Biology subjects

Duboscq, J.

Publications and source records attributed to Duboscq, J..

3 recordsLinked to original sources

bioRxiv2023

MacaqueNet: big-team research into the biological drivers of social relationships

O_LIFor many animals, social relationships are a key determinant of fitness. However, major gaps remain in our understanding of the adaptive function, ontogeny, evolution, and mechanistic underpinnings of social relationships. There is a vast and ever-accumulating amount of social behavioural data on individually recognised animals, an incredible resource to shed light onto the biological basis of social relationships. Yet, the full potential of such data lies in comparative research across taxa with distinct life histories and ecologies. Substantial challenges impede systematic comparisons, one of which is the lack of persistent, accessible, and standardised databases. C_LIO_LIHere, we advocate for the creation of big-team collaborations and comparative databases to unlock the wealth of behavioural data for research on social relationships by introducing MacaqueNet (https://macaquenet.github.io/). C_LIO_LIAs a global collaboration of over 100 researchers, the MacaqueNet database encompasses data from 1981 to the present on 14 species and is the first publicly searchable and standardised database on affiliative and agonistic animal social networks. With substantial inter-specific variation in ecology and social structure and the first published record on macaque behaviour dating back to 1956, macaque research has already contributed to answering fundamental questions on the biological bases and evolution of social relationships. Building on these strong foundations, we believe that MacaqueNet can further promote collaborative and comparative research on social behaviour. C_LIO_LIWe believe that big-team approaches to building standardised databases, bringing together data contributors and researchers, will aid much-needed large-scale comparative research in behavioural ecology and beyond. We describe the establishment of MacaqueNet, from starting a large-scale collective to the creation of a cross-species collaborative database and the implementation of data entry and retrieval protocols. As such, we hope to provide a functional example for future endeavours of large-scale collaborative research into the biology of social behaviour. C_LI

animal behavior and cognition↗

bioRxiv2022

Socially tolerant macaques use more complex facial behavior than intolerant macaques

The social complexity hypothesis for communicative complexity posits that animal societies with more complex social systems require more complex communication systems. We tested the social complexity hypothesis on three macaque species that vary in their degree of social tolerance and complexity. We coded facial behavior in >3000 social interactions across three social contexts (aggressive, submissive, affiliative) in 389 animals, using the Facial Action Coding System for macaques (MaqFACS). We quantified communicative complexity using three measures of uncertainty: entropy, specificity, and prediction error. We found that the relative entropy of facial behavior was higher for the more tolerant crested macaques as compared to the less tolerant Barbary and rhesus macaques across all social contexts, indicating that crested macaques more frequently use a higher diversity of facial behavior. The context specificity of facial behavior was higher in rhesus as compared to Barbary and crested macaques, demonstrating that Barbary and crested macaques used facial behavior more flexibly across different social contexts. Finally, a random forest classifier predicted social context from facial behavior with highest accuracy for rhesus and lowest for crested, indicating there is higher uncertainty and complexity in the facial behavior of crested macaques. Overall, our results support the social complexity hypothesis.

animal behavior and cognition↗

bioRxiv2021

Linking Parasitism to Network Centrality and the Impact of Sampling Bias in its Interpretation

AO_SCPLOWBSTRACTC_SCPLOWGroup living is beneficial for individuals, but also comes with costs. One such cost is the increased possibility of pathogen transmission because increased numbers or frequencies of social contacts are often associated with increased parasite abundance or diversity. The social structure of a group or population is paramount to patterns of infection and transmission. Yet, for various reasons, studies investigating the links between sociality and parasitism in animals, especially in primates, have only accounted for parts of the group (e.g., only adults), which is likely to impact the interpretation of results. Here, we investigated the relationship between social network centrality and an estimate of gastrointestinal helminth infection intensity in a whole group of Japanese macaques (Macaca fuscata). We then tested the impact of omitting parts of the group on this relationship. We aimed to test: (1) whether social network centrality - in terms of the number of partners (degree), frequency of interactions (strength), and level of social integration (eigenvector) - was linked to parasite infection intensity (estimated by eggs per gram of faeces, EPG); and, (2) to what extent excluding portions of individuals within the group might influence the observed relationship. We conducted social network analysis on data collected from one group of Japanese macaques over three months on Koshima Island, Japan. We then ran a series of knock-out simulations. General linear mixed models showed that, at the whole-group level, network centrality was positively associated with geohelminth infection intensity. However, in partial networks with only adult females, only juveniles, or random subsets of the group, the strength of this relationship - albeit still generally positive - lost statistical significance. Furthermore, knock-out simulations where individuals were removed but network metrics were retained from the original whole-group network showed that these changes are partly a power issue and partly an effect of sampling the incomplete network. Our study indicates that sampling bias can thus hamper our ability to detect real network effects involving social interaction and parasitism. In addition to supporting earlier results linking geohelminth infection to Japanese macaque social networks, this work introduces important methodological considerations for research into the dynamics of social transmission, with implications for infectious disease epidemiology, population management, and health interventions.

animal behavior and cognition↗