Consistent sociality but flexible social associations across temporal and spatial foraging contexts in a colonial breeder.

When the consequences of sociality differ depending on the state of individual animals and the experienced environment, individuals may benefit from altering their social behaviours in a context-dependent manner. Thus, to fully address the hypotheses about the role of social associations it is imperative to consider the multidimensional nature of sociality by explicitly examining social associations across multiple scales and contexts. We simultaneously recorded > 8000 associations from 85% of breeding individuals from a colony of Australasian gannets (Morus serrator) over a 2-week period, and examined gregariousness across four foraging states using multilayer social network analysis. We found that social associations varied in a context-dependent manner, highlighting that social associations are most prevalent during foraging (local enhancement) and in regions expected to provide clustered resources. We also provide evidence of individual consistency in gregariousness, but flexibility in social associates, demonstrating that individuals can adjust their social behaviours to match experienced conditions

Sexual Size Dimorphism and Body Condition in the Australasian Gannet

Funding: The research was financially supported by the Holsworth Wildlife Research Endowment. Acknowledgments We thank the Victorian Marine Science Consortium, Sea All Dolphin Swim, Parks Victoria, and the Point Danger Management Committee for logistical support. We are grateful for the assistance of the many field volunteers involved in the study.Peer reviewedPublisher PD

Electornic Supplemental Materials from Evidence of sociality in the timing and location of foraging in a colonial seabird

Additional study methods and figure

Data File - First Foraging Patches from Evidence of sociality in the timing and location of foraging in a colonial seabird

Data containing spatial data and timing of first foraging patches used for the analysi

Mean body condition (%) ± SE for males and females from Pope’s Eye and Point Danger gannet colonies.

<p>Where males are in black and females are in white.</p

Distribution of discriminant scores for male and female Australasian gannets at two breeding colonies.

<p>Scores given for (a) Pope’s Eye and (b) Point Danger colonies, where males are in black, and females are in white. Scores are based on the discriminant functions provided in text.</p

Data File - First Foraging Patches from Evidence of sociality in the timing and location of foraging in a colonial seabird

Data containing spatial data and timing of first foraging patches used for the analysi

Electornic Supplemental Materials from Evidence of sociality in the timing and location of foraging in a colonial seabird

Additional study methods and figure

Comparison of mean body mass (kg) and morphometric (mm) differences ± SE within breeding pairs (<i>n</i>) of Australasian Gannets from Pope’s Eye and Point Danger colonies.

<p>Comparison of mean body mass (kg) and morphometric (mm) differences ± SE within breeding pairs (<i>n</i>) of Australasian Gannets from Pope’s Eye and Point Danger colonies.</p