Abstract
Knowledge of the structure of networks of social interactions is important for understanding the evolution of cooperation, transmission of disease, and patterns of social learning, yet little is known of how environmental, ecological, or behavioural factors relate to such structures within groups. We observed grooming, dominance, and foraging competition interactions in eight groups of wild meerkats (Suricata suricatta) and constructed interaction networks for each behaviour. We investigated relationships between networks for different social interactions and explored how group attributes (size and sex ratio), individual attributes (tenure of dominants), and ecological factors (ectoparasite load) are related to variation in network structure. Network structures varied within a group according to interaction type. Further, network structure varied predictably with group attributes, individual attributes, and ecological factors. Networks became less dense as group size increased suggesting that individuals were limited in their number of partners. Groups with more established dominant females were more egalitarian in their grooming and foraging competition interactions, but more despotic in their dominance interactions. The distribution of individuals receiving grooming became more skewed at higher parasite loads, but more equitable at low parasite loads. We conclude that the pattern of interactions between members of meerkat groups is not consistent between groups but instead depends on general attributes of the group, the influence of specific individuals within the group, and ecological factors acting on group members. We suggest that the variation observed in interaction patterns between members of meerkat groups may have fitness consequences both for individual group members and the group itself.
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Acknowledgements
We thank the owners of farms surrounding the Reserve for permission to study meerkats on their land and Northern Cape Conservation for allowing us to work in the Kalahari. Tom Flower, Rob Sutcliffe, and Dave Bell managed the Meerkat Project marvellously. We are greatly indebted to all the volunteers who assisted with data collection in the field. Martin Haupt of the University of Pretoria supplied invaluable logistical support. We thank the editor and two anonymous reviewers for helpful comments on the manuscript. JRM and THCB were funded by a BBSRC grant. JAD was funded by the Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs (DEFRA), and the Higher Education Funding Council for England (HEFCE) through the Cambridge Infectious Diseases Consortium.
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Communicated by: J. Setchell
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Madden, J.R., Drewe, J.A., Pearce, G.P. et al. The social network structure of a wild meerkat population: 2. Intragroup interactions. Behav Ecol Sociobiol 64, 81–95 (2009). https://doi.org/10.1007/s00265-009-0820-8
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DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/s00265-009-0820-8