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How socio-ecological factors influence the differentiation of social relationships: an integrated conceptual framework

Moscovice, LR, Sueur, C and Aureli, F (2020) How socio-ecological factors influence the differentiation of social relationships: an integrated conceptual framework. Biology Letters, 16 (9). ISSN 1744-9561

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Abstract

The extent of differentiation of social relationships within groups is a means to assess social complexity, with greater differentiation indicating greater social complexity. Socio-ecological factors are likely to influence social complexity, but no attempt has been made to explain the differentiation of social relationships using multiple socio-ecological factors. Here, we propose a conceptual framework based on four components underlying multiple socio-ecological factors that influence the differentiation of social relationships: the extent of within-group contest competition to access resources, the extent to which individuals differ in their ability to provide a variety of services, the need for group-level cooperation and the constraints on social interactions. We use the framework to make predictions about the degree of relationship differentiation that can be expected within a group according to the cumulative contribution of multiple socio-ecological factors to each of the four components. The framework has broad applicability, since the four components are likely to be relevant to a wide range of animal taxa and to additional socio-ecological factors not explicitly dealt with here. Hence, the framework can be used as the basis for the development of novel and testable hypotheses about intra- and interspecific differences in relationship differentiation and social complexity.

Item Type: Article
Uncontrolled Keywords: 06 Biological Sciences
Subjects: Q Science > QH Natural history
Q Science > QH Natural history > QH301 Biology
Q Science > QL Zoology
Divisions: Biological & Environmental Sciences (from Sep 19)
Publisher: The Royal Society
Related URLs:
Date Deposited: 01 Feb 2022 12:59
Last Modified: 01 Feb 2022 13:00
DOI or ID number: 10.1098/rsbl.2020.0384
URI: https://researchonline.ljmu.ac.uk/id/eprint/16204
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