SB L2 - Fission Fusion

Fission and Fusion

Fission - Splitting

Fusion - Merging

Group context: temporal variation of population numbers

Comparative Spectrum

• No FF

  • Fully stable groups
    No Splitting/Merging
    No Interchange of Individual
    Connected only via bridging
    Strong community structure

• Max FF

  • Fully mixing groups
    Max Splitting/Merging
    Group definition~Time
    Maximum connectivity
    Minimum community structure

In the middle of the spectrum there are distinct groups in flux of FF because communities are connected and they may switch groups

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2 Methods

1. SOcial Data Collection Methods

2. Long-TErm Study Systems

Social Data

Varied methods, often targeted at specific study/question

• Focal Follows

  • Follow around an animal for a set amount of time and record every social interaction

• Recorded Data

  • Process already recorded data using computers to track who is interacting with who

• GPS

  • Track animal(s) to see where/ who they interact with

• RFID

  • Put tags on small animals and they can be identified by RFID feeders to see where they go/ migrate

• Census

  • Physically count the animals or populations in an area

Long-Term

• Consistent methods, often broad scope of research
  Generally:
  -Individual marking (=known phenotypes from birth to death)
  -Across generations (=pedigree + inferred genotypes)
  -Entire population (=social system)

Gambit of the Group

Assume each animal associates with every other indv. in the group

• Intensive modelling Controlling for
  - Observations (individual differences + group differences)
  - Spatio-temporal effects
  - Data structure

  Then meaningfully calculate social network positions and
  structure

Summary

• Fission-fusion is fundamental to sociality

• Populations vary in Fission fusion dynamics

• Methods for quantifying social structure from Fission-fusion

• Sociality then can be related to broader biology