Abstract
| Original language | English |
|---|---|
| Pages (from-to) | 21587-21592 |
| Number of pages | 6 |
| Journal | PNAS |
| Volume | 107 |
| Issue number | 50 |
| Early online date | 29 Nov 2010 |
| DOIs | |
| Publication status | Published - 14 Dec 2010 |
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Keywords
- animal model
- animal social networks
- yellow-bellied marmots
Cite this
Heritable victimization and the benefits of agonistic relationships. / Lea, Amanda J; Blumstein, Daniel T; Wey, Tina W; Martin, Julien G A.
In: PNAS, Vol. 107, No. 50, 14.12.2010, p. 21587-21592.Research output: Contribution to journal › Article
}
TY - JOUR
T1 - Heritable victimization and the benefits of agonistic relationships
AU - Lea, Amanda J
AU - Blumstein, Daniel T
AU - Wey, Tina W
AU - Martin, Julien G A
PY - 2010/12/14
Y1 - 2010/12/14
N2 - Here, we present estimates of heritability and selection on network traits in a single population, allowing us to address the evolutionary potential of social behavior and the poorly understood link between sociality and fitness. To evolve, sociality must have some heritable basis, yet the heritability of social relationships is largely unknown. Recent advances in both social network analyses and quantitative genetics allow us to quantify attributes of social relationships and estimate their heritability in free-living populations. Our analyses addressed a variety of measures (in-degree, out-degree, attractiveness, expansiveness, embeddedness, and betweenness), and we hypothesized that traits reflecting relationships controlled by an individual (i.e., those that the individual initiated or were directly involved in) would be more heritable than those based largely on the behavior of conspecifics. Identifying patterns of heritability and selection among related traits may provide insight into which types of relationships are important in animal societies. As expected, we found that variation in indirect measures was largely explained by nongenetic variation. Yet, surprisingly, traits capturing initiated interactions do not possess significant additive genetic variation, whereas measures of received interactions are heritable. Measures describing initiated aggression and position in an agonistic network are under selection (0.3 textless textbarStextbar textless 0.4), although advantageous trait values are not inherited by offspring. It appears that agonistic relationships positively influence fitness and seemingly costly or harmful ties may, in fact, be beneficial. Our study highlights the importance of studying agonistic as well as affiliative relationships to understand fully the connections between sociality and fitness.
AB - Here, we present estimates of heritability and selection on network traits in a single population, allowing us to address the evolutionary potential of social behavior and the poorly understood link between sociality and fitness. To evolve, sociality must have some heritable basis, yet the heritability of social relationships is largely unknown. Recent advances in both social network analyses and quantitative genetics allow us to quantify attributes of social relationships and estimate their heritability in free-living populations. Our analyses addressed a variety of measures (in-degree, out-degree, attractiveness, expansiveness, embeddedness, and betweenness), and we hypothesized that traits reflecting relationships controlled by an individual (i.e., those that the individual initiated or were directly involved in) would be more heritable than those based largely on the behavior of conspecifics. Identifying patterns of heritability and selection among related traits may provide insight into which types of relationships are important in animal societies. As expected, we found that variation in indirect measures was largely explained by nongenetic variation. Yet, surprisingly, traits capturing initiated interactions do not possess significant additive genetic variation, whereas measures of received interactions are heritable. Measures describing initiated aggression and position in an agonistic network are under selection (0.3 textless textbarStextbar textless 0.4), although advantageous trait values are not inherited by offspring. It appears that agonistic relationships positively influence fitness and seemingly costly or harmful ties may, in fact, be beneficial. Our study highlights the importance of studying agonistic as well as affiliative relationships to understand fully the connections between sociality and fitness.
KW - animal model
KW - animal social networks
KW - yellow-bellied marmots
U2 - 10.1073/pnas.1009882107
DO - 10.1073/pnas.1009882107
M3 - Article
VL - 107
SP - 21587
EP - 21592
JO - PNAS
JF - PNAS
SN - 0027-8424
IS - 50
ER -