Data from: Experimental manipulation of avian social structure reveals segregation is carried over across contexts

Our current understanding of animal social networks is largely based on observations or experiments that do not directly manipulate associations between individuals. Consequently, evidence relating to the causal processes underlying such networks is limited. By imposing specified rules controlling individual access to feeding stations, we directly manipulated the foraging social network of a wild bird community, thus demonstrating how external factors can shape social structure. We show that experimentally imposed constraints were carried over into patterns of association at unrestricted, ephemeral food patches, as well as at nesting sites during breeding territory prospecting. Hence, different social contexts can be causally linked, and constraints at one level may have consequences that extend into other aspects of sociality. Finally, the imposed assortment was lost following the cessation of the experimental manipulation, indicating the potential for previously perturbed social networks of wild animals to recover from segregation driven by external constraints.当前学界对动物社交网络的认知，大多基于未直接操纵个体间关联关系的观测或实验。因此，有关这类网络背后因果过程的相关证据较为有限。本研究通过制定控制个体访问取食站权限的特定规则，直接操纵了野生鸟类群落的觅食社交网络，以此阐明外部因素如何塑造社交结构。研究表明，实验施加的约束会延续至无限制的临时性食物斑块处的关联模式，以及繁殖领地勘探阶段的巢址选择场景中。由此可见，不同的社交场景可建立因果关联，某一维度的约束可能会对社交行为的其他方面产生连锁影响。最终，实验干预停止后，这种人为施加的社交分群现象便消失了，这表明此前受外部约束干扰而出现分化的野生动物社交网络，具备从外部约束驱动的隔离状态中恢复的潜力。