1. Who's Tweeting Whom: The Influence of Rearing Condition on
Social Integration in Zebra Finches
Zachary L. Darwish, Kristen M. Cunningham, & Rosemary Strasser
Psychology Department, University of Nebraska at Omaha, Omaha, NE 68182
Results
Discussion
Introduction
Preliminary results from this project suggest that rearing condition may influence some aspects of social behavior. While total number of identified feeding events participated in were the same, there was a tendency for uniparental birds to be recorded more frequently at specific feeding events. Video observations taken during data collection are being evaluated in order to determine what other behaviors may be co-occuring with these feeder visits.
Previous research has found that early life exposure to corticosterone (the avian equivalent of cortisol) leads to differences in social integrations (specifically betweenness) (Boogert et al., 2014; Farine et al., 2015). Current analyses of this data set are examining potential differences in this and other measures of network centrality.
As a monogamous species, zebra finches preferentially associate and breed with their pair mate for multiple breeding cycles (Adkins-Regan, 2009). Traditionally, both male and female zebra finches help to raise chicks, however, there is variation in how evenly the workload is split (Zann, 1996).
Parental contact can be experimentally manipulated through the use of uniparental and biparental manipulations (Royle, Hartley, & Parker, 2002). In this experimental paradigm, zebra finch chicks are either raised by both parents (biparental) or only by their mother (uniparental) (Royle et al., 2002).
Previous work with zebra finches has demonstrated that early social environment can lead to differences in adult social behavior ((Ruploh, Bischof, & von Engelhardt, 2013, 2014).
Social network analysis can be used to assess how rearing condition influences different measures of sociality in a more realistic social environment (Boogert, Farine, & Spencer, 2014; Farine, Spencer, & Boogert, 2015).
Acknowledgments
Thank you to Danny Revers and Heather Jensen, as well as Angela Adams and Amber Park, for providing excellent care for the zebra finch colony.
Method
Figure 1: Graphical representation of network created from instances of feeding station visits. Associations scores of <0.07 removed for clarity. Circles represent males and triangles represent females. Node color refers to rearing condition (uniparental = red, biparental = blue).
Animals: Nineteen zebra finches were used in this experiment.
(Five uniparental male, five biparental males, four uniparental females, and
five biparental females)
Social network analysis in birds relies on capturing a large amount of data by recording visits to a location (typically a feeder) and identifying social groups by examining flock-level social behavior (Farine & Whitehead, 2015).
Prior to the start of the experiment, birds were caught and banded with passive integrative transponder (PIT) tags in order to allow for identification of individual animals. Birds were then released into a group aviary equipped with a data logger with two radio-frequency identification antennae. Antennas were located outside of feeding stations, meaning that birds were scanned every time the entered the feeder. Data on bird visits to the feeders were collected continuously for shortly over one month.
Data analyses were performed using the program R (packages asnipe and sna). Statistical comparisons were completed using SPSS.
References
Boogert, N. J., Farine, D. R., & Spencer, K. A. (2014). Developmental stress predicts social network position. Biology Letters, 10(10), –
Farine, D. R., Spencer, K. A., & Boogert, N. J. (2015). Early-Life Stress Triggers Juvenile Zebra Finches to Switch Social Learning Strategies. Current Biology, 25(16), 2184–
Farine, D. R., & Whitehead, H. (2015). Constructing, conducting and interpreting animal social network analysis. Journal of Animal Ecology, 84(5), 1144–1163.
Ruploh, T., Bischof, H.-J., & von Engelhardt, N. (2013). Adolescent social environment shapes sexual and aggressive behaviour of adult male zebra finches (Taeniopygia guttata). Behavioral Ecology and Sociobiology, 67(2), 175–184.
Ruploh, T., Bischof, H.-J., & von Engelhardt, N. (2014). Social experience during adolescence influences how male zebra finches (Taeniopygia guttata) group with conspecifics. Behavioral Ecology and Sociobiology, 68(4), 537–549.
Zann, R. A. (1996). The zebra finch: a synthesis of field and laboratory studies. Oxford ; New York: Oxford University Press.
Figure 2: There was a trend for uniparental birds to engage in more feeder visits per identified event F(1,15) = 3.248, p = Neither sex nor the sex by condition interaction were significant predictors (p > 0.05).
Figure 3: There were no differences in the number of events participated in based on sex, condition, or a sex by condition interaction (p > 0.05).
Other Contributor Logos Go Here