Department of Ecology, University of Veterinary Medicine Budapest, Budapest, Hungary.
Department of Zoology, Edward Grey Institute, University of Oxford, Oxford, UK.
Sci Rep. 2020 Aug 17;10(1):13872. doi: 10.1038/s41598-020-70595-w.
The social environment is a key factor determining fitness by influencing multiple stages of reproduction, including pair formation, mating behavior and parenting. However, the influence of social structure across different aspects of breeding is rarely examined simultaneously in wild populations. We therefore lack a consolidation of the mechanisms by which sociality impacts reproduction. Here we investigate the implications of the social environment before and during breeding on multiple stages of reproduction in an island population of the ground nesting shorebird, the Kentish plover (Charadrius alexandrinus). We utilise information on mating decisions, nest locations and nesting success across multiple years in combination with social network analysis. Sociality before breeding was connected with patterns of pair formation. In addition, site fidelity and personal breeding experience was associated with the spatial organisation of breeding pairs. Our results provide evidence that, while differential social interactions at localised scales influence patterns of reproductive pairing, site fidelity and personal breeding experience influence the structure of populations at the landscape scale. Our results underline the tight link between the social structure of populations and patterns of mating, while revealing that the relative influence of sociality, breeding experience and local ecology are dynamic across different facets of reproduction.
社会环境是决定适合度的一个关键因素，它通过影响繁殖的多个阶段来发挥作用，包括配对形成、交配行为和育雏行为。然而，在野生种群中，很少同时检验社会结构对繁殖不同方面的影响。因此，我们缺乏一个关于社会性影响繁殖的机制的综合认识。在这里，我们研究了繁殖前和繁殖期间的社会环境对岛屿繁殖的滨鸟——蛎鹬（Charadrius alexandrinus）的多个繁殖阶段的影响。我们利用了多年来有关交配决策、巢位和繁殖成功率的信息，并结合社会网络分析。繁殖前的社会性与配对模式有关。此外，地点忠诚度和个人繁殖经验与繁殖对的空间组织有关。我们的研究结果表明，尽管局部尺度上的差异社会互动影响了繁殖配对的模式，但地点忠诚度和个人繁殖经验影响了景观尺度上的种群结构。我们的研究结果强调了种群的社会结构与交配模式之间的紧密联系，同时揭示了社会性、繁殖经验和局部生态在不同繁殖方面的相对影响是动态的。
