Animal Social Networks

The scientific study of networks - computer, social, and biological - has received an enormous amount of interest in recent years. However, the network approach has been applied to the field of animal behaviour relatively late compared to many other biological disciplines. Understanding social network structure is of great importance for biologists since the structural characteristics of any network will affect its constituent members and influence a range of diverse behaviours. These include finding and choosing a sexual partner, developing and maintaining cooperative relationships, and engaging in foraging and anti-predator behavior. This novel text provides an overview of the insights that network analysis has provided into major biological processes, and how it has enhanced our understanding of the social organisation of several important taxonomic groups. It brings together researchers from a wide range of disciplines with the aim of providing both an overview of the power of the network approach for understanding patterns and process in animal populations, as well as outlining how current methodological constraints and challenges can be overcome. Animal Social Networks is principally aimed at graduate level students and researchers in the fields of ecology, zoology, animal behaviour, and evolutionary biology but will also be of interest to social scientists.SECTION I: INTRODUCTION ; 1. General Introduction ; 2. Network Primer ; SECTION II: PATTERNS AND PROCESSES ; 3. Assortment in social networks and the evolution of cooperation ; 4. Mating behaviour: Sexual networks and sexual selection ; 5. Quantifying diffusion on social networks: a Bayesian Approach ; 6. Personality and social network analysis in animals ; 7. Temporal changes in dominance networks and other behavior sequences ; 8. Group movement and social networks ; 9. Communication ; 10. Disease transmission ; 11. Social networks and animal welfare ; SECTION III: TAXONOMIC OVERVIEWS ; 12. Primate social networks ; 13. Oceanic societies: Studying cetaceans with a social networks approach ; 14. The network approach in teleost fishes and elasmobranchs ; 15. Social networks in insect colonies ; 16. Perspectives on social network analyses of bird populations ; 17. Networks of terrestrial ungulates: linking form and function ; 18. Linking lizards: Social networks in reptiles ; 19. General Conclusion