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Bioscience Horizons Advance Access published online on March 3, 2009
Bioscience Horizons, doi:10.1093/biohorizons/hzp008
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© 2009 The Author(s)
This is an Open Access article distributed under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution Non-Commercial License (http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc/2.0/uk/) which permits unrestricted non-commercial use, distribution, and reproduction in any medium, provided the original work is properly cited.

The application of social network theory to animal behaviour

Amelia Coleing*

University of Chester, Chester, UK

* Corresponding author: Blagdon Manor Farm, North Tamerton, Holsworthy EX22 6RL, UK. Tel: + 44 07884494989. Email: milli_uk{at}hotmail.com

Supervisor: Roger Davies, University of Chester, Chester, UK.


  Abstract

Social network analysis (SNA) is a mathematical technique for analysing social relationships and the patterns and implications of these relationships (Wasserman S, Faust K (1994) Social Network Analysis: Methods and Applications. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press). It has only recently been discovered by behavioural biologists as a useful tool in the study of animal behaviour (Wey T, Blumstein DT, Shen W et al. (2008) Social network analysis of animal behaviour: a promising tool for the study of sociality. Anim Behav 75: 333–344). Video recording over a 2 month period was used to record the behaviour of the elephant group at Chester Zoo. SNA was applied in an investigation of the group structure and interactions of the group. Observations of individual and group behaviour were based upon 40 h of playback of the social interactions were recorded and analysed using AGNA (2003) and Pajek (2005) packages. The analysis showed that the many facets of individual behaviour could be understood in terms of social structure of the group. This study has demonstrated that SNA is a powerful approach to understanding group dynamics and is particularly applicable to the study of obligate social species. In conclusion, it is suggested that SNA is potentially a useful tool in the management of captive animal populations.

Key words: social networks, animal social behaviour


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