Rhythm of relationships in a social fish over the course of a full year in the wild
Abstract Background Animals are expected to adjust their social behaviour to cope with challenges in their environment. Therefore, for fish populations in temperate regions with seasonal and daily environmental oscillations, characteristic rhythms of social relationships should be pronounced. To dat...
| Main Authors: | , , , |
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| Format: | Article |
| Language: | English |
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BMC
2023-09-01
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| Series: | Movement Ecology |
| Subjects: | |
| Online Access: | https://doi.org/10.1186/s40462-023-00410-4 |
| _version_ | 1797451052120801280 |
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| author | Christopher T. Monk Ulf Aslak Dirk Brockmann Robert Arlinghaus |
| author_facet | Christopher T. Monk Ulf Aslak Dirk Brockmann Robert Arlinghaus |
| author_sort | Christopher T. Monk |
| collection | DOAJ |
| description | Abstract Background Animals are expected to adjust their social behaviour to cope with challenges in their environment. Therefore, for fish populations in temperate regions with seasonal and daily environmental oscillations, characteristic rhythms of social relationships should be pronounced. To date, most research concerning fish social networks and biorhythms has occurred in artificial laboratory environments or over confined temporal scales of days to weeks. Little is known about the social networks of wild, freely roaming fish, including how seasonal and diurnal rhythms modulate social networks over the course of a full year. The advent of high-resolution acoustic telemetry enables us to quantify detailed social interactions in the wild over time-scales sufficient to examine seasonal rhythms at whole-ecosystems scales. Our objective was to explore the rhythms of social interactions in a social fish population at various time-scales over one full year in the wild by examining high-resolution snapshots of a dynamic social network. Methods To that end, we tracked the behaviour of 36 adult common carp, Cyprinus carpio, in a 25 ha lake and constructed temporal social networks among individuals across various time-scales, where social interactions were defined by proximity. We compared the network structure to a temporally shuffled null model to examine the importance of social attraction, and checked for persistent characteristic groups over time. Results The clustering within the carp social network tended to be more pronounced during daytime than nighttime throughout the year. Social attraction, particularly during daytime, was a key driver for interactions. Shoaling behavior substantially increased during daytime in the wintertime, whereas in summer carp interacted less frequently, but the interaction duration increased. Therefore, smaller, characteristic groups were more common in the summer months and during nighttime, where the social memory of carp lasted up to two weeks. Conclusions We conclude that social relationships of carp change diurnally and seasonally. These patterns were likely driven by predator avoidance, seasonal shifts in lake temperature, visibility, forage availability and the presence of anoxic zones. The techniques we employed can be applied generally to high-resolution biotelemetry data to reveal social structures across other fish species at ecologically realistic scales. |
| first_indexed | 2024-03-09T14:49:22Z |
| format | Article |
| id | doaj.art-7338f6d2e4e142d8ac00238d447a0568 |
| institution | Directory Open Access Journal |
| issn | 2051-3933 |
| language | English |
| last_indexed | 2024-03-09T14:49:22Z |
| publishDate | 2023-09-01 |
| publisher | BMC |
| record_format | Article |
| series | Movement Ecology |
| spelling | doaj.art-7338f6d2e4e142d8ac00238d447a05682023-11-26T14:34:13ZengBMCMovement Ecology2051-39332023-09-0111111610.1186/s40462-023-00410-4Rhythm of relationships in a social fish over the course of a full year in the wildChristopher T. Monk0Ulf Aslak1Dirk Brockmann2Robert Arlinghaus3Marine Evolutionary Ecology, GEOMAR Helmholtz Centre for Ocean Research KielDTU Compute, Technical University of DenmarkRobert Koch-InstituteDepartment of Fish Biology, Fisheries and Aquaculture, Leibniz Institute of Freshwater Ecology and Inland FisheriesAbstract Background Animals are expected to adjust their social behaviour to cope with challenges in their environment. Therefore, for fish populations in temperate regions with seasonal and daily environmental oscillations, characteristic rhythms of social relationships should be pronounced. To date, most research concerning fish social networks and biorhythms has occurred in artificial laboratory environments or over confined temporal scales of days to weeks. Little is known about the social networks of wild, freely roaming fish, including how seasonal and diurnal rhythms modulate social networks over the course of a full year. The advent of high-resolution acoustic telemetry enables us to quantify detailed social interactions in the wild over time-scales sufficient to examine seasonal rhythms at whole-ecosystems scales. Our objective was to explore the rhythms of social interactions in a social fish population at various time-scales over one full year in the wild by examining high-resolution snapshots of a dynamic social network. Methods To that end, we tracked the behaviour of 36 adult common carp, Cyprinus carpio, in a 25 ha lake and constructed temporal social networks among individuals across various time-scales, where social interactions were defined by proximity. We compared the network structure to a temporally shuffled null model to examine the importance of social attraction, and checked for persistent characteristic groups over time. Results The clustering within the carp social network tended to be more pronounced during daytime than nighttime throughout the year. Social attraction, particularly during daytime, was a key driver for interactions. Shoaling behavior substantially increased during daytime in the wintertime, whereas in summer carp interacted less frequently, but the interaction duration increased. Therefore, smaller, characteristic groups were more common in the summer months and during nighttime, where the social memory of carp lasted up to two weeks. Conclusions We conclude that social relationships of carp change diurnally and seasonally. These patterns were likely driven by predator avoidance, seasonal shifts in lake temperature, visibility, forage availability and the presence of anoxic zones. The techniques we employed can be applied generally to high-resolution biotelemetry data to reveal social structures across other fish species at ecologically realistic scales.https://doi.org/10.1186/s40462-023-00410-4Acoustic telemetryCommon carpFish behaviorSocial networksReality mining |
| spellingShingle | Christopher T. Monk Ulf Aslak Dirk Brockmann Robert Arlinghaus Rhythm of relationships in a social fish over the course of a full year in the wild Movement Ecology Acoustic telemetry Common carp Fish behavior Social networks Reality mining |
| title | Rhythm of relationships in a social fish over the course of a full year in the wild |
| title_full | Rhythm of relationships in a social fish over the course of a full year in the wild |
| title_fullStr | Rhythm of relationships in a social fish over the course of a full year in the wild |
| title_full_unstemmed | Rhythm of relationships in a social fish over the course of a full year in the wild |
| title_short | Rhythm of relationships in a social fish over the course of a full year in the wild |
| title_sort | rhythm of relationships in a social fish over the course of a full year in the wild |
| topic | Acoustic telemetry Common carp Fish behavior Social networks Reality mining |
| url | https://doi.org/10.1186/s40462-023-00410-4 |
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