The maintenance and spread of cooperation in social networks in natural populations

Thesis

Social interaction is crucial for social animals to thrive, but it comes with both benefits and costs. The social network approach helps to identify how social processes like cooperation are influenced by individual and population-level characteristics. Factors like individual recognition, familiarity, and social stability play a role in promoting tolerance and cooperation; and understanding these factors can provide insights into how social networks, cooperation, and other social behaviors evolve in different species. In this thesis, I examine how social processes interact with spatial and temporal factors to influence fitness and other outcomes in wild birds (Paridae).

I begin by establishing a theoretical foundation for my work by reviewing the concepts of cooperation and individual recognition and how they can be better understood through a social network approach (Chapters 2 & 3). Using experimental data, I explore the processes that may impact cooperative behavior by examining leading behavior during mixed-species foraging (Chapter 4) and demonstrate that motivation and dominance, as well as spatio- temporal effects, are determinants of this behavior. Drawing on these insights, I then use long-term breeding data to show that familiarity among neighbors as well as familiarity within breeding pairs influences fitness (Chapter 5). I also demonstrate that different kinds of social relationships have different effects on reproductive outcomes (Chapter 6).

All in all, I demonstrate that social connections have implications for fitness, and highlight the importance of accounting for spatial, temporal, and cognitive components when studying the ecology and evolution of sociality.

Authors: Gokcekus, S

• DOI: 10.5287/ora-bp5avvm1d
• Type of award: DPhil
• Level of award: Doctoral
• Awarding institution: University of Oxford
• Language: English
• Keywords: social network; cooperation; individual recognition; fitness; sociality
• Subjects: Ecology; Cooperation; Social networks; Evolution