Atton N, Galef B J, Hoppitt W, Webster M M, Laland K N
School of Biology, University of St Andrews, Harold Mitchell Building, Fife KY16 9TH, UK.
Department of Psychology, Neuroscience and Behaviour, McMaster University, Hamilton, Ontario, Canada L8S 4K1.
Proc Biol Sci. 2014 Aug 22;281(1789):20140579. doi: 10.1098/rspb.2014.0579.
Numerous factors affect the fine-scale social structure of animal groups, but it is unclear how important such factors are in determining how individuals encounter resources. Familiarity affects shoal choice and structure in many social fishes. Here, we show that familiarity between shoal members of sticklebacks (Gasterosteus aculeatus) affects both fine-scale social organization and the discovery of resources. Social network analysis revealed that sticklebacks remained closer to familiar than to unfamiliar individuals within the same shoal. Network-based diffusion analysis revealed that there was a strong untransmitted social effect on patch discovery, with individuals tending to discover a task sooner if a familiar individual from their group had previously done so than if an unfamiliar fish had done so. However, in contrast to the effect of familiarity, the frequency with which individuals had previously associated with one another had no effect upon the likelihood of prey patch discovery. This may have been due to the influence of fish on one another's movements; the effect of familiarity on discovery of an empty 'control' patch was as strong as for discovery of an actual prey patch. Our results demonstrate that factors affecting fine-scale social interactions can also influence how individuals encounter and exploit resources.
许多因素会影响动物群体的精细社会结构，但尚不清楚这些因素在决定个体如何获取资源方面有多重要。熟悉程度会影响许多群居鱼类的鱼群选择和结构。在此，我们表明棘鱼（刺鱼）群体成员之间的熟悉程度会影响精细社会组织和资源发现。社会网络分析显示，在同一鱼群中，棘鱼与熟悉的个体比与不熟悉的个体靠得更近。基于网络的扩散分析表明，在斑块发现方面存在强烈的未传递社会效应，即如果群体中熟悉的个体之前发现了任务，那么个体往往比不熟悉的鱼之前发现任务时更快发现任务。然而，与熟悉程度的影响相反，个体之间先前相互联系的频率对发现猎物斑块的可能性没有影响。这可能是由于鱼对彼此运动的影响；熟悉程度对发现空的“对照”斑块的影响与发现实际猎物斑块的影响一样强烈。我们的结果表明，影响精细社会互动的因素也会影响个体如何获取和利用资源。
