Behavioural Phenotype Affects Social Interactions In An Animal Network

Main Category: Biology / Biochemistry
Also Included In: Veterinary
Article Date: 23 Jul 2008 - 1:00 PDT

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Animals often live in groups. We know that individuals do not interact with others at random, but why this is the case remains unclear.

One possibility is that their choice is affected by their 'personality', such as how bold or shy they are.

We tested this using stickleback fish, and found that shy fish associated frequently with a small subset of other group members. Bold fish, on the other hand, tended to interact equally with all other individuals, but spent less time interacting overall.

Our results have important implications for understanding the spread of information and disease in social groups.

Proceedings of the Royal Society B: Biological Sciences

Proceedings B is the Royal Society's flagship biological research journal, dedicated to the rapid publication and broad dissemination of high-quality research papers, reviews and comment and reply papers. The scope of journal is diverse and is especially strong in organismal biology.

www.publishing.royalsociety.org/proceedingsb