Dominance and the initiation of group feeding events: the modifying effect of sociality

Individuals can differ in how much they benefit from being in a group depending on characteristics such as their dominance rank or their behaviour. Understanding which categories of individuals influence the decisions of a group could help understand which individuals are benefiting the most. We examine these ideas in wild flocks of black-capped chickadees (Poecile atricapillus), which feature stable group membership and linear dominance hierarchies. We attempt to infer which individuals are influencing group movement by examining how individuals initiate and join foraging events in relation to their dominance rank, exploratory personality type and position within a social network. We find that the influence of dominance on these behaviours heavily depends on the social connections an individual has, and that the effect of exploratory personality was small. Dominant individuals with a high eigenvector centrality were more likely to initiate a foraging event, while among individuals with...