Abstract
While heterogeneity in social behaviour has been described in many human contexts it is often assumed to be less common in the animal kingdom even though scale-free networks are observed. This homogeneity raises the question of whether the patterns of behaviour necessary to account for scale-free social contact networks, where the degree distribution follows a power law, i.e. a few individuals are very highly connected but most have only a few connections, occur in animals, or whether other mechanisms are needed to produce realistic contact network architectures. We develop a space-utilization model for individual animal behaviour to predict the individuals' social contact network. Using basic properties of the χ2 distribution we present a simple analytical result that allows the model to give a range of predictions with minimal computational effort. The model results are tested on data collected in New Zealand for the social contact networks of the wild brushtail possum (Trichosurus vulpecula). Our model provides a better prediction of network architecture than other simple models, including a scale-free model.
Highlights
The social behaviour of animals can have a dramatic effect on the architecture of their contact networks
We use social-contact data collected as part of a research project investigating disease transmission among wild free-living brushtail possums (Trichosurus vulpecula) [9] and a model based on home-ranges to create example contact networks
A network characteristic, 11 to estimate the size of the individual’s home-range (i.e. 0.4–2.1 ha), which is realistic compared with the observed average home-ranges for possums at our study area of 1.3 ha and 1.8 ha for females and males respectively [16]
Summary
The social behaviour of animals can have a dramatic effect on the architecture of their contact networks. The premise for a scale-free network is that individuals behave in remarkably different ways, with some exhibiting highly sociable behaviour with a vast number of friends or contacts, while others prefer a more solitary lifestyle While such heterogeneity has been described in many human contexts, including disease transmission [5], behaviour is often assumed to be more homogeneous in the animal kingdom [6], even though scale-free networks are still observed [7]. We use social-contact data collected as part of a research project investigating disease transmission among wild free-living brushtail possums (Trichosurus vulpecula) [9] and a model based on home-ranges to create example contact networks. In contrast to generating numerical simulations for each case of interest, this analytical approach allows exploration of a wider range of network properties and paves the way for more in-depth exploration of network dynamics and their underpinning mechanisms in future analyses
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