Patterns Of Social Groups Research Articles

Camera traps unveil demography, social structure, and home range of six unhabituated Western chimpanzee groups in the Moyen Bafing National Park, Guinea.

Precise estimates of population dynamics and social grouping patterns are required for effective conservation of wild animal populations. It is difficult to obtain such information on non-human great apes as they have slow reproductive rates. To gain a better understanding of demography in these populations, previous research has typically involved habituation\, a process that requires years. Here, we collected data continuously over year-long periods to monitor an unhabituated population of critically endangered Western chimpanzees (Pan troglodytes verus) in the Moyen Bafing National Park, Guinea. We used two arrays of 100 camera traps that were placed opportunistically in two distinct 100 km2 sites, named Bakoun and Koukoutamba. We identified 227 individuals in Bakoun and 207 in Koukoutamba through their unique facial features. Our camera trap data make clear that these individuals belong to six and seven closed groups, respectively. Six of those groups were near-completely sampled with an average minimum size of 46.8 individuals (range: 37-58), and a mean adult sex ratio of 1.32 (range: 0.93-2.10). We described the demographic composition of these groups and use Bayesian social network analysis to understand population structure. The network analyses suggested that the social bonds within the two populations were structured by sex homophily, with male chimpanzees being more or equally likely to be observed together than other adult associations. Through estimation of minimum convex polygons, we described the minimum home range for those groups. Compared to other chimpanzee groups living in a similar environment (mosaic savanna-forest), the Moyen Bafing region seems to host a high-density of chimpanzees with small home ranges for their group size. Our research highlights the potential of camera traps for studying the demographic composition of chimpanzee populations with high resolution and obtaining crucial information on several groups in a time-efficient and cost-effective way.

Characteristics of Collective Resilience and Its Influencing Factors from the Perspective of Psychological Emotion: A Case Study of COVID-19 in China.

Collective resilience is the ability of human beings to adapt and collectively cope with crises in adversity. Emotional expression is the core element with which to characterize the psychological dimension of collective resilience. This research proposed a stage model of collective resilience based on the temporal evolution of the public opinions of COVID-19 in China's first anti-pandemic cycle; using data from hot searches and commentaries on Sina Weibo, the changes in the emotional patterns of social groups are revealed through analyses of the sentiments expressed in texts. A grounded theory approach is used to elucidate the factors influencing collective resilience. The research results show that collective resilience during the pandemic exhibited an evolutionary process that could be termed, "preparation-process-recovery". Analyses of expressed sentiments reveal an evolutionary pattern of "positive emotion prevailing-negative emotion appearing-positive emotion recovering Collective resilience from a psycho-emotional perspective is the result of "basic cognition-intermediary condition-consequence" positive feedback, in which the basic cognition is expressed as will embeddedness and the intermediary conditions include the subject behavior and any associated derived behavioral characteristics and spiritual connotation. These results are significant both theoretically and practically with regard to the reconstruction of collective resilience when s' force majeure' event occur.

Do we need to reclassify the social systems of gregarious apes?

Decades of research have led to a solid understanding of the social systems of gregarious apes: chimpanzees, bonobos, gorillas, and gibbons. As field studies have increasingly collected data from multiple neighboring habituated groups, genetic and social interconnections have been revealed. These findings provide a more nuanced picture of intergroup relations in apes, and have led to claims in the literature that some ape taxa have multilevel societies. A multilevel society is defined as a nested collection of social entities comprising at least two discernible levels of social integration between the individual and the population. We argue that the evidence for multilevel sociality sensu stricto in apes is currently inconclusive and that it is premature to abandon the traditional classification of ape social systems. However, available findings appear to be consistent with the existence of some degree of higher social grouping patterns. We propose the term supra-group organization which may adequately capture ape social systems when viewed from a top-down perspective.

Sharing spaces: niche differentiation in diet and substrate use among wild capuchin monkeys

Understanding variation in social grouping patterns among animal taxa is an enduring goal of ethologists, who seek to evaluate the selective pressures shaping the evolution of sociality. Cohesive association with conspecifics increases intragroup feeding competition and may impose constraints on group size. Furthermore, in sexually dimorphic species, males and females may have different nutritional requirements, which can lead to suboptimal foraging in mixed-sex groups. How do animals living in permanent social groups mitigate these foraging costs? Niche differentiation is often hypothesized as a mechanism, but rigorous and detailed tests of the extent and context of differences in diet and habitat use, key tenets of this hypothesis, are rare. We investigated the potential for niche differentiation in foraging activity budget and environment use in a population of wild white-faced capuchin monkeys, Cebus imitator , in northwestern Costa Rica. Using a robust data set of 15 879 foraging scan samples collected from four groups over 13 months, we found that smaller individuals – e.g. juveniles and females – forage more often on smaller branches. We additionally found clear evidence of predator-sensitive foraging wherein the smallest individuals spent less time on the ground during invertebrate foraging. Importantly, niche differentiation was far more evident overall during invertebrate foraging, likely due to spatial constraints and environmental homogeneity imposed by fruit patches. In summary, we found considerable variation in habitat use across age and sex classes, likely attributable to differences in size and relative predation risk. These variables likely reduce intraspecific feeding competition by promoting differential diet and habitat use. Our results also provide insight into the limits of niche differentiation as a strategy for competition reduction and may shed light on the evolution of fission–fusion dynamics in highly frugivorous species. • Niche differentiation was apparent during invertebrate, but not fruit, foraging. • Use of the forest strata was consistent with predator-sensitive foraging. • Foraging time on difficult-to-access foods did not differ for juveniles and adults. • Smaller individuals – juveniles and females – used smaller substrates more often. • Support substrates affected microhabitat differentiation but are often overlooked.

How Are Green Spaces Distributed among Different Social Groups in Urban China? A National Level Study

The study analyzes the distributional equity of urban green space (UGS) among different social groups across all urban areas in China. Urban green space is measured in two ways: Park area per capita and vegetation coverage ratio within 1.6 km and 3.2 km featuring different ecosystem services they provide. Multiple regression analyses are conducted to assess relationships between different groups (children, the elderly, and migrant populations) and distributed UGS. Largely consistent to other national level studies, the nationwide analytical results indicate emerging social inequality of UGS during the urbanization of China, with a few nuances. A bi-fold pattern is observed in our case: Whilst areas with higher portions of children and senior people have less parks and high vegetation coverage, a marginalized group—internal migrant people, have more parks and low vegetation coverage in their vicinities. The results of regression analyses in different regions further shed light on revealing disparities of UGS in areas with varying socioeconomic development levels, geographical features, and urbanization paces. The implication of the study informs the decision makers to incorporate spatial patterns of social groups into green space guidance and evaluation for the purpose of promoting more equal development of UGS.

Музично-фольклорні джерела культурного ландшафту України

Theorisation of music and folklore sources of the cultural landscape of Ukraine is done. The author has focused on the cultural understanding of the essential content of the category — folklore as the earliest type of folk artistic culture. It is based on the ethnic and national picture of the world. The author has emphasised that the national-ethnic picture of the worldview and world reflection is defined as the single cognitive orientation, which is the non-verbal and implicit expression of the group understanding of the “life rules”, caused by the social, natural and supernatural forces. The author has underlined that the musical folklore is a national mode in the Ukrainian traditional culture. It forms values and behavioural guidelines for the representatives of the community. They look like the grammar rules, reflected unconsciously by many people, structurise and direct their linguistic behaviour. The art historical analysis of the musical and folklore component in the rites of the Ukrainians is traced. The theorisation of the folklore as a type of culture, which shows the worldview of the subject and the system of its sociocultural orientation, allows us to understand its transformation and historical social dynamics.The purpose of the article is the cultural reflection of Ukrainian folklore as a the reflection of the worldview. The latter depends on the changes of the socio-historical realities in the folk wisdom, which forms the spiritual world as well as in the spiritual culture of the nation and the individuals. It changes as the embodiment of the people’s knowledge and values.The methodology of the research includes the using of the wide range of art history and musicology methods of the representation of the musical and folklore material and the analysis of academic commentary literature. In addition, the author applies the methods of the systematic review of the works of musical and folklore spectrum and the artistic activity of the individuals in the context of the Ukrainian rituals, which have allowed the author to use the the results of the research of the culturological system in the analysis of the facts of the manifestations of the sphere of musical folklore and their place in the Ukrainian life practices.The scientific novelty of the work is the representation of the Ukrainian music folklore as a type of culture, which differs from the professional and the mass ones. It expresses the national picture of the universe and the value-normative system of the people’s life. The author considers the picture of the world as the representation of the surrounding reality, the features of its perception, caused by the unity of subjective and objective conditions and factors of the formation of the national landscape. It allows the theorists and cultural practitioners to realize the significance of the music and folklore concept in the formation of the fundamental values of the Ukrainian nation. Thus, we should research the folklore, taking into account the actual content of the surrounding reality and human activity, its subjects (a bearer), social content, forms of life and functions, etc. It becomes possible if we consider the folklore as the reflection of a picture of the world that changes in accordance with socio-historical processes. We should note that folklore is a type of art as well as a folk wisdom that forms the spiritual world, the spiritual culture of the people and individuals. Finally, it is the embodiment of knowledge, values, norms and the patterns of social groups, communities and individuals.

ComeNgo

How do social groups, such as Facebook groups and Wechat groups, dynamically evolve over time? How do people join the social groups, uniformly or with burst? What is the pattern of people quitting from groups? Is there a simple universal model to depict the come-and-go patterns of various groups?In this article, we examine temporal evolution patterns of more than 100 thousands social groups with more than 10 million users. We surprisingly find that the evolution patterns of real social groups goes far beyond the classic dynamic models like SI and SIR. For example, we observe both diffusion and non-diffusion mechanism in the group joining process, and power-law decay in group quitting process, rather than exponential decay as expected in SIR model. Therefore, we propose a new modelcomeNgo, a concise yet flexible dynamic model for group evolution. Our model has the following advantages: (a) Unification power: it generalizes earlier theoretical models and different joining and quitting mechanisms we find from observation. (b) Succinctness and interpretability: it contains only six parameters with clear physical meanings. (c) Accuracy: it can capture various kinds of group evolution patterns preciously, and the goodness of fit increases by 58% over baseline. (d) Usefulness: it can be used in multiple application scenarios, such as forecasting and pattern discovery. Furthermore, our model can provide insights about different evolution patterns of social groups, and we also find that group structure and its evolution has notable relations with temporal patterns of group evolution.

Wild boars’ social structure in the Mediterranean habitat

Wild boar Sus scrofa has become a pest throughout Europe, but its social system in this setting is unknown, making it difficult to implement an effective management strategy. We collected data on social grouping patterns by video-trapping the population living in an Italian Mediterranean National Park. We collected over 120 days of observations and the activities of 1431 wild boars. The seasonal variations in wild boar social organisation seem to be directly related to the biological cycle, with some exceptions, such as the unexpected presence of solitary or groups of piglets. The population was more active during the summer, and the mean group size (4.14 ± 0.21) was quite similar to other European boar group sizes. We confirmed that video traps are an appropriate method to monitor versatile wildlife, especially for assessing the population structure, sex and age ratios of wild boars.

Random walk analysis of ranging patterns of sympatric langurs in a complex resource landscape

The identification of random walk models to characterize the movement patterns of social groups of primates, and the behavioral processes that give rise to such movement patterns, remain open questions in movement ecology. Movement patterns characterized by a power-law tail with exponent between 1 and 3 (Lévy flight) occur when animals forage on scarce, randomly distributed resources. For primates and similar foragers with memory processes, movements resembling Lévy flights emerge when feeding trees (targets) are randomly distributed and the trunk size distribution of targets follows a power-law. We tested three competing random walk models to describe movement patterns of two langur species. We found a truncated power law to be the most suitable model. The power-law model was poorly supported by the data and hence we found no support for Lévy-flight-like behavior. Moreover, the spatial distribution of feeding trees and the probability distribution of feeding tree size differed from values suggested to result in Lévy-flight-like patterns. We identify intraspecific territoriality, foraging behavior, and the spatial and size distribution of food patches as plausible mechanisms that may have given rise to the observed movement patterns.

The lack of female dominance in golden‐brown mouse lemurs suggests alternative routes in lemur social evolution

Female dominance is a well-known trait of lemurs, although it has not been reported from all species and is still often unexplored, especially in the nocturnal species. We examined the intersexual dominance relationships in Microcebus ravelobensis, a congener of M. murinus who is well known for its female dominance. Given the many similarities in biology, it was predicted that M. ravelobensis should also possess female dominance. Seventeen unfamiliar male-female pairs were formed with animals captured in northwestern Madagascar and kept in a two-cage setting (one cage for each animal) for up to 1 week. Four encounter experiments were conducted with each pair. In contrast to the expectations, females were not consistently dominant over their male partners. Only 3 of 17 dyads developed a clear agonistic asymmetry, among which were two cases of male dominance and only one case of female dominance. Because body mass differences did not explain the findings, various other possible explanations are discussed. It is suggested that food may not be the driving factor of female dominance in mouse lemurs. Instead, it is hypothesized that species-specific differences in the quality of sleeping sites (i.e., tree holes) and in social grouping patterns may better explain why some mouse lemur species have female dominance, whereas others like the golden-brown mouse lemur do not. It is concluded thatthese arguments and hypotheses may even hold true for other solitary foragers and may thereby lead to a better understanding of the variable social evolution in lemurs and primates in general.

Community structure and cluster definition of Atlantic spotted dolphins, Stenella frontalis, in the Bahamas

AbstractFission‐fusion dynamics typical of many delphinid populations allow for a variety of social grouping patterns. Identifying these groupings is crucial before conducting a detailed social structure analysis. This study analyzed the structure of a population of Bahamian spotted dolphins, Stenella frontalis. Through long‐term observations and preliminary analysis, three clusters were defined: Northern, Central, and Southern. To quantitatively investigate these delineations, we conducted analysis on 12 yr of sighting data using SOCPROG 2.3. Coefficients of association (CoA) were calculated using the half‐weight index, with individuals sighted six or more times per pooled period (3 yr each). Nonmetric multidimensional scaling (MD), hierarchical agglomerative cluster analysis and Mantel tests were conducted to determine if any divisions were present. Mantel tests and MD plots analysis supported the delineations into the three clusters. Cluster analysis showed cluster groupings, but with less clear distinctions between the clusters. The amount and strength of associations were significantly higher within clusters than between clusters. Based on behavioral and geographic overlap, these clusters did not meet the definition of separate communities and thus were termed social clusters. These fine scale, within community divisions, are biologically and socially important aspects of their community and are crucial in understanding the dolphins’ social structure.

Los patrones espaciales de los comportamientos de riesgo en la ciudad de Córdoba (Argentina)-2001

Partiendo de la premisa que los fenomenos sociales no se distribuyen en el espacio geografico de manera homogenea, este trabajo tiene como objetivo explorar los patrones de localizacion espacial de los grupos sociales en la ciudad de Cordoba (Argentina) y relacionarlos con algunos comportamientos de riesgo de ninos y jovenes, en particular aquellos que se vinculan con la reproduccion de desigualdades, de la pobreza y de la exclusion. Primero, se identifican las diferentes areas socio-habitacionales que componen la ciudad, a partir del analisis de la distribucion de los grupos sociales en el espacio urbano, con especial enfasis en sus caracteristicas educativas y habitacionales. Segundo, se calculan los diferenciales de los comportamientos de riesgo de ninos y jovenes (insuficiencia educativa, inactividad juvenil y fecundidad adolescente tardia), segun areas de residencia anteriormente mencionadas. Tercero, se evalua la incidencia del contexto socio-habitacional en dichos comportamientos. La informacion con la que se trabaja es la proveniente del Censo Nacional de Poblacion, Hogares y Vivienda del ano 2001, a nivel de radio censal.

Developmental patterns of hair cortisol in male and female nonhuman primates: Lower hair cortisol levels in vervet males emerge at puberty

Studies have yielded inconsistent results with regard to effects of age and sex on short-term markers of hypothalamic pituitary adrenal (HPA) activity. Hair cortisol provides a retrospective proxy measure of the cumulative activity of the HPA axis over the preceding 3- to 4-month period. In order to describe potential developmental trends in this biomarker, we assessed hair cortisol levels between 1 and 12 years of age in a cross-sectional study of 350 vervets (222 females and 128 males). Monkeys were grouped according to age as 1 (young juvenile), 2 (juvenile), 3 (early adolescent), 4 (late adolescent-young adult), and 5-12 (adult) years of age such that fully mature animals were included in the 5-12 year old age group. We observed that hair cortisol level was higher among the younger monkeys and declined with age (p<.001). More importantly the effect of age significantly interacted with sex (p=.02), such that hair cortisol was consistently lower in males than females beginning at age 3 (p<.05 or better). The developmental decline began one year earlier in females than males suggesting an influence of the earlier maturational processes typical in both human and nonhuman primates. The advantage of lower cortisol levels in the males may be related to social group patterns of male emigration during adolescence in many nonhuman primate species.

Stepwise evolution of stable sociality in primates

Although much attention has been focused on explaining and describing the diversity of social grouping patterns among primates, less effort has been devoted to understanding the evolutionary history of social living. This is partly because social behaviours do not fossilize, making it difficult to infer changes over evolutionary time. However, primate social behaviour shows strong evidence for phylogenetic inertia, permitting the use of Bayesian comparative methods to infer changes in social behaviour through time, thereby allowing us to evaluate alternative models of social evolution. Here we present a model of primate social evolution, whereby sociality progresses from solitary foraging individuals directly to large multi-male/multi-female aggregations (approximately 52 million years (Myr) ago), with pair-living (approximately 16 Myr ago) or single-male harem systems (approximately 16 Myr ago) derivative from this second stage. This model fits the data significantly better than the two widely accepted alternatives (an unstructured model implied by the socioecological hypothesis or a model that allows linear stepwise changes in social complexity through time). We also find strong support for the co-evolution of social living with a change from nocturnal to diurnal activity patterns, but not with sex-biased dispersal. This supports suggestions that social living may arise because of increased predation risk associated with diurnal activity. Sociality based on loose aggregation is followed by a second shift to stable or bonded groups. This structuring facilitates the evolution of cooperative behaviours and may provide the scaffold for other distinctive anthropoid traits including coalition formation, cooperative resource defence and large brains.

Resources, not Kinship, Determine Social Patterning in the Territorial Gunnison’s prairie Dog (Cynomys gunnisoni)

AbstractIn this study, we describe patterns of relatedness in Gunnison’s prairie dog (Cynomys gunnisoni) social groups. Kin selection is often cited as a mechanism for the evolution and maintenance of social groups, and Gunnison’s prairie dog females are occasionally described as being strongly philopatric. Overall, randomization tests revealed that females within territorial groups were not more closely related to each other than expected at random. A similar pattern was found among males and between males and females, indicating that there was no sex‐biased dispersal occurring in these populations. Ecological variables measured in this study, such as food abundance and food dispersion, were not correlated with relatedness. In addition, territory size and density/m2 did not correlate significantly with relatedness. Although there was variability in the spatial overlap among individuals within groups, there was no indication that relatedness explained this variation. These results suggest that kin selection is not maintaining social groups in these populations, but that competition for access to resources required by both males and females may explain dispersal and social group patterns in these populations.

Social Group Patterns and Associations of Nonmigratory Elk (Cervus elaphus) in Michigan

Abstract We investigated the annual pattern of elk (Cervus elaphus) social group sizes and associations in Michigan's nonmigratory herd. Group observations were used to determine social group sizes and patterns throughout the year. Social group associations of individual elk were determined from 31 cow and 20 bull elk equipped with radio-collars. Bull and cow elk differed in their probabilities of belonging to single sex or mixed groups in 6 of 7 biological periods. Bull-only groups were small (mean = 1.3–2.7) and constant in size annually, while cow-calf (mean = 1.6–9.6) and mixed (mean = 5.2–35.1) groups were larger and varied in size throughout the year. Annual grouping patterns in Michigan were similar to grouping patterns observed for western North American elk herds. In contrast to other sedentary herds in stabilized habitats, elk in Michigan showed little annual (mean coefficients of association = 0.16) or seasonal (mean coefficients of association = 0.07–0.32) cohesion in social group membership, ...

The ecological potential of the kudu for commercial production in savanna regions

Abstract This paper considers the choice of a browsing ungulate to supplement cattle in savanna regions susceptible to problems of bush encroachment, and evaluates the kudu in particular. Relevant aspects of its ecology considered include (i) the vegetation components utilized at different seasons and in different areas, with regard to principal food species, reserve dry season species, rejected plant species and potential food limitations; (ii) social grouping patterns and home range extent; (iii) population densities, reproductive parameters, survival rates and population dynamics in relation to rainfall; (iv) impact on the vegetation of browsing and branch breakage. Features of the kudu are compared with those of other browsing ungulates, including giraffe, eland, impala and goats. It is concluded that the kudu is a prime candidate for inclusion alongside cattle in mixed species ranching enterprises in most regions of savanna vegetation.

Daily Urban Systems in Britain: From Theory to Practice

The theoretical issues of an earlier paper by the authors concerning daily urban systems are now followed by the problems of applying this concept to British data. The complexities of the British urban system pose difficulties for any approach which prohibits overlapping areas, multinodal regions, and recognition of the differing travel patterns of social groups. No single, simple algorithm can cope consistently both with the major metropolitan regions and with the peripheral areas. To overcome these problems, the additional concepts of ‘self-containment’ and ‘metropolitan dominance’ are introduced into the consideration of journey-to-work patterns. These developments result in a regionalisation which takes the form of an urban hierarchy by creating a two-tier structure in the densely populated parts of the country, and free-standing daily urban systems elsewhere.

Study of executive leadership in business. II. Social group patterns.

Study of executive leadership in business. II. Social group patterns.