Data from: Stability in foraging associations is linked to stability in communal use of burrows in degus

Sociality involves inter-individual interactions mostly (but not
exclusively) within groups, establishing associations in different
contexts, such as foraging and refuge use. Social foragers may experience
flexible changes in individual composition of short-term foraging groups,
yet experience longer-term stability in other contexts, implying that
dynamics in one context influence those in other contexts. We addressed
whether individual identity- or kinship based foraging associations
influence the intensity of current and long-term burrow use associations
in Octodon degus, a communally rearing rodent. We further examined whether
stability across social foraging and communal burrow use contexts result
in reproductive benefits. We used live-trapping, telemetry, genetic tools,
and behavioral observations based on individual focal follows to quantify
social associations during foraging and burrow use. We found that foraging
associations during mating positively linked to associations in burrow use
during mating and offspring rearing, and that kinship within foraging
associations during mating had an influence primarily on females.
Critically, there was a positive effect of stability in foraging based
associations on burrow use associations during mating (i.e., the extent to
which individuals foraged with familiar vs. unfamiliar burrow-mates during
mating) on stability in burrow use associations from mating to offspring
rearing. These findings were generally consistent with the hypothesis that
short-term associations during social foraging represent a social context
in which individuals can maintain associations that extended to other
context, such as burrow sharing and communal care of offspring. The data
for the MRQAP analyses consist of symmetric matrices containing
identifiers and association values per dyad. The data for the GLM analyses
comprise focal individual-level information, including the social
stability index, kinship, the number of offspring produced, and derived
metrics used in the study.