OOS 24: Integrating Spatial and Social Behaviour Across Ecological Systems

Session Organizer(s)

• Greg Albery

  Georgetown University, USA

Moderator(s)

• Greg Albery

  Georgetown University, USA

Volunteer(s)

• Sachinthani Karunarathne

  School of Ecosystem and Forest Sciences, Faculty of Science, The University of Melbourne, Australia

Spatial ecology is a mature field with a rich theoretical and methodological basis, which is currently being enriched by important advances in GPS tracking and biologging technology. Meanwhile, the much younger field of social network analysis has increased exponentially in popularity over the last decade, rapidly becoming the principal method for quantifying social behaviors in wild animals. In recent years, as social network theory and methodology have matured, researchers interested in social processes increasingly incorporate elements of spatial ecology as a means to study and explain the causes and consequences of sociality. The social systems of wild animals are heavily influenced by spatial processes, including individual movement behavior, population structure, and the landscape’s physical architecture. Social network studies in ecology therefore benefit from quantifying sociality in spatially explicit contexts, often by incorporating spatial behavior into network analyses. However, guidance for social network researchers interested in incorporating spatial ecology is lacking, theory from both fields has rarely been integrated, the analyses required to bridge these fields can be complex, and the spatial-social literature is limited to a handful of specific study systems. As such, the integration of spatial and social ecology remains in its infancy and is currently limited by a lack of clear integration across different studies. In this session, we will address this gap by featuring a series of talks at the intersection of spatial ecology and social network ecology. The session involves a handpicked selection of researchers working on elements of movement ecology, spatial ecology, animal behavior, and network science, all of whom have developed frameworks, study systems, or analytical methodologies that bridge spatial and social topics in ecological contexts. We will summarise the diversity of models and study systems available for spatial-social investigations in ecology and animal behavior, facilitating crosstalk among researchers working in different fields and at different scales, and considering the methodological advances and gaps associated with quantifying spatial-social covariance. Ultimately, the talks and researchers involved will help to develop an ongoing agenda to unify spatial and social theory, to collect and integrate data systems, and to draw general, cross-system conclusions about the causes and consequences of spatial and social behaviours in ecology.

Presentations:

• ON DEMAND

  Group-level repeatability of seasonal home ranges in a non-territorial bird
  

  Presenting Author: Mina Ogino – Department of Biology, University of Konstanz
• ON DEMAND

  Moving together, foraging apart: Effects of the social environment on movement-integrated habitat selection
  

  Presenting Author: Quinn Webber – Cognitive and Behavioural Ecology, Memorial University of Newfoundland
• ON DEMAND

  Social stability, information use and shark sociality inferred from telemetry-derived movement data
  

  Presenting Author: David M.P Jacoby – Institute of Zoology, Zoological Society of London
• ON DEMAND

  Spatial and ecological constraints affect animal movements and interactions
  

  Presenting Author: Noa Pinter-Wollman – UCLA
• ON DEMAND

  Spatial and social processes driving disease transmission: Understanding associations in small animals
  

  Presenting Author: Lucinda Kirkpatrick – Universiteit Antwerpen
• ON DEMAND

  Unpacking the interplay between spatial and social drivers of movement in a large herbivore along a latitudinal and life-history cline
  

  Presenting Author: Kezia Manlove – Utah State University