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Shark personalities? Repeatability of social network traits in a widely distributed predatory fish

Jacoby, D; Fear, LN; Sims, DW; Croft, DP; (2014) Shark personalities? Repeatability of social network traits in a widely distributed predatory fish. Behavioral Ecology and Sociobiology , 68 (12) pp. 1995-2003. 10.1007/s00265-014-1805-9. Green open access

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Abstract

Interest in animal personalities has generated a burgeoning literature on repeatability in individual traits such as boldness or exploration through time or across different contexts. Yet, repeatability can be influenced by the interactive social strategies of individuals, for example, consistent inter-individual variation in aggression is well documented. Previous work has largely focused on the social aspects of repeatability in animal behaviour by testing individuals in dyadic pairings. Under natural conditions, individuals interact in a heterogeneous polyadic network. However, the extent to which there is repeatability of social traits at this higher order network level remains unknown. Here, we provide the first empirical evidence of consistent and repeatable animal social networks. Using a model species of shark, a taxonomic group in which repeatability in behaviour has yet to be described, we repeatedly quantified the social networks of ten independent shark groups across different habitats, testing repeatability in individual network position under changing environments. To understand better the mechanisms behind repeatable social behaviour, we also explored the coupling between individual preferences for specific group sizes and social network position. We quantify repeatability in sharks by demonstrating that despite changes in aggregation measured at the group level, the social network position of individuals is consistent across treatments. Group size preferences were found to influence the social network position of individuals in small groups but less so for larger groups suggesting network structure, and thus, repeatability was driven by social preference over aggregation tendency.

Type: Article
Title: Shark personalities? Repeatability of social network traits in a widely distributed predatory fish
Open access status: An open access version is available from UCL Discovery
DOI: 10.1007/s00265-014-1805-9
Publisher version: http://dx.doi.org/10.1007/s00265-014-1805-9
Language: English
Additional information: Copyright © Springer-Verlag Berlin Heidelberg 2014. The final publication is available at Springer via http://dx.doi.org/10.1007/s00265-014-1805-9
Keywords: Aggregation behaviour, Elasmobranch, Personality, Plasticity Repeatability, Social traits
UCL classification: UCL
UCL > Provost and Vice Provost Offices > School of Life and Medical Sciences
UCL > Provost and Vice Provost Offices > School of Life and Medical Sciences > Faculty of Life Sciences
UCL > Provost and Vice Provost Offices > School of Life and Medical Sciences > Faculty of Life Sciences > Div of Biosciences
URI: https://discovery.ucl.ac.uk/id/eprint/1502399
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