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Individuals can differ in how much they benefit from being in a group
depending on characteristics such as their dominance rank or their
behaviour. Understanding which categories of individuals influence the
decisions of a group could help understand which individuals are
benefiting the most. We examine these ideas in wild flocks of black-capped
chickadees (Poecile atricapillus), which feature stable group membership
and linear dominance hierarchies. We attempt to infer which individuals
are influencing group movement by examining how individuals initiate and
join foraging events in relation to their dominance rank, exploratory
personality type and position within a social network. We find that the
influence of dominance on these behaviours heavily depends on the social
connections an individual has, and that the effect of exploratory
personality was small. Dominant individuals with a high eigenvector
centrality were more likely to initiate a foraging event, while among
individuals with a low eigenvector centrality this relationship was
reversed, with subordinates being slightly more likely to initiate a
foraging event. Analysis also suggested that individuals with a large
number of strong social connections would be less affected by dominance
than less social individuals. This suggests a system where individuals
might adopt different foraging strategies depending on their position
within a social network, and highlights the importance of individuals’
social phenotype when studying group decision making.
238 views reported since publication in 2017.