Conradt L
LARG, Department of Zoology, University of Cambridge
Anim Behav. 1999 May;57(5):1151-1157. doi: 10.1006/anbe.1999.1067.
In many sexually dimorphic mammals, adults tend to form single-sex groups ('social segregation'). It has been assumed that social segregation is simply a by-product of sex differences in habitat use ('habitat segregation'). I tested this assumption on red deer, Cervus elaphus, and feral soay sheep, Ovis aries, using data on group composition, habitat use and space use collected on the Scottish islands of Rum (1974-1993) and Hirta (1985-1994), respectively. If social segregation had been a by-product of habitat segregation, then (1) social segregation should have been influenced by the same environmental parameters that influence habitat segregation and (2) degree of social segregation should have equalled (and in no case been larger than) degree of habitat segregation. However, I found that weather parameters that influence habitat segregation did not influence social segregation in red deer and that degree of social segregation was significantly larger than degree of habitat segregation in both species. I conclude that social segregation is not a by-product of habitat segregation in either species, and discuss the implications of this finding. Copyright 1999 The Association for the Study of Animal Behaviour.
在许多具有两性差异的哺乳动物中，成年个体倾向于形成单性别群体（“社会隔离”）。人们一直认为，社会隔离仅仅是栖息地利用方面性别差异（“栖息地隔离”）的一个副产品。我分别利用在苏格兰的拉姆岛（1974 - 1993年）和赫塔岛（1985 - 1994年）收集的关于群体组成、栖息地利用和空间利用的数据，对马鹿（Cervus elaphus）和野生索艾羊（Ovis aries）进行了这一假设的检验。如果社会隔离是栖息地隔离的一个副产品，那么（1）社会隔离应该受到影响栖息地隔离的相同环境参数的影响，并且（2）社会隔离程度应该等于（且在任何情况下都不大于）栖息地隔离程度。然而，我发现影响栖息地隔离的天气参数并未影响马鹿的社会隔离，并且在这两个物种中，社会隔离程度都显著大于栖息地隔离程度。我得出结论，在这两个物种中，社会隔离都不是栖息地隔离的副产品，并讨论了这一发现的意义。版权所有1999年动物行为研究协会。
