Rwenzori colobus core unit SNA data - association scans between units, simple association index per dyad, male dispersal events, rainfall and food availability

1. Multi-level societies are complex, nested social systems where basic social groups (i.e., core units) associate in a hierarchical manner, allowing animals to adjust their group sizes in response to variables such as food availability, predation, or conspecific threat. These pressures fluctuate over time and examining the extent to which this variation affects the clustering of core units into different tiers may be instrumental in understanding the evolution of multi-level societies.

2. The goal of our study was to determine the degree of temporal variability in inter-unit associations in a multi-level society of Rwenzori Angolan colobus monkey (Colobus angolensis ruwenzorii), and to determine the social and ecological factors that underlie association patterns. The C. a. ruwenzorii multi-level society consists of at least three tiers, with core units clustering into clans that share a home range in a band tier.

3. We performed social network analyses on 21 months of associatio...