Vigilance in Przewalski's gazelle: effects of sex, predation risk and group size

Vigilance in social animals is often aimed at detecting predators. Many social and environmental factors influence vigilance, including sex, predation risk and group size. During the summer of 2007, we studied Przewalski's gazelle Procapra przewalskii , an endemic ungulate to the Qinghai-Tibet Plateau, to test whether and how these three factors affect vigilance. We distinguished groups consisting of males, mothers with lambs and females without lambs making observations on groups in the presence or absence of nearby predators. We assessed the group-size effect on vigilance and how this varied with levels of predation risk and sex. Males and mothers scanned longer and with a higher frequency than females without lambs. Individuals were more vigilant under direct predation threat. Although vigilance generally decreased with group size, the extent of the decrease was independent of predation risk and was not significant in males. The results suggest that mothers are more vigilant suggesting greater vulnerability and that males may have increased their vigilance to compete for higher social ranks. The positive correlation between vigilance and predation risk and the negative correlation between vigilance and group size are consistent with earlier findings, but we failed to find an interaction between group size and predation risk on vigilance perhaps because vigilance levels are low even in small groups, thus making similar vigilant upward adjustments in both small and large groups.     

The effects of group size and reproductive status on vigilance in captive Callithrix jacchus

Previous work on mammals and birds has often demonstrated a negative relationship between group size and individual vigilance. However, this relationship has received only weak support in nonhuman primates. This result may be due to the failure to distinguish different forms of vigilance such as antipredatory vigilance and social monitoring. Here, we tested the effects of group size, reproductive status (breeding vs. nonbreeding), and sex on antipredatory vigilance and social monitoring in captive common marmosets (Callithrix jacchus). Behavioral observations using one-zero sampling were conducted on adult members of three captive groups of small, medium, and large size. Data were analyzed using a series of general linear models (GLMs) analyses of covariance (ANCOVAs). We found an overall negative group size effect on antipredatory vigilance and that breeders, especially breeding males, were significantly more vigilant than nonbreeders. Conversely, we found that social monitoring increased with group size. Unlike the results for antipredatory vigilance, neither breeders and nonbreeders nor males and females differed in their amounts of social monitoring. However, the effect of group size appeared to differ for nonbreeding males compared to all other adults. Our results generally support the idea that individuals in larger groups are safer with breeding males likely playing a prominent role in protection from predation. The increase in social monitoring may be related to increased reproductive competition with the presence of adult offspring, but future studies need to clarify the target of social monitoring in both breeders and nonbreeders. Overall, the study underlines the importance of distinguishing different forms of vigilance and other factors as they may confound the effects of group size on antipredatory vigilance.     

道路交通对鹅喉羚昼间集群特征和警戒行为的影响

分析道路交通对濒危有蹄类动物行为模式的影响,阐明其行为反馈与适应机制,对制定道路工程干扰下濒危物种的保护方案具有重要意义。2015年和2016年6—8月,调查了国道216线白昼运营对新疆卡拉麦里山有蹄类野生动物自然保护区鹅喉羚(Gazella subgutturosa)集群特征和警戒行为的影响。研究发现,国道216线的扰动导致鹅喉羚集群规模显著增加;随着距国道216线距离越近,鹅喉羚警戒行为投入时间越多,距离道路500m可能是国道216线对鹅喉羚集群和警戒行为影响的阈值。本研究结果表明,道路带来的人为干扰与捕食风险相似,迫使鹅喉羚调节其集群规模和警戒水平。未来应加强道路等交通工程影响下保护区内野生动物的行为反馈和适应机制研究,据此提出减缓措施,降低道路对野生动物的负面影响。     

青海湖草原围栏对植物群落的影响兼论濒危动物普氏原羚的保护

青海省海晏县克图地区是我国特有动物普氏原羚 (Procapraprzewalskii)的主要分布地之一。我们于 2 0 0 1年 6月、7月和 8月在该地区开展了围栏内外植物群落的比较研究。围栏内无家畜放牧 ,主要草食野生动物为普氏原羚 ;围栏外为草食家畜放牧区。我们发现 ,自从 1999年建立草原围栏以后 ,围栏内外植物群落产生了明显差异 :(1)地上生物量。 6月份围栏外植物地上生物量显著低于围栏内 (df =39,p <0 .0 5 ) ;7、8月份围栏外植物地上生物量显著高于围栏内 (df=39,p <0 .0 5 )。 (2 )植物高度。 6月份围栏外的植物高度显著低于围栏内 (df =39,p <0 .0 5 ) ;7、8月份围栏外的植物高度与围栏内植物高度差异不显著 (df=39,p >0 .0 5 )。 (3)植物盖度。 6、7月份围栏外植物盖度显著低于围栏内 (df =19,p <0 .0 5 ) ;8月份围栏内外的植物盖度差异不显著 (df =19,p >0 .0 5 )。(4)牧草的比例。围栏外明显低于围栏内 (df =6 ,p <0 .0 5 ) ;围栏外非牧草的比例明显高于围栏内 (df =6 ,p <0 .0 5 )。 (5 )生物多样性。植物生长季节围栏外植物群落的生物多样性显著高于围栏内 (df =6 ,p <0 .0 5 )。在草原生态系统围栏内外植物群落研究结果比较的基础上 ,讨论了草食动物采食强度对草原生态系统植物群落影响和围栏与野生     

Mating behavior of cockerels: Effects of social status,group size and group density

Mating behavior was studied to reexamine the correlation between social status of cockerels and mating frequency. A moderate correlation of 0.30 (P < 0.025) was found between males-dominated and completed-matings-per-hour. This relationship was not as large as expected from the findings by Guhl and Warren (1946), but was closer to the results of Craig et al. (1977). Completed matings, aggressive acts and interferences increased relative to dominance categories in four combinations of group size and density. Males with more area had more (P < 0.05) courting, completed matings and aggressive acts, and smaller flocks showed more behavioral activity. Mating activities peaked between the second and third weeks after flock formation. Mating proficiency increased linearly over time and was adversely affected by interference until the fourth week.     

Interactions among social monitoring,anti-predator vigilance and group size in eastern grey kangaroos

Group size is known to affect both the amount of time that prey animals spend in vigilance and the degree to which the vigilance of group members is synchronized. However, the variation in group-size effects reported in the literature is not yet understood. Prey animals exhibit vigilance both to protect themselves against predators and to monitor other group members, and both forms of vigilance presumably influence group-size effects on vigilance. However, our understanding of the patterns of individual investment underlying the time sharing between anti-predator and social vigilance is still limited. We studied patterns of variation in individual vigilance and the synchronization of vigilance with group size in a wild population of eastern grey kangaroos (Macropus giganteus) subject to predation, in particular focusing on peripheral females because we expected that they would exhibit both social and anti-predator vigilance. There was no global effect of group size on individual vigilance. The lack of group-size effect was the result of two compensating effects. The proportion of time individuals spent looking at other group members increased, whereas the proportion of time they spent scanning the environment decreased with group size; as a result, overall vigilance levels did not change with group size. Moreover, a degree of synchrony of vigilance occurred within groups and that degree increased with the proportion of vigilance time peripheral females spent in anti-predator vigilance. Our results highlight the crucial roles of both social and anti-predator components of vigilance in the understanding of the relationship between group size and vigilance, as well as in the synchronization of vigilance among group members.     

普氏原羚的分布和种群数量调查

2003 年8 ～9 月,对青海省境内普氏原羚的分布和种群数量进行了专项调查。调查结果表明,普氏原羚现存7 个种群,累计数量为602 只;其中塔勒旋果种群属首次报道。与以往报道相比,目前元者和鸟岛种群数量呈下降趋势;海晏—刚察种群数量增长明显;湖东—克图种群数量有所回升,但仍没有达到20 世纪80 年代中期时的种群数量。普氏原羚种群数量变化与栖息地质量及人为干扰程度有密切相关。本次调查显示,普氏原羚现存栖息地呈不连续的间断分布,随着区域经济开发力度的加大,其栖息地在不断缩减、生存环境质量仍在继续恶化。     

Group size effect on vigilance: evidence from Tibetan gazelle in Upper Buha River, Qinghai-Tibet Plateau

Tibetan gazelle Procapra picticaudata is a threatened and endemic species to the Qinghai-Tibet Plateau. With the method of group scan sampling, we observed the behaviours of males and females of the gazelle in the two summers of 2005 and 2006, in order to test the group size effect on group vigilance. We found that male gazelles were significantly more vigilant than the females at both group scan level (percentage of individuals scanning during a session) and group scan frequency (percentage of intervals with at least one individual scanning). We also found a negative correlation between group scan level and group size and a positive correlation between group scan frequency and group size, showing the group size effect on vigilance was testified in Tibetan gazelle. The predation factor might be the main driving force for the group size effect.     

Age, social rank and lactational status influence ovulatory patterns in seasonally breeding rhesus monkeys

Rhesus monkeys housed outdoors exhibit a distinct breeding season limited to the fall and winter months. Four groups of female rhesus monkeys, multiparous nonlactating (MNL; n = 8), multiparous lactating (ML; n = 6), primiparous lactating (PL; n = 3) and nulliparous first-time ovulators (N; n = 6) were studied to investigate the influence of age, parity, and social dominance rank on the parameters of the breeding season. MNL exhibited the longest season (146 days), and PL the shortest (70 days), with N (106 days) and ML (89 days) intermediate. PL females also had a significantly reduced percentage of normal ovulations compared to other groups. Neither body weight nor estimates of body fat were related to either the timing of the ovulatory season or the quality of ovulations within the season. Parity and social dominance rank were significantly related to the percentage of normal ovulations (r = 0.85), with low-ranking, primiparous females exhibiting the fewest normal ovulations. These data indicate that the presence of a suckling infant acts synergistically with environmental factors to determine the parameters of the breeding season. Furthermore, postpubertal females may be more responsive to those factors that terminate the breeding season, and some factor independent of body weight but associated with low social dominance rank and/or primiparity renders females less capable of normal luteal function during the breeding season.     

青海湖东-克图地区普氏原羚生境适宜性评价

普氏原羚(Procapraprzewalskii)是我国特有珍稀濒危动物,历史上曾分布于我国的内蒙古、甘肃、宁夏和青海等地,现仅分布在青海湖周边地区。作者通过2002–2004年不同季节的实地调查,在地理信息系统(GIS)的支持下,以可食植物丰富度、坡度、隐蔽条件和人类活动等为评价因子,采用生境评价模型,对普氏原羚的主要分布区之一青海湖东-克图地区进行了适宜性评价。评价结果表明,不考虑人类活动影响时普氏原羚的适宜和次适宜生境面积分别为2493.76hm2和18624.06hm2,分别占研究区总面积的8.05%和60.15%;考虑人类活动影响时,普氏原羚的适宜和次适宜生境面积分别减少了5.81%和33.09%,而不适宜生境面积增加了38.90%。由于普氏原羚的生境受到居民地、道路、围栏等人类活动的强烈影响,导致大量适宜生境丧失,生境隔离和破碎化日益加剧,建议重新规划保护区,将普氏原羚的适宜生境划入保护区的核心区;建立生境廊道,拆除部分围栏,以提高普氏原羚的生境质量,促进其种群的发展。     

The effects of dominance rank and group size on female lifetime reproductive success in wild long-tailed macaques,Macaca fascicularis

Demographic changes were recorded throughout a 12-year period for three social groups ofMacaca fascicularis in a natural population at Ketambe (Sumatra, Indonesia). We examined the prediction that females' lifetime reproductive success depended on dominance rank and group size. Average birth rate was 0.53 (184 infants born during 349 female years). For mature females (aged 8–20 yr) birth rate reflected physical condition, being higher in years with high food availability and lower in the year following the production of a surviving infant. High-ranking females were significantly more likely than low-ranking ones to give birth again when they did have a surviving offspring born the year before (0.50 vs 0.26), especially in years with relatively low food availability (0.37 vs 0.10). Controlled comparisons of groups at different sizes indicate a decline in birth rate with rroup size only once a group has exceeded a certain size. The dominance effect on birth rate tended to be strongest in large groups. Survival of infants was rank-dependent, but the survival of juveniles was not. There was a trend for offspring survival to be lower in large groups than in mid-sized or small groups. However, rank and group size interacted, in that rank effects on offspring survival were strongest in large groups. High-ranking females were less likely to die themselves during their top-reproductive years, and thus on average had longer reproductive careers. We estimated female lifetime reproductive success based on calculated age-specific birth rates and survival rates. The effects of rank and group size (contest and scramble) on birth rate, offspring survival, age of first reproduction for daughters, and length of reproductive career, while not each consistently statistically significant, added up to substantial effects on estimated lifetime reproductive success. The group size effects explain why large groups tend to split permanently. Since females are philopatric in this species, and daughters achieve dominance rank positions similar to their mother, a close correlation is suggested between the lifetime reproductive success of mothers and daughters. For sons, too, maternal dominance affected their reproductive success: high-born males were more likely to become top-dominant (in another group). These data support the idea that natural selection has favored the evolution of a nepotistic rank system in this species, even if the annual benefits of dominance are small.     

Colony size,social complexity and reproductive conflict in social insects

The broad limits of mature colony size in social insect species are likely to be set by ecological factors. However, any change in colony size has a number of important social consequences. The most fundamental is a change in the expected reproductive potential of workers. If colony size rises, workers experience a fall in their chances of becoming replacement reproductives and, it is shown, increasing selection for mutual inhibition of one another's reproduction (worker policing). As workers’ reproductive potential falls, the degree of dimorphism between reproductive and worker castes (morphological skew) can rise. This helps explain why small societies have low morphological skew and tend to be simple in organization, whereas large societies have high morphological skew and tend to be complex. The social consequences of change in colony size may also alter colony size itself in a process of positive feedback. For these reasons, small societies should be characterized by intense, direct conflict over reproduction and caste determination. By contrast, conflict in large societies should predominantly be over brood composition, and members of these societies should be relatively compliant to manipulation of their caste. Colony size therefore deserves fuller recognition as a key determinant, along with kin structure, of social complexity, the reproductive potential of helpers, the degree of caste differentiation, and the nature of within-group conflict.     

Effects of social environment on welfare status and sexual behaviour of female pigs. I. Effects of group size

This study examined the effects of housing 24 adult female pigs in groups of 2, 4 or 8 with a space allowance of 1.4 m² per pig on welfare status, as indicated by plasma free-corticosteroid concentrations and behaviour patterns, and sexual behaviour. Housing gilts in pairs resulted in an increase in free corticosteroid concentrations(measured 11 and 84 days after the start of the treatments) and an increase in the number of observations of lying behaviour without physical contact with another pig (recorded 21 days after entering the treatment) compared to housing in groups of 4 or 8. Overall mean free corticosteroid concentrations (±S.E.) were 3.1 ± 0.29, 2.3 ± 0.26 and 1.9 ± 0.12 ng ml⁻¹, and the mean numbers of observations of lying-alone behaviour (out of a total of 88 observations) were 6.4, 3.6 and 1.9 for gilts housed in groups of 2, 4 or 8, respectively. Although there were no differences between treatments in agonistic behaviour around the time of feeding, these data suggest there are undefined social stressors in pigs housed in pairs. Housing treatment had no significant effects on sexual behaviour. However, the mating rate was low in all treatments, possibly due to a sub-optimal space allowance.     

Effects of social group size on information transfer and task allocation

Summary Social animals exchange information during social interaction. The rate of interaction and, hence, the rate of information exchange, typically changes with density and density may be affected by the size of the social group. We investigate models in which each individual may be engaged in one of several tasks. For example, the different tasks could represent alternative foraging locations exploited by an ant colony. An individual's decision about which task to pursue depends both on environmental stimuli and on interactions among individuals. We examine how group size affects the allocation of individuals among the various tasks. Analysis of the models shows the following. (1) Simple interactions among individuals with limited ability to process information can lead to group behaviour that closely approximates the predictions of evolutionary optimality models, (2) Because per capita rates of social interaction may increase with group size, larger groups may be more efficient than smaller ones at tracking a changing environment, (3) Group behaviour is determined both by each individual's interaction with environmental stimuli and by social exchange of information. To keep these processes in balance across a range of group sizes, organisms are predicted to regulate per capita rates of social interaction and (4) Stochastic models show, at least in some cases, that the results described here occur even in small groups of approximately ten individuals.     

社会等级研究现状及存在的问题

对国内外有关社会等级形成原因、表现形式及功能的研究进行了综述。目前,多数对社会等级的研究集中在社会等级的表现形式和功能2个方面,而对社会等级形成原因的了解比较少,今后应加强此方面的研究,有利于对社会等级进化意义的深入理解。     

Otter scent signals age, sex, and reproductive status

Scent is used across taxa to communicate information about signaler identity. Eurasian otters Lutra lutra are mainly solitary and thought to use scent as their primary means of communication. Little is known, however, about what information otters communicate through scent or what social function this performs. Headspace solid-phase microextraction and gas chromatography-mass spectrometry were used to sample and analyze volatile organic compounds from anal scent gland secretion from 158 otters of differing sex, age, and female reproductive status. Univariate and multivariate differences were clear between adult and juvenile otters. Complex sex differences were apparent in adult otters but not in younger individuals, suggesting the use of this scent secretion in mate attraction. The scent of pregnant and lactating females was highly differentiated from male and juvenile scent, but anecdotal reports suggest females avoid communication during these times.     

Effects of size and sex on the social organization of reef-associated hogfishes,Bodianus spp.

Synopsis Three species of wrasses (Labridae) were examined in the field to determine the relative importance of size and sex in structuring social organization. The Spanish hogfish, Bodianus rufus, was characterized by stable dominance hierarchies that were linearly organized according to sex and relative size. Males were the largest and most-dominant individuals within discrete social groups of females (harems) whose dominance increased with body size. Dominance rank also increased with body size among both males and females of the Mexican hogfish, B. diplotaenia. Most encounters occurred between the sexes and males were clearly dominant over females. The vieja, B. eclancheri, differed from the other congeners since social interactions were not strongly patterned by either relative body size or sex. Hogfish dominance relationships appear to develop according to the manner in which males compete for females, including the formation of harems in permanent territories with single-male pairspawns (B. rufus), defense of temporary reproductive territories with single-male pairspawns (B. diplotaenia) or maximizing sperm production in multi-male group spawns (B. eclancheri).