Cognitive and Cultural Ecology Research Group, Max Planck Institute of Animal Behavior, Radolfzell, Germany.
Department of Zoology, Edward Grey Institute, University of Oxford, Oxford, UK.
J Anim Ecol. 2021 Jan;90(1):222-232. doi: 10.1111/1365-2656.13295. Epub 2020 Aug 10.
Parrots are often referenced in discussions of social and cognitive complexity, yet relatively little is known of their social organization in the wild. In particular, the presence of long-lasting social ties has been highlighted as a hallmark of social complexity; however, the presence of such ties can be masked in fission-fusion systems like that exhibited by most parrot species. Social network analysis has the potential to elucidate such multi-level dynamics. While most parrot species are tropical canopy dwellers, a subset has successfully colonized urban habitats, where they are often the focus of much public interest. Our study takes advantage of this to use citizen science to collect observations of wing-tagged sulphur-crested cockatoos in central Sydney and record their social associations over multiple years. Using a specifically designed mobile phone application 'Wingtags', we collected over >27,000 citizen science reports of wing-tagged cockatoos, and built social networks from spatial-temporal co-occurrences in observations for 130 tagged birds. To validate this novel methodology, we GPS-tagged a subset of wing-tagged birds and compared networks built from both data collection methods. We then examined correlates of social network structure before exploring the temporal dynamics of network structure and social associations. Social networks constructed from GPS data and citizen science data were highly correlated, suggesting that this novel methodology is robust. Network structure exhibited little seasonal variability and was largely driven by roost site choice; however, individuals also showed a surprising degree of mixing between roosts in their foraging associations. Finally, within this larger fission-fusion system, individuals tended to maintain specific social ties for long periods of time. There was an effect of age on these temporal dynamics, with aging individuals increasing both social stability and longevity of associations. Our findings highlight the utility of citizen science to measure social networks in urban species, and add to the evidence that long-lasting social associations can persist in fission-fusion social systems such as those observed in wild sulphur-crested cockatoos.
鹦鹉常被用来讨论社会和认知的复杂性，然而，关于它们在野外的社会组织却知之甚少。特别是，持久的社会联系的存在被认为是社会复杂性的标志；然而，在像大多数鹦鹉物种所表现出的那种融合-分裂系统中，这种联系可能被掩盖了。社会网络分析有可能阐明这种多层次的动态。虽然大多数鹦鹉物种都是热带树冠的居民，但有一部分已经成功地在城市栖息地中定居，在那里，它们经常是公众关注的焦点。我们的研究利用这一点，利用公民科学收集悉尼市中心带有翼标冠鹦鹉的观察数据，并记录它们多年来的社会联系。我们使用专门设计的移动电话应用程序“Wingtags”收集了超过 27000 份带有翼标冠鹦鹉的公民科学报告，并从 130 只标记鸟类的观察中时空共现的情况构建了社会网络。为了验证这种新的方法，我们对一小部分带有翼标冠的鸟类进行了 GPS 标记，并比较了从这两种数据收集方法构建的网络。然后，我们在探索网络结构的时间动态和社会联系之前，研究了社会网络结构的相关因素。从 GPS 数据和公民科学数据构建的网络高度相关，这表明这种新的方法是可靠的。网络结构几乎没有季节性变化，主要由栖息地选择驱动；然而，个体在觅食关联中也表现出在栖息地之间混合的惊人程度。最后，在这个更大的融合-分裂系统中，个体往往会长期保持特定的社会联系。年龄对这些时间动态有影响，随着年龄的增长，个体的社会稳定性和关联的持久性都在增加。我们的研究结果突出了公民科学在城市物种中测量社会网络的作用，并为以下证据增添了证据，即在像野生冠鹦鹉所观察到的那种融合-分裂社会系统中，持久的社会联系是可以持续存在的。
