Reduced social-information provision by immigrants and use by residents following dispersal

Title
Reduced social-information provision by immigrants and use by residents following dispersal
Publication Date
2017-12-04
Author(s)
Kern, Julie M
( author )
OrcID: https://orcid.org/0000-0002-7619-8653
Email: jkern@une.edu.au
UNE Id une-id:jkern
Radford, Andrew N
Type of document
Journal Article
Language
en
Entity Type
Publication
Publisher
Cell Press
Place of publication
United States of America
DOI
10.1016/j.cub.2017.10.045
UNE publication id
une:1959.11/30474
Abstract
Greater access to social information is a proposed benefit of group living [1]. However, individuals vary in the quantity and quality of information they provide [2], and prior knowledge about signaller reliability is likely important when receivers decide how to respond [3]. While dispersal causes regular changes in group membership [4], no experimental work has investigated social-information provision and use in this context. We studied sentinel behaviour following immigration in a habituated population of wild dwarf mongooses (Helogale parvula) [5]; sentinels (raised guards) use various vocalisations to provide social information 5, 6. Recent immigrants acted as sentinels rarely and significantly less often than residents, limiting their role as social-information providers. Even when recent immigrants acted as social-information providers, foragers responded to them less than they did to residents. Several months after arrival, immigrants had increased sentinel contributions, and foragers no longer responded differently to sentinel activity by former immigrants and residents. Our results raise questions about the assumed social-information benefits associated with increased group size.
Link
Citation
Current Biology, 27(23), p. R1266-R1267
ISSN
1879-0445
0960-9822
Start page
R1266
End page
R1267

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