@article {Dakin694166, author = {Roslyn Dakin and T. Brandt Ryder}, title = {Reciprocity and behavioral heterogeneity govern the stability of social networks}, elocation-id = {694166}, year = {2019}, doi = {10.1101/694166}, publisher = {Cold Spring Harbor Laboratory}, abstract = {The structure of social network interactions can determine the transmission of information, the spread of diseases, and the stability of diverse systems1{\textendash}6. Despite this broad importance, a general framework for predicting social network stability has not been proposed7,8. Here, we use repeated measures of social structure in a cooperative bird species9,10, the wire-tailed manakin, to evaluate the causes of temporal network stability. We find that social networks become destabilized when partners interact less frequently, and when social connectedness within the network increases. This negative effect of connectivity also predicts the temporal persistence of social partnerships on an annual timescale. These results were surprising11, especially given that individuals who were more connected in the manakin population had more stable social partnerships. This apparent paradox arises from a within-individual behavioral trade-off between the maintenance of partner quantity and quality. Crucially, the trade-off is easily masked by substantial among-individual heterogeneity in sociality12,13. Using individual-based simulations, we show that these results are explained by a simple model that combines among-individual behavioral heterogeneity and reciprocity within the network. This model also demonstrates how among-individual heterogeneity, a ubiquitous feature of natural societies13,14, can stabilize a social network. However, simulations including only heterogeneity or reciprocity alone were insufficient to generate the empirical patterns of stability. Together, these findings provide unifying principles that are expected to govern the stability of diverse social systems.}, URL = {https://www.biorxiv.org/content/early/2019/07/07/694166}, eprint = {https://www.biorxiv.org/content/early/2019/07/07/694166.full.pdf}, journal = {bioRxiv} }