| Title: | Using social network analysis of mixed-species groups in African savannah herbivores to assess how community structure responds to environmental change |
| Author(s): | Meise K; Franks DW; Bro-Jorgensen J; |
| Address: | "Mammalian Behaviour and Evolution Group, Department of Evolution, Ecology and Behaviour, Institute of Integrative Biology, University of Liverpool, Neston CH64 7TE, UK. Department of Biology, University of York, York YO10 5DD, UK. Department of Computer Science, University of York, York YO10 5GH, UK" |
| Journal Title: | Philos Trans R Soc Lond B Biol Sci |
| ISSN/ISBN: | 1471-2970 (Electronic) 0962-8436 (Print) 0962-8436 (Linking) |
| Abstract: | "The dynamics of wildlife populations often depend heavily on interspecific interactions and understanding the underlying principles can be an important step in designing conservation strategies. Behavioural ecological studies can here provide useful insights into the structure and function of communities and their likely response to environmental changes. In this study of the Masai Mara herbivore community, we use a social network approach to investigate social affinities between species and how these change over the year in response to seasonal changes in ecological conditions. We find that even though social networks were correlated across different ecological conditions, for half the species dyads in the community, the strength of social affinities responded to changes in rainfall and/or the presence of migratory wildebeest. Several species consequentially adopted more or less central positions in the network depending on the ecological conditions. The findings point out interspecific social links that are likely to be attenuated or strengthened as a consequence of human-induced environmental changes and therefore call for particular attention from conservation managers. The eco-evolutionary ramifications of the perturbations of social affinities still require further study. This article is part of the theme issue 'Linking behaviour to dynamics of populations and communities: application of novel approaches in behavioural ecology to conservation'" |
| Keywords: | Animals *Biodiversity *Environment *Grassland Herbivory Kenya *Mammals Population Dynamics *Social Behavior Social Networking *Struthioniformes antipredator strategies climate change interspecific competition mixed-species groups social network analysis u; |
| Notes: | "MedlineMeise, Kristine Franks, Daniel W Bro-Jorgensen, Jakob eng Research Support, Non-U.S. Gov't England 2019/07/30 Philos Trans R Soc Lond B Biol Sci. 2019 Sep 16; 374(1781):20190009. doi: 10.1098/rstb.2019.0009. Epub 2019 Jul 29" |
