ORCID Profile
0000-0003-4168-2696
Current Organisations
Beth Israel Deaconess Medical Center
,
University College London
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Publisher: Cold Spring Harbor Laboratory
Date: 20-01-2021
DOI: 10.1101/2021.01.19.427238
Abstract: The evolutionary benefits of reproductive seasonality are usually measured by a single fitness component, namely offspring survival to nutritional independence (Bronson, 2009). Yet different fitness components may be maximised by dissimilar birth timings. This may generate fitness trade-offs that could be critical to understanding variation in reproductive timing across in iduals, populations and species. Here, we use long-term demographic and behavioural data from wild chacma baboons ( Papio ursinus ) living in a seasonal environment to test the adaptive significance of seasonal variation in birth frequencies. Like humans, baboons are eclectic omnivores, give birth every 1-3 years to a single offspring that develops slowly, and typically breed year-round. We identify two distinct optimal birth timings in the annual cycle, located 4-months apart, which maximize offspring survival or minimize maternal interbirth intervals (IBIs), by respectively matching the annual food peak with late or early weaning. Observed births are the most frequent between these optima, supporting an adaptive trade-off between current and future reproduction. Furthermore, infants born closer to the optimal timing favouring maternal IBIs (instead of offspring survival) throw more tantrums, a typical manifestation of mother-offspring conflict (Maestripieri, 2002). Maternal trade-offs over birth timing, which extend into mother-offspring conflict after birth, may commonly occur in long-lived species where development from birth to independence spans multiple seasons. Such trade-offs may substantially weaken the benefits of seasonal reproduction, and our findings therefore open new avenues to understanding the evolution of breeding phenology in long-lived animals, including humans. Why some species breed seasonally and others do not remain unclear. The fitness consequences of birth timing have traditionally been measured on offspring survival, ignoring other fitness components. We investigated the effects of birth timing on two fitness components in wild baboons, who breed year-round despite living in a seasonal savannah. Birth timing generates a trade-off between offspring survival and future maternal reproductive pace, meaning that mothers cannot maximize both. When birth timing favours maternal reproductive pace (instead of offspring survival), behavioural manifestations of mother-offspring conflict around weaning are intense. These results open new avenues to understand the evolution of reproductive timings in long-lived animals including humans, where such reproductive trade-offs may commonly weaken the intensity of reproductive seasonality.
Publisher: Wiley
Date: 29-05-2019
DOI: 10.1111/DOM.13755
Publisher: Elsevier BV
Date: 11-2019
Publisher: Elsevier BV
Date: 06-2015
Publisher: Springer Science and Business Media LLC
Date: 29-09-2011
Publisher: American College of Physicians
Date: 2021
DOI: 10.7326/M20-4298
Publisher: The Royal Society
Date: 15-09-2021
Abstract: Non-human primates respond to the death of a conspecific in erse ways, some of which may present phylogenetic continuity with human thanatological responses. Of these responses, infant corpse carrying by mothers (ICC) is the most frequently reported. Despite its prevalence, quantitative analyses of this behaviour are scarce and inconclusive. We compiled a database of 409 published cases across 50 different primate species of mothers' responses to their infants' deaths and used Bayesian phylogenetic regressions with an information-theoretic approach to test hypotheses proposed to explain between- and within-species variation in ICC. We found that ICC was more likely when the infant's death was non-traumatic (e.g. illness) versus traumatic (e.g. infanticide), and when the mother was younger. These results support the death detection hypothesis, which proposes that ICC occurs when there are fewer contextual or sensory cues indicating death. Such an interpretation suggests that primates are able to attain an awareness of death. In addition, when carried, infant age affected ICC duration, with longer ICC observed for younger infants. This result suggests that ICC is a by-product of strong selection on maternal behaviour. The findings are discussed in the context of the evolution of emotion, and implications for evolutionary thanatology are proposed.
Publisher: eLife Sciences Publications, Ltd
Date: 12-04-2016
DOI: 10.7554/ELIFE.13125
Abstract: Social information allows the rapid dissemination of novel information among in iduals. However, an in idual’s ability to use information is likely to be dependent on phenotypic constraints operating at three successive steps: acquisition, application, and exploitation. We tested this novel framework by quantifying the sequential process of social information use with experimental food patches in wild baboons (Papio ursinus). We identified phenotypic constraints at each step of the information use sequence: peripheral in iduals in the proximity network were less likely to acquire and apply social information, while subordinate females were less likely to exploit it successfully. Social bonds and personality also played a limiting role along the sequence. As a result of these constraints, the average in idual only acquired and exploited social information on % and % of occasions. Our study highlights the sequential nature of information use and the fundamental importance of phenotypic constraints on this sequence.
Publisher: Wiley
Date: 26-08-2021
DOI: 10.1002/AJPA.24118
Abstract: In many primates, one of the most noticeable morphological developmental traits is the transition from natal fur and skin color to adult coloration. Studying the chronology and average age at such color transitions can be an easy and noninvasive method to (a) estimate the age of infants whose dates of birth were not observed, and (b) detect interin idual differences in the pace of development for infants with known birth dates. Using a combination of photographs and field observations from 73 infant chacma baboons ( Papio ursinus ) of known ages, we (a) scored the skin color of six different body parts from pink to gray, as well as the color of the fur from black to gray (b) validated our method of age estimation using photographic and field observations on an independent subset of 22 infants with known date of birth and (c) investigated ecological, social, and in idual determinants of age‐related variation in skin and fur color. Our results show that transitions in skin color can be used to age infant chacma baboons less than 7 months old with accuracy (median number of days between actual and estimated age = 10, range = 0–86). We also reveal that food availability during the mother's pregnancy, but not during lactation, affects infant color‐for‐age and therefore acts as a predictor of developmental pace. This study highlights the potential of monitoring within‐ and between‐infant variation in color to estimate age when age is unknown, and developmental pace when age is known.
Publisher: Elsevier BV
Date: 09-2012
Publisher: Elsevier BV
Date: 06-2014
Publisher: Elsevier BV
Date: 05-2023
Publisher: The Royal Society
Date: 05-2023
DOI: 10.1098/RSOS.230219
Abstract: Immatures' social development may be fundamental to understand important biological processes, such as social information transmission through groups, that can vary with age and sex. Our aim was to determine how social networks change with age and differ between sexes in wild immature baboons, group-living primates that readily learn socially. Our results show that immature baboons inherited their mothers' networks and differentiated from them as they aged, increasing their association with partners of similar age and the same sex. Males were less bonded to their matriline and became more peripheral with age compared to females. Our results may pave the way to further studies testing a new hypothetical framework: in female-philopatric societies, social information transmission may be constrained at the matrilineal level by age- and sex-driven social clustering.
Publisher: Public Library of Science (PLoS)
Date: 14-04-2014
Publisher: Cold Spring Harbor Laboratory
Date: 19-03-2021
DOI: 10.1101/2021.03.18.435953
Abstract: Animal reproductive phenology varies from strongly seasonal to non-seasonal, sometimes among closely related or sympatric species. While the extent of reproductive seasonality is often attributed to environmental seasonality, this fails to explain many cases of non-seasonal breeding in seasonal environments. We investigated the evolutionary determinants of non-seasonal breeding in a wild primate, the chacma baboon ( Papio ursinus ), living in a seasonal environment with high climatic unpredictability. We tested three hypotheses proposing that non-seasonal breeding has evolved in response to (1) climatic unpredictability, (2) reproductive competition between females favouring birth asynchrony, and (3) in idual, rank-dependent variations in optimal reproductive timing. We found strong support for an effect of reproductive asynchrony modulated by rank: (i) birth synchrony is costly to subordinate females, lengthening their interbirth intervals, and (ii) females delay their reproductive timings (fertility periods and conceptions) according to other females in the group to stagger conceptions. These results indicate that reproductive competition generates reproductive asynchrony, weakening the intensity of reproductive seasonality at the population level. This study emphasizes the importance of sociality in mediating the evolution of reproductive phenology in gregarious organisms, a result of broad significance for understanding key demographic parameters driving population responses to increasing climatic fluctuations.
Publisher: Cold Spring Harbor Laboratory
Date: 12-01-2021
DOI: 10.1101/2021.01.12.426348
Abstract: Non-human primates respond to the death of a conspecific in erse ways, some which may present phylogenetic continuity with human thanatological behaviours. Of these responses, infant corpse carrying by mothers (ICC) is the most-frequently reported. Despite its prevalence, quantitative analyses of this behaviour are scarce and inconclusive. We compiled a database of 409 published cases across 50 different primate species of mothers’ responses to their infants’ deaths to test hypotheses proposed to explain between- and within-species variation in corpse carrying. Using Bayesian phylogenetic regressions, we preliminarily identified three factors as possible predictors of ICC occurrence. However, using an information-theoretic approach, no combination of these predictors performed better than the null model, offering no support for any of the hypotheses we tested. In contrast, for those cases where infants’ corpses were carried, infant age affected ICC duration, with longer ICC observed for younger infants. This result may provide support for hypotheses that suggest that ICC is a by-product of a strong mother-infant bond. The results are discussed in the context of the evolution of emotion and their implications for evolutionary thanatology are considered.
Publisher: eLife Sciences Publications, Ltd
Date: 12-11-2019
DOI: 10.7554/ELIFE.50989
Abstract: Baboons, members of the genus Papio, comprise six closely related species distributed throughout sub-Saharan Africa and southwest Arabia. The species exhibit more ecological flexibility and a wider range of social systems than many other primates. This article summarizes our current knowledge of the natural history of baboons and highlights directions for future research. We suggest that baboons can serve as a valuable model for complex evolutionary processes, such as speciation and hybridization. The evolution of baboons has been heavily shaped by climatic changes and population expansion and fragmentation in the African savanna environment, similar to the processes that acted during human evolution. With accumulating long-term data, and new data from previously understudied species, baboons are ideally suited for investigating the links between sociality, health, longevity and reproductive success. To achieve these aims, we propose a closer integration of studies at the proximate level, including functional genomics, with behavioral and ecological studies.
Publisher: Public Library of Science (PLoS)
Date: 06-04-2020
Publisher: Elsevier BV
Date: 02-2021
Publisher: Wiley
Date: 18-12-2012
DOI: 10.1111/BRV.12007
Abstract: The discovery that an in idual may be constrained, and even behave sub-optimally, because of its personality type has fundamental implications for understanding in idual- to group-level processes. Despite recent interest in the study of animal personalities within behavioural ecology, the field is fraught with conceptual and methodological difficulties inherent in any young discipline. We review the current agreement of definitions and methods used in personality studies across taxa and systems, and find that current methods risk misclassifying traits. Fortunately, these problems have been faced before by other similar fields during their infancy, affording important opportunities to learn from past mistakes. We review the tools that were developed to overcome similar methodological problems in psychology. These tools emphasise the importance of attempting to measure animal personality traits using multiple tests and the care that needs to be taken when interpreting correlations between personality traits or their tests. Accordingly, we suggest an integrative theoretical framework that incorporates these tools to facilitate a robust and unified approach in the study of animal personality.
Publisher: Wiley
Date: 07-05-2013
Abstract: A forager's optimal patch-departure time can be predicted by the prescient marginal value theorem (pMVT), which assumes they have perfect knowledge of the environment, or by approaches such as Bayesian updating and learning rules, which avoid this assumption by allowing foragers to use recent experiences to inform their decisions. In understanding and predicting broader scale ecological patterns, in idual-level mechanisms, such as patch-departure decisions, need to be fully elucidated. Unfortunately, there are few empirical studies that compare the performance of patch-departure models that assume perfect knowledge with those that do not, resulting in a limited understanding of how foragers decide when to leave a patch. We tested the patch-departure rules predicted by fixed rule, pMVT, Bayesian updating and learning models against one another, using patch residency times (PRTs) recorded from 54 chacma baboons (Papio ursinus) across two groups in natural (n = 6175 patch visits) and field experimental (n = 8569) conditions. We found greater support in the experiment for the model based on Bayesian updating rules, but greater support for the model based on the pMVT in natural foraging conditions. This suggests that foragers may place more importance on recent experiences in predictable environments, like our experiment, where these experiences provide more reliable information about future opportunities. Furthermore, the effect of a single recent foraging experience on PRTs was uniformly weak across both conditions. This suggests that foragers' perception of their environment may incorporate many previous experiences, thus approximating the perfect knowledge assumed by the pMVT. Foragers may, therefore, optimize their patch-departure decisions in line with the pMVT through the adoption of rules similar to those predicted by Bayesian updating.
Publisher: Elsevier BV
Date: 10-2014
Publisher: Center for Open Science
Date: 25-05-2022
Abstract: Although anthropology was the first academic discipline to investigate cultural change, many other disciplines have made noteworthy contributions to understanding what influences the adoption of new behaviors. Drawing on a broad, interdisciplinary literature covering both humans and nonhumans, we examine (1) which features of behavioral traits make them more transmissible, (2) which in idual characteristics of inventors promote copying of their inventions, (3) which characteristics of in iduals make them more prone to adopting new behaviors, (4) which characteristics of dyadic relationships promote cultural transmission, (5) which properties of groups (e.g., network structures) promote transmission of traits, and (6) which characteristics of groups promote retention, rather than extinction, of cultural traits. One of anthropology’s strengths is its readiness to adopt and improve theories and methods from other disciplines, integrating them into a more holistic approach hence, we identify approaches that might be particularly useful to biological and cultural anthropologists, and knowledge gaps that should be filled.
Publisher: Public Library of Science (PLoS)
Date: 31-07-2012
Publisher: Cold Spring Harbor Laboratory
Date: 12-07-2021
DOI: 10.1101/2021.07.12.452028
Abstract: The formation of culture in animal societies, including humans, relies on the social transmission of information amongst in iduals. This spread depends upon the transmission of social information, or social learning, between in iduals. However, not all information spreads. To better understand how constraints at the in idual-, dyad- and group-level might influence the formation of culture, we experimentally introduced four innovations (novel behaviours) across three troops of wild chacma baboons ( Papio ursinus ). At the in idual-level, different phenotypic traits constrained in iduals’ use of social information about the innovations. At the dyad-level, we found evidence for social reinforcement and directed social learning affecting who learnt and from whom. Group-level characteristics also limited the diffusion of information, which spread more slowly through social networks that showed less mixing across age classes. Nevertheless, despite these multi-level limitations, the four innovations quickly spread through all the social groups in which they were tested, suggesting that the formation of animal cultures can be surprisingly resilient to constraints on information transmission.
Publisher: Wiley
Date: 26-03-2014
DOI: 10.1111/JEB.12358
Abstract: The social niche specialization hypothesis predicts that group-living animals should specialize in particular social roles to avoid social conflict, resulting in alternative life-history strategies for different roles. Social niche specialization, coupled with role-specific life-history trade-offs, should thus generate between-in idual differences in behaviour that persist through time, or distinct personalities, as in iduals specialize in particular nonoverlapping social roles. We tested for support for the social niche specialization hypothesis in cooperative personality traits in wild female meerkats (Suricata suricatta) that compete for access to dominant social roles. As cooperation is costly and dominance is acquired by heavier females, we predicted that females that ultimately acquired dominant roles would show noncooperative personality types early in life and before and after role acquisition. Although we found large in idual differences in repeatable cooperative behaviours, there was no indication that in iduals that ultimately acquired dominance differed from unsuccessful in iduals in their cooperative behaviour. Early-life behaviour did not predict social role acquisition later in life, nor was cooperative behaviour before and after role acquisition correlated in the same in iduals. We suggest that female meerkats do not show social niche specialization resulting in cooperative personalities, but that they exhibit an adaptive response in personality at role acquisition.
Publisher: Wiley
Date: 2015
DOI: 10.1002/ECE3.1377
Publisher: The Royal Society
Date: 23-08-2013
Publisher: Elsevier BV
Date: 09-2013
Publisher: PeerJ
Date: 11-03-2014
DOI: 10.7717/PEERJ.283
Publisher: The Royal Society
Date: 05-2015
DOI: 10.1098/RSOS.140444
Abstract: In iduals' access to social information can depend on their social network. Homophily—a preference to associate with similar phenotypes—may cause assortment within social networks that could preclude information transfer from in iduals who generate information to those who would benefit from acquiring it. Thus, understanding phenotypic assortment may lead to a greater understanding of the factors that could limit the transfer of information between in iduals. We tested whether there was assortment in wild baboon ( Papio ursinus ) networks, using data collected from two troops over 6 years for six phenotypic traits—boldness, age, dominance rank, sex and the propensity to generate/exploit information—using two methods for defining a connection between in iduals—time spent in proximity and grooming. Our analysis indicated that assortment was more common in grooming than proximity networks. In general, there was homophily for boldness, age, rank and the propensity to both generate and exploit information, but heterophily for sex. However, there was considerable variability both between troops and years. The patterns of homophily we observed for these phenotypes may impede information transfer between them. However, the inconsistency in the strength of assortment between troops and years suggests that the limitations to information flow may be quite variable.
Publisher: Elsevier BV
Date: 04-2014
Publisher: Cold Spring Harbor Laboratory
Date: 17-09-2022
DOI: 10.1101/2022.09.16.508123
Abstract: Research in social mammals has revealed the complexity of female counter-strategies to reproductive competition and sexual conflict. For ex le, comparative research has shown that the length of female sexual receptivity varies with infanticide risk, but whether in iduals can strategically adjust their period of receptivity from cycle to cycle remains unknown. This study addresses this gap by exploring whether wild female chacma baboons ( Papio ursinus ) modulate their receptivity in response to the social environment. Given that female chacma baboons (a) compete for paternal care and (b) that infanticide risk and coercion are high, we predicted that: females could (a) shorten their receptive period to reduce intrasexual aggression and (b) male coercion, or (c) increase their conceptive period to access multiple or their preferred male. We quantified 158 receptivity cycles from 47 females recorded over 15 years. Females’ swelling duration, but not maximal-swelling, had low repeatability between females, but most variation in both phases stemmed from within females. We found evidence that females decrease their oestrous duration in response to an increasing number of in-group males, possibly to decrease their exposure to sexual coercion. We thus present preliminary evidence for an unexplored mechanism under sexual selection: female cycle length manipulation.
Publisher: The Company of Biologists
Date: 15-12-2006
DOI: 10.1242/JEB.02531
Abstract: Few studies have examined the adaptive significance of reversible acclimation responses. The aerobic performance and mating behaviour of the sexually coercive male eastern mosquito fish (Gambusia holbrooki)offers an excellent model system for testing the benefits of reversible acclimation responses to mating success. We exposed male mosquito fish to normoxic or hypoxic conditions for 4 weeks and tested their maximum sustained swimming performance and their ability to obtain coercive matings under both normoxic and hypoxic conditions. We predicted that hypoxia-acclimated males would possess greater swimming and mating performance in hypoxic conditions than normoxic-acclimated males, and vice versa when tested in normoxia. Supporting our predictions, we found the sustained swimming performance of male mosquito fish was greater in a hypoxic environment following long-term exposure to low partial pressures of oxygen. However, the benefits of acclimation responses to mating performance were dependent on whether they were tested in the presence or absence of male-male competition. In a non-competitive environment, male mosquito fish acclimated to hypoxic conditions spent a greater amount of time following females and obtained more copulations than normoxic-acclimated males when tested in low partial pressures of oxygen. When males were competed against each other for copulations, we found no influence of long-term exposure to different partial pressures of oxygen on mating behaviour. Thus, despite improvements in the aerobic capacity of male mosquito fish following long-term acclimation to hypoxic conditions, these benefits did not always manifest themselves in improved mating performance. This study represents one of the first experimental tests of the benefits of reversible acclimation responses, and indicates that the ecological significance of physiological plasticity may be more complicated than previously imagined.
Publisher: The Royal Society
Date: 12-05-2021
Abstract: The evolutionary benefits of reproductive seasonality are often measured by a single-fitness component, namely offspring survival. Yet different fitness components may be maximized by different birth timings. This may generate fitness trade-offs that could be critical to understanding variation in reproductive timing across in iduals, populations and species. Here, we use long-term demographic and behavioural data from wild chacma baboons ( Papio ursinus ) living in a seasonal environment to test the adaptive significance of seasonal variation in birth frequencies. We identify two distinct optimal birth timings in the annual cycle, located four-month apart, which maximize offspring survival or minimize maternal interbirth intervals (IBIs), by respectively matching the annual food peak with late or early weaning. Observed births are the most frequent between these optima, supporting an adaptive trade-off between current and future reproduction. Furthermore, infants born closer to the optimal timing favouring maternal IBIs (instead of offspring survival) throw more tantrums, a typical manifestation of mother–offspring conflict. Maternal trade-offs over birth timing, which extend into mother–offspring conflict after birth, may commonly occur in long-lived species where development from birth to independence spans multiple seasons. Our findings therefore open new avenues to understanding the evolution of breeding phenology in long-lived animals, including humans.
Publisher: The Royal Society
Date: 03-2020
DOI: 10.1098/RSOS.192206
Abstract: What do animals know of death? What can animals' responses to death tell us about the evolution of species’ minds, and the origins of humans' awareness of death and dying? A recent surge in interest in comparative thanatology may provide beginnings of answers to these questions. Here, we add to the comparative thanatology literature by reporting 12 cases of group members' responses to infants’ deaths, including 1 miscarriage and 2 stillbirths, recorded over 13 years in wild Namibian chacma baboons. Wild baboons' responses to dead infants were similar to other primates: in general, the mother of the infant carried the infants’ corpse for varying lengths of time (less than 1 h to 10 days) and tended to groom the corpses frequently, though, as in other studies, considerable in idual differences were observed. However, we have not yet observed any corpse carriage of very long duration (i.e. greater than 20 days), which, though rare, occurs in other Old World monkeys and chimpanzees. We hypothesize this is due to the costs of carrying the corpse over the greater daily distances travelled by the Tsaobis baboons. Additionally, in contrast to other case reports, we observed male friends' ‘protection’ of the infant corpse on three occasions. We discuss the implications of these reports for current questions in the field.
Publisher: Ovid Technologies (Wolters Kluwer Health)
Date: 11-2017
DOI: 10.1161/HYPERTENSIONAHA.117.10017
Abstract: Both sodium reduction and the Dietary Approaches to Stop Hypertension (DASH) diet lower blood pressure (BP) however, the patterns of their effects on BP over time are unknown. In the DASH-Sodium trial, adults with pre-/stage 1 hypertension, not using antihypertensive medications, were randomly assigned to either a typical American diet (control) or DASH. Within their assigned diet, participants randomly ate each of 3 sodium levels (50, 100, and 150 mmol/d, at 2100 kcal) over 4-week periods. BP was measured weekly for 12 weeks 412 participants enrolled (57% women 57% black mean age, 48 years mean systolic BP [SBP]/diastolic BP [DBP], 135/86 mm Hg). For those assigned control, there was no change in SBP/DBP between weeks 1 and 4 on the high-sodium diet (weekly change, −0.04/0.06 mm Hg/week) versus a progressive decline in BP on the low-sodium diet (−0.94/−0.70 mm Hg/week P interactions between time and sodium .001 for SBP and DBP). For those assigned DASH, SBP/DBP changed −0.60/−0.16 mm Hg/week on the high- versus −0.42/−0.54 mm Hg/week on the low-sodium diet ( P interactions between time and sodium=0.56 for SBP and 0.10 for DBP). When comparing DASH to control, DASH changed SBP/DBP by −4.36/−1.07 mm Hg after 1 week, which accounted for most of the effect observed, with no significant difference in weekly rates of change for either SBP ( P interaction=0.97) or DBP ( P interaction=0.70). In the context of a typical American diet, a low-sodium diet reduced BP without plateau, suggesting that the full effects of sodium reduction are not completely achieved by 4 weeks. In contrast, compared with control, DASH lowers BP within a week without further effect thereafter. URL: www.clinicaltrials.gov . Unique identifier: NCT00000608.
Publisher: Elsevier BV
Date: 12-2012
Publisher: University of Chicago Press
Date: 10-2012
DOI: 10.1086/667587
Abstract: There is a growing appreciation of the multiple social and nonsocial factors influencing the foraging behavior of social animals but little understanding of how these factors depend on habitat characteristics or in idual traits. This partly reflects the difficulties inherent in using conventional statistical techniques to analyze multifactor, multicontext foraging decisions. Discrete-choice models provide a way to do so, and we demonstrate this by using them to investigate patch preference in a wild population of social foragers (chacma baboons Papio ursinus). Data were collected from 29 adults across two social groups, encompassing 683 foraging decisions over a 6-month period and the results interpreted using an information-theoretic approach. Baboon foraging decisions were influenced by multiple nonsocial and social factors and were often contingent on the characteristics of the habitat or in idual. Differences in decision making between habitats were consistent with changes in interference-competition costs but not with changes in social-foraging benefits. In idual differences in decision making were suggestive of a trade-off between dominance rank and social capital. Our findings emphasize that taking a multifactor, multicontext approach is important to fully understand animal decision making. We also demonstrate how discrete-choice models can be used to achieve this.
Publisher: Elsevier BV
Date: 07-2013
Publisher: The Royal Society
Date: 07-2014
Abstract: Strong social bonds can make an important contribution to in idual fitness, but we still have only a limited understanding of the temporal period relevant to the adjustment of social relationships. While there is growing recognition of the importance of strong bonds that persist for years, social relationships can also vary over weeks and months, suggesting that social strategies may be optimized over shorter timescales. Using biological market theory as a framework, we explore whether temporal variation in the benefits of social relationships might be sufficient to generate daily adjustments of social strategies in wild baboons. Data on grooming, one measure of social relationships, were collected from 60 chacma baboons ( Papio ursinus ) across two troops over a six month period. Our analyses suggest that social strategies can show diurnal variation, with subordinates preferentially grooming more dominant in iduals earlier in the day compared with later in the day. These findings indicate that group-living animals may optimize certain elements of their social strategies over relatively short time periods.
Publisher: MDPI AG
Date: 07-01-2021
Abstract: Background and objectives: Limited evidence exists exploring perceptions of which aspects of a pain management program are perceived as valuable and impactful. The aim of this study was to explore patient beliefs about which aspects of a pain management program were valued and/or had perceived impact. Materials and Methods: One-on-one structured interviews were conducted with 11 adults three months after their completion of the Spark Pain Program at Westmead Hospital, Sydney, Australia. Concepts in the transcripts were inductively identified and explored, utilizing thematic analysis to better understand their relevance to the study aim. Results: Four themes emerged: (1) “The program overall was positive, but…” (2) “I valued my improved knowledge and understanding of pain, but…” (3) “I valued the stretching/relaxation acing/activity monitoring” and (4) “I valued being part of a supportive and understanding group”. Participants reported that they liked being treated as an in idual within the group. A lack of perceived personal relevance of key messages was identified in some participants it appears that patients in pain programs must determine that changes in knowledge, beliefs, and attitudes are personally relevant in order for the changes to have a significant impact on them. Conclusions: This study provides new insights into aspects of a pain management program that were perceived as valuable and impactful, areas that “missed the mark”, and hypotheses to guide the implementation of service delivery and program redesign.
Publisher: Center for Open Science
Date: 09-11-2022
Abstract: During the question time after seminar and conference talks, men ask proportionally more questions than women. Assuming women have as many questions as men, this is a problem that limits both ersity in discourse and the visibility of women as role models in academia. Why don’t women speak up? Previous work has examined contextual factors (e.g., who asks the first question, how many questions are asked), but there are also self-selection issues: women are choosing not to ask questions. One possibility, consistent with the literature on fear of backlash, is that women worry about being negatively judged by the audience. To assess this, in Study 1, we surveyed 651 academics from around the world. The survey showed that women indeed fear that they will be judged as less likable for asking a male- vs. a female-stereotypic question. In reality, however, there was no evidence for backlash, as both women and men were judged as less likable for asking a male- vs. a female-stereotypic question. Across two kinds of judgments, survey respondents demonstrated a belief that men and women exhibit different behaviors when asking questions at academic talks. We investigated whether there actually are any systematic gender differences in question-asking behavior in Study 2, by transcribing and coding 912 questions from 160 publicly-available recordings of live talks with question periods. We found little evidence for any gender differences in word use or behaviors that are often thought to be male- or female-stereotypic. Taken together, academics expect gender to influence question-asking behavior despite evidence to the contrary.
Publisher: The Royal Society
Date: 08-2020
DOI: 10.1098/RSOS.200950
Abstract: In social mammals, social integration is generally assumed to improve females' reproductive success. Most species demonstrating this relationship exhibit complex forms of social bonds and interactions. However, female eastern grey kangaroos ( Macropus giganteus ) exhibit differentiated social relationships, yet do not appear to cooperate directly. It is unclear what the fitness consequences of such sociability could be in species that do not exhibit obvious forms of cooperation. Using 4 years of life history, spatial and social data from a wild population of approximately 200 in idually recognizable female eastern grey kangaroos, we tested whether higher levels of sociability are associated with greater reproductive success. Contrary to expectations, we found that the size of a female's social network, her numbers of preferential associations with other females and her group sizes all negatively influenced her reproductive success. These factors influenced the survival of dependent young that had left the pouch rather than those that were still in the pouch. We also show that primiparous females (first-time breeders) were less likely to have surviving young. Our findings suggest that social bonds are not always beneficial for reproductive success in group-living species, and that female kangaroos may experience trade-offs between successfully rearing young and maintaining affiliative relationships.
Publisher: The Royal Society
Date: 17-05-2021
Abstract: Innovation—the combination of invention and social learning—can empower species to invade new niches via cultural adaptation. Social learning has typically been regarded as the fundamental driver for the emergence of traditions and thus culture. Consequently, invention has been relatively understudied outside the human lineage—despite being the source of new traditions. This neglect leaves basic questions unanswered: what factors promote the creation of new ideas and practices? What affects their spread or loss? We critically review the existing literature, focusing on four levels of investigation: traits (what sorts of behaviours are easiest to invent?), in iduals (what factors make some in iduals more likely to be inventors?), ecological contexts (what aspects of the environment make invention or transmission more likely?), and populations (what features of relationships and societies promote the rise and spread of new inventions?). We aim to inspire new research by highlighting theoretical and empirical gaps in the study of innovation, focusing primarily on inventions in non-humans. Understanding the role of invention and innovation in the history of life requires a well-developed theoretical framework (which embraces cognitive processes) and a taxonomically broad, cross-species dataset that explicitly investigates inventions and their transmission. We outline such an agenda here. This article is part of the theme issue ‘Foundations of cultural evolution’.
Publisher: The Royal Society
Date: 05-2015
DOI: 10.1098/RSOS.140444
Abstract: In iduals' access to social information can depend on their social network. Homophily—a preference to associate with similar phenotypes—may cause assortment within social networks that could preclude information transfer from in iduals who generate information to those who would benefit from acquiring it. Thus, understanding phenotypic assortment may lead to a greater understanding of the factors that could limit the transfer of information between in iduals. We tested whether there was assortment in wild baboon ( Papio ursinus ) networks, using data collected from two troops over 6 years for six phenotypic traits—boldness, age, dominance rank, sex and the propensity to generate/exploit information—using two methods for defining a connection between in iduals—time spent in proximity and grooming. Our analysis indicated that assortment was more common in grooming than proximity networks. In general, there was homophily for boldness, age, rank and the propensity to both generate and exploit information, but heterophily for sex. However, there was considerable variability both between troops and years. The patterns of homophily we observed for these phenotypes may impede information transfer between them. However, the inconsistency in the strength of assortment between troops and years suggests that the limitations to information flow may be quite variable.
Publisher: eLife Sciences Publications, Ltd
Date: 04-10-2019
Publisher: No publisher found
Date: 2012
Location: United States of America
Location: United States of America
Location: United States of America
Location: United Kingdom of Great Britain and Northern Ireland
Location: United Kingdom of Great Britain and Northern Ireland
Location: United Kingdom of Great Britain and Northern Ireland
Location: No location found
No related grants have been discovered for Stephen Juraschek.