Skip to main content
bioRxiv
  • Home
  • About
  • Submit
  • ALERTS / RSS
Advanced Search
New Results

Behavioral and physiological evidence that increasing group size ameliorates the impacts of social disturbance

View ORCID ProfileHannah M. Anderson, Alexander G. Little, David N. Fisher, Brendan L. McEwen, Brett M. Culbert, Sigal Balshine, Jonathan N. Pruitt
doi: https://doi.org/10.1101/818401
Hannah M. Anderson
1Department of Psychology, Neuroscience & Behaviour, McMaster University, Hamilton, ON, Canada L8S 4K1
  • Find this author on Google Scholar
  • Find this author on PubMed
  • Search for this author on this site
  • ORCID record for Hannah M. Anderson
  • For correspondence: anderh3@mcmaster.ca
Alexander G. Little
1Department of Psychology, Neuroscience & Behaviour, McMaster University, Hamilton, ON, Canada L8S 4K1
2Marine Science Institute, University of California Santa Barbara, Santa Barbara, CA, USA 93106
  • Find this author on Google Scholar
  • Find this author on PubMed
  • Search for this author on this site
David N. Fisher
1Department of Psychology, Neuroscience & Behaviour, McMaster University, Hamilton, ON, Canada L8S 4K1
  • Find this author on Google Scholar
  • Find this author on PubMed
  • Search for this author on this site
Brendan L. McEwen
1Department of Psychology, Neuroscience & Behaviour, McMaster University, Hamilton, ON, Canada L8S 4K1
  • Find this author on Google Scholar
  • Find this author on PubMed
  • Search for this author on this site
Brett M. Culbert
3Department of Integrative Biology, University of Guelph, Guelph, ON, Canada N1G 2W1
  • Find this author on Google Scholar
  • Find this author on PubMed
  • Search for this author on this site
Sigal Balshine
1Department of Psychology, Neuroscience & Behaviour, McMaster University, Hamilton, ON, Canada L8S 4K1
  • Find this author on Google Scholar
  • Find this author on PubMed
  • Search for this author on this site
Jonathan N. Pruitt
1Department of Psychology, Neuroscience & Behaviour, McMaster University, Hamilton, ON, Canada L8S 4K1
2Marine Science Institute, University of California Santa Barbara, Santa Barbara, CA, USA 93106
  • Find this author on Google Scholar
  • Find this author on PubMed
  • Search for this author on this site
  • Abstract
  • Full Text
  • Info/History
  • Metrics
  • Preview PDF
Loading

ABSTRACT

Intra-group social stability is important for the long-term productivity and health of social organisms. We evaluated the effect of group size on group stability in the face of repeated social perturbations using a cooperatively breeding fish, Neolamprologus pulcher. In a laboratory study, we compared both the social and physiological responses of individuals from small versus large groups to the repeated removal and replacement of the most dominant group member (the breeder male). Individuals living in large groups were overall more resistant to instability but were seemingly slower to recover from perturbation. Members of small group were more vulnerable to instability but recovered faster. Breeder females in smaller groups also showed greater physiological preparedness for instability following social perturbations. In sum, we recover both behavioral and physiological evidence that living in larger groups helps to dampen the impacts of social instability in this system.

Summary Statement Social stability is vital for group productivity and long-term persistence. Here, both behavioral and physiological evidence conveys that larger groups are less susceptible to social disturbance.

Copyright 
The copyright holder for this preprint is the author/funder, who has granted bioRxiv a license to display the preprint in perpetuity. It is made available under a CC-BY-ND 4.0 International license.
Back to top
PreviousNext
Posted October 25, 2019.
Download PDF
Email

Thank you for your interest in spreading the word about bioRxiv.

NOTE: Your email address is requested solely to identify you as the sender of this article.

Enter multiple addresses on separate lines or separate them with commas.
Behavioral and physiological evidence that increasing group size ameliorates the impacts of social disturbance
(Your Name) has forwarded a page to you from bioRxiv
(Your Name) thought you would like to see this page from the bioRxiv website.
CAPTCHA
This question is for testing whether or not you are a human visitor and to prevent automated spam submissions.
Share
Behavioral and physiological evidence that increasing group size ameliorates the impacts of social disturbance
Hannah M. Anderson, Alexander G. Little, David N. Fisher, Brendan L. McEwen, Brett M. Culbert, Sigal Balshine, Jonathan N. Pruitt
bioRxiv 818401; doi: https://doi.org/10.1101/818401
Reddit logo Twitter logo Facebook logo LinkedIn logo Mendeley logo
Citation Tools
Behavioral and physiological evidence that increasing group size ameliorates the impacts of social disturbance
Hannah M. Anderson, Alexander G. Little, David N. Fisher, Brendan L. McEwen, Brett M. Culbert, Sigal Balshine, Jonathan N. Pruitt
bioRxiv 818401; doi: https://doi.org/10.1101/818401

Citation Manager Formats

  • BibTeX
  • Bookends
  • EasyBib
  • EndNote (tagged)
  • EndNote 8 (xml)
  • Medlars
  • Mendeley
  • Papers
  • RefWorks Tagged
  • Ref Manager
  • RIS
  • Zotero
  • Tweet Widget
  • Facebook Like
  • Google Plus One

Subject Area

  • Animal Behavior and Cognition
Subject Areas
All Articles
  • Animal Behavior and Cognition (4847)
  • Biochemistry (10781)
  • Bioengineering (8035)
  • Bioinformatics (27263)
  • Biophysics (13967)
  • Cancer Biology (11115)
  • Cell Biology (16035)
  • Clinical Trials (138)
  • Developmental Biology (8773)
  • Ecology (13270)
  • Epidemiology (2067)
  • Evolutionary Biology (17346)
  • Genetics (11681)
  • Genomics (15905)
  • Immunology (11015)
  • Microbiology (26054)
  • Molecular Biology (10628)
  • Neuroscience (56486)
  • Paleontology (417)
  • Pathology (1729)
  • Pharmacology and Toxicology (3000)
  • Physiology (4539)
  • Plant Biology (9618)
  • Scientific Communication and Education (1613)
  • Synthetic Biology (2685)
  • Systems Biology (6970)
  • Zoology (1508)