Using global remote camera data of a solitary species complex to evaluate the drivers of group formation

• 成果类型: Article
• 署名作者: Twining, Joshua P.; Sutherland, Chris; Zalewski, Andrzej; Cove, Michael, V; Birks, Johnny; Wearn, Oliver R.; Haysom, Jessica; Wereszczuk, Anna; Manzo, Emiliano; Bartolommei, Paola; Mortelliti, Alessio; Evans, Bryn; Gerber, Brian D.; McGreevy Jr, Thomas J.; Ganoe, Laken S.; Masseloux, Juliana; Mayer, Amy E.; Wierzbowska, Izabela; Loch, Jan; Akins, Jocelyn; Drummey, Donovan; McShea, William; Manke, Stephanie; Pardo, Lain; Boyce, Andy J.; Li, Sheng; Ragai, Roslina Binti; Sukmasuang, Ronglarp; Trujillo, alvaro Jose Villafane; Lopez-Gonzalez, Carlos; Lara-Diaz, Nalleli Elvira; Cosby, Olivia; Waggershauser, Cristian N.; Bamber, Jack; Stewart, Frances; Fisher, Jason; Fuller, Angela K.; Perkins, Kelly A.; Powell, Roger A.
• 署名单位: Cornell University; University of St Andrews; University of St Andrews; University of St Andrews; Polish Academy of Sciences; Mammal Research Institute of the Polish Academy of Sciences; University of Kent; University of Maine System; University of Maine Orono; University of Trieste; University of Rhode Island; Jagiellonian University; University of Massachusetts System; University of Massachusetts Amherst; James Cook University; Smithsonian Institution; Smithsonian National Zoological Park & Conservation Biology Institute; Peking University; Kasetsart University; Universidad Veracruzana; Universidad Autonoma de Queretaro; Universidad Autonoma Metropolitana - Mexico; Aaniiih Nakoda College; University of Aberdeen; University of the Highlands & Islands; University of Victoria; United States Department of the Interior; United States Geological Survey; Cornell University; North Carolina State University
• 刊物名称: PROCEEDINGS OF THE NATIONAL ACADEMY OF SCIENCES OF THE UNITED STATES OF AMERICA
• ISSN/ISSBN: 0027-9346
• DOI: 10.1073/pnas.2312252121
• 发表日期: 2024-03-19
• 关键词: resource dispersion hypothesis; life-history patterns; marten martes-martes; social-organization; pine martens; group-size; gulo-gulo; ecology; forest

摘要

The social system of animals involves a complex interplay between physiology, natural history, and the environment. Long relied upon discrete categorizations of social and solitary inhibit our capacity to understand species and their interactions with the world around them. Here, we use a globally distributed camera trapping dataset to test the drivers of aggregating into groups in a species complex (martens and relatives, family Mustelidae, Order Carnivora) assumed to be obligately solitary. We use a simple quantification, the probability of being detected in a group, that was applied across our globally derived camera trap dataset. Using a series of binomial generalized mixed- effects models applied to a dataset of 16,483 independent detections across 17 countries on four continents we test explicit hypotheses about potential drivers of group formation. We observe a wide range of probabilities of being detected in groups within the solitary model system, with the probability of aggregating in groups varying by more than an order of magnitude. We demonstrate that a species' context- dependent proclivity toward aggregating in groups is underpinned by a range of resource- related factors, primarily the distribution of resources, with increasing patchiness of resources facilitating group formation, as well as interactions between environmental conditions (resource constancy/winter severity) and physiology (energy storage capabilities). The wide variation in propensities to aggregate with conspecifics observed here highlights how continued failure to recognize complexities in the social behaviors of apparently solitary species limits our understanding not only of the individual species but also the causes and consequences of group formation.