Department of Evolutionary Anthropology, Duke University, Durham, NC 27708, USA.
Yerkes National Primate Research Center, Emory University, Atlanta, GA 30322, USA.
Philos Trans R Soc Lond B Biol Sci. 2022 Feb 28;377(1845):20210132. doi: 10.1098/rstb.2021.0132. Epub 2022 Jan 10.
Variation in social status predicts molecular, physiological and life-history outcomes across a broad range of species, including our own. Experimental studies indicate that some of these relationships persist even when the physical environment is held constant. Here, we draw on datasets from one such study-experimental manipulation of dominance rank in captive female rhesus macaques-to investigate how social status shapes the lived experience of these animals to alter gene regulation, glucocorticoid physiology and mitochondrial DNA phenotypes. We focus specifically on dominance rank-associated dimensions of the social environment, including both competitive and affiliative interactions. Our results show that simple summaries of rank-associated behavioural interactions are often better predictors of molecular and physiological outcomes than dominance rank itself. However, while measures of immune function are best explained by agonism rates, glucocorticoid-related phenotypes tend to be more closely linked to affiliative behaviour. We conclude that dominance rank serves as a useful summary for investigating social environmental effects on downstream outcomes. Nevertheless, the behavioural interactions that define an individual's daily experiences reveal the proximate drivers of social status-related differences and are especially relevant for understanding why individuals who share the same social status sometimes appear physiologically distinct. This article is part of the theme issue 'The centennial of the pecking order: current state and future prospects for the study of dominance hierarchies'.
社会地位的变化可以预测包括人类在内的广泛物种的分子、生理和生活史结果。实验研究表明，即使物理环境保持不变，其中一些关系仍然存在。在这里，我们利用来自一项此类研究的数据——对圈养雌性恒河猴的支配等级进行实验操纵——来研究社会地位如何塑造这些动物的生活体验，从而改变基因调控、糖皮质激素生理学和线粒体 DNA 表型。我们特别关注与社会环境相关的支配等级相关维度，包括竞争和亲和性相互作用。我们的研究结果表明，与支配等级相关的行为相互作用的简单总结通常比支配等级本身更能预测分子和生理结果。然而，尽管免疫功能的衡量标准最好由攻击率来解释，但与糖皮质激素相关的表型往往与亲和性行为更密切相关。我们得出的结论是，支配等级是研究社会环境对下游结果的影响的有用总结。然而，定义个体日常体验的行为相互作用揭示了与社会地位相关差异的直接驱动因素，对于理解为什么具有相同社会地位的个体有时在生理上看起来不同尤其重要。本文是主题问题“啄序的百年：支配等级研究的现状和未来前景”的一部分。
