Abstract
Accurately recording the social and mating behavior of wild animals is necessary to test hypotheses regarding the evolution of monogamous behavior but documenting the behavior of most wild animals is challenging. Social network analyses can use patterns of spatial and temporal co-occurrence to describe the social associations of individuals within a population, such as which opposite-sex individuals are found together more frequently than others as an indicator of their degree of social monogamy. Social networks generated using automated radio frequency identification (RFID) tracking systems may provide insights into the social behavior of secretive animals because they enable the automated and continuous tracking of the social associations among individuals, which can address many of the limitations with studying these kinds of species. We assessed the potential for social networks generated using an automated RFID tracking system to describe the social behavior of prairie voles (Microtus ochrogaster) in semi-natural enclosures. Our aim was to assess whether social networks generated using the RFID system provided meaningful insights into the social behavior of voles by comparing this method to other methods that have been traditionally used in laboratory (partner preference tests) or field (degree of home range overlap) studies to study social monogamy in prairie voles. In partner preference tests conducted in the field, females spent more time with males with which they had stronger social network associations. Voles that had stronger social network associations also had home ranges that overlapped considerably more than dyads with lower social network associations. In addition, social networks generated from live-trapping and RFID data were comparable but social networks generated using data from our RFID system recorded almost twice as many social associations overall. Our results show that social association metrics derived from social networks generated using the RFID tracking system reflect other commonly used measures of social monogamy in prairie voles. Overall, this suggests that patterns of spatial and temporal co-occurrence are meaningful measures of social monogamy in wild animals.
Highlights
Understanding the evolution of social monogamy is a central aim in animal behavior research (Wittenberger and Tilson, 1980; Komers and Brotherton, 1997; Dobson et al, 2010; Lukas and Clutton-Brock, 2013; Opie et al, 2013; Klug, 2018)
Overall female voles spent significantly more time in the area of the test arena with their potential partner (Figure 2), than their potential stranger or the empty middle chamber
The overall pattern we found in both enclosures suggests that association index and home range overlap are related, the presence of these particular data points suggests that home range overlap alone does not fully represent all social relationships or that VHF telemetry misses some relationships due to limitations on the amount of data that can be collected per individual and the fact that home ranges are calculated by constructing polygons, which may leave out some areas where associations may occur
Summary
Understanding the evolution of social monogamy is a central aim in animal behavior research (Wittenberger and Tilson, 1980; Komers and Brotherton, 1997; Dobson et al, 2010; Lukas and Clutton-Brock, 2013; Opie et al, 2013; Klug, 2018). Studying social monogamy requires quantifying which opposite-sex individuals are more likely to be found together over time and the interactions between these individuals This is possible in some species that are directly observable and able to be habituated to humans, but most species are secretive, nocturnal, or not readily habituated to human presence. Many studies that characterize the socially monogamous behavior of secretive species do so indirectly such as by estimating nest sharing (Ribble and Salvioni, 1990), assessing patterns of home range overlap using telemetry (Böhm et al, 2008), or by bringing animals into the laboratory to conduct behavioral assays to quantify their socially monogamous or pair-bonding behavior (Williams et al, 1992; Salo and Dewsbury, 1995; Leese, 2012; Carp et al, 2016). Behavioral assays conducted in the laboratory may provide some insight into what can occur in a simplified environment, they may not reflect the natural behavior of wild animals
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