Skip to main content
SpringerLink
Log in

Behavioural trait assortment in a social network: patterns and implications

  • Original Paper
  • Published:
Behavioral Ecology and Sociobiology Aims and scope Submit manuscript

Abstract

The social fine structure of a population plays a central role in ecological and evolutionary processes. Whilst many studies have investigated how morphological traits such as size affect social structure of populations, comparatively little is known about the influence of behaviours such as boldness and shyness. Using information on social interactions in a wild population of Trinidadian guppies (Poecilia reticulata), we construct a social network. For each individual in the network, we quantify its behavioural phenotype using two measures of boldness, predator inspection tendency, a repeatable and reliably measured behaviour well studied in the context of co-operation, and shoaling tendency. We observe striking heterogeneity in contact patterns, with strong ties being positively assorted and weak ties negatively assorted by our measured behavioural traits. Moreover, shy fish had more network connections than bold fish and these were on average stronger. In other words, social fine structure is strongly influenced by behavioural trait. We assert that such structure will have implications for the outcome of selection on behavioural traits and we speculate that the observed positive assortment may act as an amplifier of selection contributing to the maintenance of co-operation during predator inspection.

This is a preview of subscription content, log in via an institution to check access.

Access this article

Log in via an institution

Price excludes VAT (USA)
Tax calculation will be finalised during checkout.

Instant access to the full article PDF.

Institutional subscriptions

Fig. 1
Fig. 2
Fig. 3
Fig. 4

Similar content being viewed by others

References

  • Aktipis CA (2004) Know when to walk away: contingent movement and the evolution of cooperation. J Theor Biol 231:249–260

    Article  PubMed  Google Scholar 

  • Budaev SV (1997) “Personality” in the guppy (Poecilia reticulata): a correlational study of exploratory behavior and social tendency. J Comp Psychol 111:399–411

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Cairns SJ, Schwager SJ (1987) A comparison of association indexes. Anim Behav 35:1454–1469

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Conradt L (1998) Could asynchrony in activity between the sexes cause intersexual social segregation in ruminants? Proc R Soc Lond B Biol Sci 265:1359–1363

    Article  CAS  Google Scholar 

  • Croft DP, Albanese B, Arrowsmith BJ, Botham M, Webster M, Krause J (2003a) Sex biased movement in the guppy (Poecilia reticulata). Oecologia 137:62–68

    Article  PubMed  Google Scholar 

  • Croft DP, Arrowsmith BJ, Bielby J, Skinner K, White E, Couzin ID, Magurran AE, Ramnarine I, Krause J (2003b) Mechanisms underlying shoal composition in the Trinidadian guppy (Poecilia reticulata). Oikos 100:429–438

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Croft DP, Krause J, James R (2004) Social networks in the guppy (Poecilia reticulata). Proc R Soc Lond B Biol Sci 271:S516–S519

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Croft DP, James R, Ward AJW, Botham MS, Mawdsley D, Krause J (2005) Assortative interactions and social networks in fish. Oecologia 143:211–219

    Article  PubMed  CAS  Google Scholar 

  • Croft DP, James R, Thomas POR, Hathaway C, Mawdsley D, Laland KN, Krause J (2006a) Social structure and co-operative interactions in a wild population of guppies (Poecilia reticulata). Behav Ecol Sociobiol 59:644–650

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Croft DP, Morrell LJ, Wade AS, Piyapong C, Ioannou CC, Dyer JRG, Chapman BB, Yan W, Krause J (2006b) Predation risk as a driving force for sexual segregation: a cross-population comparison. Am Nat 167:867–878

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Croft DP, James R, Krause J (2008) Exploring animal social networks. Princeton University Press, Princeton, NJ

    Google Scholar 

  • Darden SK, Croft DP (2008) Male harassment drives females to alter habitat use and leads to segregation of the sexes. Biol Lett 4:449–451

    Article  PubMed  Google Scholar 

  • Dugatkin LA (1988) Do guppies play tit for tat during predator inspection visits? Behav Ecol Sociobiol 23:395–399

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Dugatkin LA (1992) Tendency to inspect predators predicts mortality risk in the guppy (Poecilia reticulata). Behav Ecol 3:124–127

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Dugatkin LA, Alfieri M (1991) Guppies and the tit-for-tat strategy - preference based on past interaction. Behav Ecol Sociobiol 28:243–246

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Dugatkin LA, Wilson DS (2000) Assortative interactions and the evolution of cooperation during predator inspection in guppies (Poecilia reticulata). Evol Ecol Res 2:761–767

    Google Scholar 

  • Godin JGJ, Davis SA (1995) Who dares, benefits: predator approach behaviour in the guppy (Poecilia reticualta) deters predator pursuit. Proc R Soc Lond B Biol Sci 259:193–200

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Gosling SD (2001) From mice to men: what can we learn about personality from animal research? Psychol Bull 127:45–86

    Article  PubMed  CAS  Google Scholar 

  • Huntingford F (1976) The relationship between anti-predator behaviour and aggression among conspecifics in the three-spined stickleback, Gasterosteus aculeatus. Anim Behav 24:245–260

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • James R, Croft DP, Krause J (2009) Potential banana skins in animal social network analysis. Behav Ecol Sociobiol 63:989–997

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Krause J, Ruxton GD (2002) Living in groups. Oxford University Press, Oxford

    Google Scholar 

  • Krause J, Butlin RK, Peuhkuri N, Pritchard VL (2000) The social organization of fish shoals: a test of the predictive power of laboratory experiments for the field. Biol Rev 75:477–501

    PubMed  CAS  Google Scholar 

  • Krause J, Croft DP, James R (2007) Social network theory in the behavioural sciences: potential applications. Behav Ecol Sociobiol 62:15–27

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Krause J, Lusseau D, James R (2009) Animal social networks: an introduction. Behav Ecol Sociobiol 63:967–973

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Külling D, Milinski M (1992) Size-dependent predation risk and partner quality in predator inspection of sticklebacks. Anim Behav 44:949–955

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Landeau L, Terborgh J (1986) Oddity and the confusion effect in predation. Anim Behav 34:1372–1380

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Magurran AE (1993) Individual differences and alternative behaviours. In: Pitcher TJ (ed) Behaviour of teleost fishes, 2nd edn. Chapman & Hall, London

    Google Scholar 

  • Magurran AE, Higham A (1988) Information transfer across fish shoals under predator threat. Ethology 78:153–158

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Maynard Smith J (1982) Evolution and the theory of games. Cambridge University Press, Cambridge

    Google Scholar 

  • Milinski M (1987) Tit-for-Tat in sticklebacks and the evolution of cooperation. Nature 325:433–435

    Article  PubMed  CAS  Google Scholar 

  • Milinski M, Luthi JH, Eggler R, Parker GA (1997) Cooperation under predation risk: experiments on costs and benefits. Proc R Soc Lond B Biol Sci 264:831–837

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Milinski M, Pfluger D, Külling D, Kettler R (1990) Do sticklebacks cooperate repeatedly in reciprocal pairs? Behav Ecol Sociobiol 27:17–21

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Newman MEJ (2003) Mixing patterns in networks. Phys Rev E 67:art. no.-026126

  • Ohguchi O (1978) Experiments on the selection against colour oddity of water fleas by three-spined stickelbacks. Z Tierpsychol 47:254–267

    Google Scholar 

  • Ohtsuki H, Hauert C, Lieberman E, Nowak MA (2006) A simple rule for the evolution of cooperation on graphs and social networks. Nature 441:502–505

    Article  PubMed  CAS  Google Scholar 

  • Pike TW, Samanta M, Lindström J, Royle NJ (2008) Behavioural phenotype affects interactions in a social network. Proc R Soc Lond B Biol Sci 275:2515–2520

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Pitcher TJ, Green DA, Magurran AE (1986) Dicing with death—predator inspection behaviour in minnow shoals. J Fish Biol 28:439–448

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Reale D, Reader SM, Sol D, McDougall PT, Dingemanse NJ (2007) Integrating animal temperament within ecology and evolution. Biol Rev 82:291–318

    Article  PubMed  Google Scholar 

  • Roberts SGB, Wilson R, Fedurek P, Dunbar RIM (2008) Individual differences and personal social network size and structure. Personality Individ Differ 44:954–964

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Ruckstuhl KE (1999) To synchronise or not to synchronise: a dilemma for young bighorn males? Behaviour 136:805–818

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Santos FC, Pacheco JM, Lenaerts T (2006) Cooperation prevails when individuals adjust their social ties. PLoS Comput Biol 2:1284–1291

    Article  CAS  Google Scholar 

  • Sih A, Bell A, Johnson JC (2004) Behavioral syndromes: an ecological and evolutionary overview. Trends Ecol Evol 19:372–378

    Article  PubMed  Google Scholar 

  • Szulkin M, Dawidowicz P, Dodson SI (2006) Behavioural uniformity as a response to cues of predation risk. Anim Behav 71:1013–1019

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Theodorakis CW (1989) Size segregation and the effects of oddity on predation risk in minnow schools. Anim Behav 38:496–502

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Thomas POR, Croft DP, Morrell LJ, Davis A, Faria JJ, Dyer JRG, Piyapong C, Ramnarine I, Ruxton GD, Krause J (2008) Does defection during predator inspection affect social structure in wild shoals of guppies? Anim Behav 75:43–53

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Wey T, Blumstein DT, Shen W, Jordan F (2008) Social network analysis of animal behaviour: a promising tool for the study of sociality. Anim Behav 75:333–344

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Wilson EO (1975) Sociobiology: the new synthesis. Harvard University Press, Cambridge, MA

    Google Scholar 

  • Wilson DS (1998) Adaptive individual differences within single populations. Philos Trans R Soc B-Biol Sci 353:199–205

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Wilson DS, Dugatkin LA (1997) Group selection and assortative interactions. Am Nat 149:336–351

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Wilson DS, Coleman K, Clark AB, Biederman L (1993) Shy bold continuum in pumpkinseed sunfish (Lepomis gibbosus): an ecological study of a psychological trait. J Comp Psychol 107:250–260

    Article  Google Scholar 

Download references

Acknowledgments

We would like to thank P. Thomas, M. Botham, J. Dyer, J. Ward and C. Piyapong for assistance with data collection and Graeme Ruxton and two anonymous referees for valuable comments on a previous version of this manuscript. Funding was provided to DPC by NERC (NE/E001181/1) and JK by the EPSRC (GR/T11241/01(P)).

Author information

Authors and Affiliations

  1. School of Biological Sciences, College of Natural Sciences, Bangor University, Bangor, UK

    Darren P. Croft & Safi K. Darden

  2. Centre for Research in Animal Behaviour, School of Psychology, University of Exeter, Exeter, UK

    Darren P. Croft & Safi K. Darden

  3. Institute of Integrative and Comparative Biology, University of Leeds, Leeds, UK

    Jens Krause & Jolyon J. Faria

  4. Department of Life Sciences, The University of the West Indies, St. Augustine, St. Augustine, Trinidad & Tobago

    Indar W. Ramnarine

  5. Department of Physics, University of Bath, Bath, UK

    Richard James

Authors
  1. Darren P. Croft
    View author publications

    You can also search for this author in PubMed Google Scholar

  2. Jens Krause
    View author publications

    You can also search for this author in PubMed Google Scholar

  3. Safi K. Darden
    View author publications

    You can also search for this author in PubMed Google Scholar

  4. Indar W. Ramnarine
    View author publications

    You can also search for this author in PubMed Google Scholar

  5. Jolyon J. Faria
    View author publications

    You can also search for this author in PubMed Google Scholar

  6. Richard James
    View author publications

    You can also search for this author in PubMed Google Scholar

Corresponding author

Correspondence to Darren P. Croft.

Additional information

Communicated by T. Bakker

Rights and permissions

Reprints and permissions

About this article

Cite this article

Croft, D.P., Krause, J., Darden, S.K. et al. Behavioural trait assortment in a social network: patterns and implications. Behav Ecol Sociobiol 63, 1495–1503 (2009). https://doi.org/10.1007/s00265-009-0802-x

Download citation

  • Received:

  • Revised:

  • Accepted:

  • Published:

  • Issue Date:

  • DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/s00265-009-0802-x

Keywords

Search

Navigation