Abstract: Social network analysis is used widely in the social sciences to study interactions among people, groups, and organizations, yet until now there has been no book that shows behavioral biologists how to apply it to their work on animal populations. Exploring Animal Social Networks provides a practical guide for researchers, undergraduates, and graduate students in ecology, evolutionary biology, animal behavior, and zoology.
Existing methods for studying animal social structure focus either on one animal and its interactions or on the average properties of a whole population. This book enables researchers to probe animal social structure at all levels, from the individual to the population. No prior knowledge of network theory is assumed. The authors give a step-by-step introduction to the different procedures and offer ideas for designing studies, collecting data, and interpreting results. They examine some of today's most sophisticated statistical tools for social network analysis and show how they can be used to study social interactions in animals, including cetaceans, ungulates, primates, insects, and fish. Drawing from an array of techniques, the authors explore how network structures influence individual behavior and how this in turn influences, and is influenced by, behavior at the population level. Throughout, the authors use two software packages--UCINET and NETDRAW--to illustrate how these powerful analytical tools can be applied to different animal social organizations.
Darren P. Croft is lecturer in animal behavior at the University of Wales, Bangor. Richard James is senior lecturer in physics at the University of Bath. Jens Krause is professor of behavioral ecology at the University of Leeds.
Reviews:
“Exploring Animal Social Networks shows behavioral biologists how to apply social network theory to animal populations. In doing so, Croft, James, and Krause illustrate the connections between an animal's individual behaviors and how these, in turn, influence and are influenced by behavior at the population level. . . . Valuable for readers interested in using quantitative analyses to study animal social behaviors.”--Choice
“[T]his volume provides an engaging, accessible, and timely introduction to the use of network theory methods for examining the social behavior of animals.”--Noa Pinter-Wollman, Quarterly Review of Biology
“The book is a useful 'handbook' providing detailed, stepwise procedures sufficient to allow the reader to address a broad range of questions about social interactions. . . . The book includes numerous examples of the kind of research questions one might ask, and, thus, it allows the reader to find the analysis that best fits the data set to be analyzed. Thus, even readers with minimal prior knowledge of social network analysis will be able to apply this approach. And if further assistance is needed, the authors provide numerous references to specific procedures that have been used by others.”--Thomas R. Zentall, PsycCRITIQUES
Endorsements:
“An important and timely addition to the literature. This book should be readily accessible to researchers who are interested in animal social organization but who have little or no experience in conducting network analysis. The book is well-written in an engaging style and contains a good number of examples drawn from a range of taxonomic groups.”--Paul R. Moorcroft, Harvard University
More Endorsements
Table of Contents:
Preface vii
Chapter 1: Introduction to Social Networks 1
Chapter 2: Data Collection 19
Chapter 3: Visual Exploration 42
Chapter 4: Node-Based Measures 64
Chapter 5: Statistical Tests of Node-Based Measures 88
Chapter 6: Searching for Substructures 117
Chapter 7: Comparing Networks 141
Chapter 8: Conclusions 163
Glossary of Frequently Used Terms 173
References 175
Index 187
Subject Area:
* Biological Sciences

Abstract: Self‐organizing‐system approaches have shed significant light on the mechanisms underlying synchronized movements by large groups of animals, such as shoals of fish, flocks of birds, or herds of ungulates. However, these approaches rarely consider conflicts of interest between group members, although there is reason to suppose that such conflicts are commonplace. Here, we demonstrate that, where conflicts exist, individual members of self‐organizing groups can, in principle, increase their influence on group movement destination by strategically changing simple behavioral parameters (namely, movement speed, assertiveness, and social attraction range). However, they do so at the expense of an increased risk of group fragmentation and a decrease in movement efficiency. We argue that the resulting trade‐offs faced by each group member render it likely that group movements are led by those members for which reaching a particular destination is most crucial or group cohesion is least important. We term this phenomenon leading according to “need” or “social indifference,” respectively. Both kinds of leading can occur in the absence of knowledge of or communication about the needs of other group members and without the assumption of altruistic cooperation. We discuss our findings in the light of observations on fish and other vertebrates.

Abstract: Position preferences of well-fed and food-deprived juvenile roach were investigated in schools of 2 and 4 fish in the laboratory. Food-deprived fish appeared significantly more often in the front position than their well-fed conspecifics. For fish at the same hunger level, individuals at the front of the school had the highest feeding rate. These results represent the first evidence for a relationship between the nutritional state of individual fish and their positions in a school and suggest a functional advantage of the preference.

Abstract: Abstract  Social network theory has made major contributions to our understanding of human social organisation but has found relatively little application in the field of animal behaviour. In this review, we identify several broad research areas where the networks approach could greatly enhance our understanding of social patterns and processes in animals. The network theory provides a quantitative framework that can be used to characterise social structure both at the level of the individual and the population. These novel quantitative variables may provide a new tool in addressing key questions in behavioural ecology particularly in relation to the evolution of social organisation and the impact of social structure on evolutionary processes. For example, network measures could be used to compare social networks of different species or populations making full use of the comparative approach. However, the networks approach can in principle go beyond identifying structural patterns and also can help with the understanding of processes within animal populations such as disease transmission and information transfer. Finally, understanding the pattern of interactions in the network (i.e. who is connected to whom) can also shed some light on the evolution of behavioural strategies.

Abstract: Social network analysis is an increasingly popular tool for the study of the fine-scale and global social structure of animals. It has attracted particular attention by those attempting to unravel social structure in fission–fusion populations. It is clear that the social network approach offers some exciting opportunities for gaining new insights into social systems. However, some of the practices which are currently being used in the animal social networks literature are at worst questionable and at best over-enthusiastic. We highlight some of the areas of method, analysis and interpretation in which greater care may be needed in order to ensure that the biology we extract from our networks is robust. In particular, we suggest that more attention should be given to whether relational data are representative, the potential effect of observational errors and the choice and use of statistical tests. The importance of replication and manipulation must not be forgotten, and the interpretation of results requires care.