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Unraveling fission-fusion dynamics: how subgroup properties and dyadic interactions influence individual decisions

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Abstract

Many species show fission-fusion group dynamics because it has clear advantages for flexibly exploiting heterogeneous environments. However, the mechanisms by which these dynamics arise are not well known. We used a hierarchical Bayesian model to disentangle the different influences on spider monkey (Ateles geoffroyi) individual fissions and fusions, including the three dimensions of fission-fusion dynamics (subgroup size, dispersion, and composition). Furthermore, we considered the influences of other individuals also leaving or joining a subgroup at the same time. We found that the most important influence on individual fissions and fusions is whether other individuals are also doing the same. Subgroup size and dispersion did not have clear effects on the probability that an individual fissioned or fusioned, while individuals tended to leave subgroups that were biased toward the opposite sex and to join subgroups that were biased toward their own sex. The networks constructed by the inter-individual influences during fissions and fusions were cohesive and did not show assortativity by sex or by degree. Individuals had a similar degree in both networks and each was influenced by a different set of individuals, suggesting a high fluidity in the social networks. We suggest that these networks reflect the way in which information about the environment flows as individuals follow one another during fissions and fusions.

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Acknowledgments

We would like to thank Braulio Pinacho-Guendulain for field data collection; Eulogio Canul, Macedonio Canul, Augusto Canul, and Juan Canul for valuable assistance in the field; Filippo Aureli, Colleen M. Schaffner, and Laura G. Vick for sharing the management of the long-term project and two anonymous reviewers for their useful comments on a previous version of this manuscript. Funding for fieldwork was provided by CONACYT (grants J51278 and 157656) and Instituto Politécnico Nacional. Data analysis was conducted during a sabbatical stay by GRF at INIBIOMA-CONICET and the Universidad Nacional del Comahue, supported by CONACYT grant 186678. Funding for JMM was provided by CONICET and PICT 20110790.

Ethical standards

The experiments comply with the current laws of Mexico.

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Authors and Affiliations

  1. CIIDIR Unidad Oaxaca, Instituto Politécnico Nacional, Calle Hornos 1003, Santa Cruz Xoxocotlán, Oaxaca, 71230, México

    Gabriel Ramos-Fernández

  2. Laboratorio Ecotono, INIBIOMA-CONICET, Universidad Nacional del Comahue, Quintral 1250, 8400, Bariloche, Argentina

    Juan M. Morales

Authors
  1. Gabriel Ramos-Fernández
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  2. Juan M. Morales
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Corresponding author

Correspondence to Gabriel Ramos-Fernández.

Additional information

Communicated by D. P. Croft

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Fig. S1

Results for Model I on the posterior probabilities of fission (a) and fusion (b) as a function of subgroup size and the number of individuals outside the subgroup, respectively. These probabilities correspond to the hyper-parameters μ 1 in the case of males and μ 1  + μ f1 in the case of females and their 95 % HPD credible interval. This hyper-parameter corresponds to the effect of subgroup size on the probability of an individual fissioning or fusioning (PDF 19 kb)

Fig. S2

Results of Model I on the posterior probabilities of fission (a) and fusion (b) as a function of the dispersion of the focal subgroup. These probabilities correspond to the hyper-parameters μ 2 in the case of males and μ 2  + μ f2 in the case of females and their 95 % HPD credible interval. These hyper-parameters represent the effect of subgroup dispersion on the probability of an individual fissioning or fusioning (PDF 20 kb)

Fig. S3

Values of parameter β 4ij , which refers to the influence of individual i on j’s fissions (a) or fusions (b) for the 272 pairs of individuals (considering asymmetric influences). Error bars show the 95 % credible intervals. Clearly positive values, for which the 95 % HPD credible interval lied above the horizontal line at 0, included 77 dyads for fissions and 59 for fusions. These pairs are highlighted as dark blue entries in the matrices shown in (c) for fissions and (d) for fusions, against those pairs that had a value of β 4ij that was not clearly above zero (in light blue). The dark blue pairs are those that were linked in the networks in Fig. 8 (PDF 61 kb)

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Ramos-Fernández, G., Morales, J.M. Unraveling fission-fusion dynamics: how subgroup properties and dyadic interactions influence individual decisions. Behav Ecol Sociobiol 68, 1225–1235 (2014). https://doi.org/10.1007/s00265-014-1733-8

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  • DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/s00265-014-1733-8

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