Key players and hierarchical organization of prairie dog social networks

The use of social network theory in evaluating animal social groups has gained traction in recent years. Despite the utility of social network analysis in describing attributes of social groups, it remains unclear how comparable this approach is to traditional behavioral observational studies. Using data on Gunnison’s prairie dog (Cynomys gunnisoni) social interactions we describe social networks from three populations. We then compare those social networks to groups identified by traditional behavioral approaches and explore whether individuals group together based on similarities. The social network social groups identified by social network analysis were consistent with those identified by more traditional behavioral approaches. However, fine-grained social sub-structuring was revealed only with social network analysis. We found variation in the patterns of interactions among prairie dog social groups that was largely independent of the behavioral attributes or genetics of the indivi...近年来，社交网络理论在动物社会群体评估中的应用逐渐受到学界关注。尽管社交网络分析在描述社会群体属性方面具备实用价值，但该方法与传统行为观察研究的可比性仍未明确。本研究以Gunnison草原犬鼠（Cynomys gunnisoni）的社交互动数据为基础，构建了三个种群的社交网络。随后将这些社交网络与传统行为方法识别出的群体进行对比，并探究个体是否会基于相似性聚集成群。研究发现，通过社交网络分析识别出的社会群体，与传统行为方法得到的群体结果一致。但仅通过社交网络分析，才能揭示出精细的社会亚结构。我们还观察到，草原犬鼠不同社会群体间的互动模式存在差异，且该差异在很大程度上独立于个体的行为特征或遗传...