Social network centrality predicts dietary decisions in a wild bird population
How individuals balance costs and benefits of group living remains central to understanding sociality. In relation to diet, social foraging provides many advantages but also increases competition. Nevertheless, social individuals may offset increased competition by broadening their diet and consumin...
| Main Authors: | , , , , , |
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| Format: | Journal article |
| Language: | English |
| Published: |
Cell Press
2024
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| _version_ | 1811140010171170816 |
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| author | McMahon, K Marples, NM Spurgin, LG Rowland, HM Sheldon, BC Firth, JA |
| author_facet | McMahon, K Marples, NM Spurgin, LG Rowland, HM Sheldon, BC Firth, JA |
| author_sort | McMahon, K |
| collection | OXFORD |
| description | How individuals balance costs and benefits of group living remains central to understanding sociality. In relation to diet, social foraging provides many advantages but also increases competition. Nevertheless, social individuals may offset increased competition by broadening their diet and consuming novel foods. Despite the expected relationships between social behavior and dietary decisions, how sociality shapes individuals’ novel food consumption remains largely untested in natural populations. Here, we use wild great tits to experimentally test how sociality predicts dietary decisions. We show that individuals with more social connections have higher propensity to use novel foods compared to socially peripheral individuals, and this is unrelated to neophobia, observations, and demographic factors. These findings indicate sociable individuals may offset potential costs of competition by foraging more broadly. We discuss how social environments may drive behavioral change in natural populations, and the implications for the causes and consequences of social strategies and dietary decisions. |
| first_indexed | 2024-04-23T23:27:00Z |
| format | Journal article |
| id | oxford-uuid:3cae6f73-4306-4336-8de0-ddd802927472 |
| institution | University of Oxford |
| language | English |
| last_indexed | 2024-09-25T04:15:11Z |
| publishDate | 2024 |
| publisher | Cell Press |
| record_format | dspace |
| spelling | oxford-uuid:3cae6f73-4306-4336-8de0-ddd8029274722024-07-20T14:22:02ZSocial network centrality predicts dietary decisions in a wild bird populationJournal articlehttp://purl.org/coar/resource_type/c_dcae04bcuuid:3cae6f73-4306-4336-8de0-ddd802927472EnglishSymplectic ElementsCell Press2024McMahon, KMarples, NMSpurgin, LGRowland, HMSheldon, BCFirth, JAHow individuals balance costs and benefits of group living remains central to understanding sociality. In relation to diet, social foraging provides many advantages but also increases competition. Nevertheless, social individuals may offset increased competition by broadening their diet and consuming novel foods. Despite the expected relationships between social behavior and dietary decisions, how sociality shapes individuals’ novel food consumption remains largely untested in natural populations. Here, we use wild great tits to experimentally test how sociality predicts dietary decisions. We show that individuals with more social connections have higher propensity to use novel foods compared to socially peripheral individuals, and this is unrelated to neophobia, observations, and demographic factors. These findings indicate sociable individuals may offset potential costs of competition by foraging more broadly. We discuss how social environments may drive behavioral change in natural populations, and the implications for the causes and consequences of social strategies and dietary decisions. |
| spellingShingle | McMahon, K Marples, NM Spurgin, LG Rowland, HM Sheldon, BC Firth, JA Social network centrality predicts dietary decisions in a wild bird population |
| title | Social network centrality predicts dietary decisions in a wild bird population |
| title_full | Social network centrality predicts dietary decisions in a wild bird population |
| title_fullStr | Social network centrality predicts dietary decisions in a wild bird population |
| title_full_unstemmed | Social network centrality predicts dietary decisions in a wild bird population |
| title_short | Social network centrality predicts dietary decisions in a wild bird population |
| title_sort | social network centrality predicts dietary decisions in a wild bird population |
| work_keys_str_mv | AT mcmahonk socialnetworkcentralitypredictsdietarydecisionsinawildbirdpopulation AT marplesnm socialnetworkcentralitypredictsdietarydecisionsinawildbirdpopulation AT spurginlg socialnetworkcentralitypredictsdietarydecisionsinawildbirdpopulation AT rowlandhm socialnetworkcentralitypredictsdietarydecisionsinawildbirdpopulation AT sheldonbc socialnetworkcentralitypredictsdietarydecisionsinawildbirdpopulation AT firthja socialnetworkcentralitypredictsdietarydecisionsinawildbirdpopulation |