource type - Journals
SCImago Journal Rank - 6.852
H-Index - 265
eISSN - 1461-0248
pISSN - 1461-023X
DOI - 10.1111/ele.13507
Subject(s) - sociality , foraging , context (archaeology) , social environment , flexibility (engineering) , ecology , social network (sociolinguistics) , biology , psychology , social media , sociology , social science , paleontology , statistics , mathematics , political science , law
Abstract When the consequences of sociality differ depending on the state of individual animals and the experienced environment, individuals may benefit from altering their social behaviours in a context‐dependent manner. Thus, to fully address the hypotheses about the role of social associations it is imperative to consider the multidimensional nature of sociality by explicitly examining social associations across multiple scales and contexts. We simultaneously recorded > 8000 associations from 85% of breeding individuals from a colony of Australasian gannets ( Morus serrator ) over a 2‐week period, and examined gregariousness across four foraging states using multilayer social network analysis. We found that social associations varied in a context‐dependent manner, highlighting that social associations are most prevalent during foraging (local enhancement) and in regions expected to provide clustered resources. We also provide evidence of individual consistency in gregariousness, but flexibility in social associates, demonstrating that individuals can adjust their social behaviours to match experienced conditions.