A practical guide for inferring reliable dominance hierarchies and estimating their uncertainty

The Journal of Animal Ecology
Alfredo Sánchez-TójarDamien R Farine

Abstract

Many animal social structures are organized hierarchically, with some individuals monopolizing resources. Dominance hierarchies have received great attention from behavioural and evolutionary ecologists. There are many methods for inferring hierarchies from social interactions. Yet, there are no clear guidelines about how many observed dominance interactions (i.e. sampling effort) are necessary for inferring reliable dominance hierarchies, nor are there any established tools for quantifying their uncertainty. We simulate interactions (winners and losers) in scenarios of varying steepness (the probability that a dominant defeats a subordinate based on their difference in rank). Using these data, we (1) quantify how the number of interactions recorded and the steepness of the hierarchy affect the performance of five methods for inferring hierarchies, (2) propose an amendment that improves the performance of a popular method, and (3) suggest two easy procedures to measure uncertainty and steepness in the inferred hierarchy. We find that the ratio of interactions to individuals required to infer reliable hierarchies is surprisingly low, but depends on the steepness of the hierarchy and the method used. We show that David's score an...Continue Reading

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Citations

Jan 30, 2019·PloS One·Joseph Hickey, Jörn Davidsen
Jan 22, 2019·The Journal of Animal Ecology·Eli D Strauss, Kay E Holekamp
Mar 5, 2020·Proceedings. Biological Sciences·Eli D StraussKay E Holekamp
Dec 5, 2019·PeerJ·Senay Yitbarek, Stacy M Philpott
May 23, 2020·Science·Noah Snyder-MacklerJenny Tung
Jul 21, 2020·Molecular Ecology·Delphine De MoorOliver Schülke
Nov 21, 2018·Nature Ecology & Evolution·Colin VullioudOliver P Höner
Sep 19, 2019·Animal Cognition·Gabriele Schino, Francesca Lasio
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Feb 26, 2019·Royal Society Open Science·Kelsey B McCuneRenee R Ha
Dec 28, 2019·Animals : an Open Access Journal From MDPI·Xian TongBo Zhou
Sep 19, 2019·Journal of Evolutionary Biology·Rômulo CarleialTommaso Pizzari
Nov 7, 2019·Scientific Reports·Benedikt HoltmannJochen B W Wolf
Sep 25, 2020·The Journal of Experimental Biology·Joshua K RobertsonGary Burness
Nov 27, 2020·Science Advances·Danai Papageorgiou, Damien R Farine
Mar 10, 2021·Behavior Research Methods·Julie GullstrandJoël Fagot
Apr 15, 2021·Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences of the United States of America·Mari KawakatsuDaniel B Larremore
Jun 29, 2021·Behavioral Ecology and Sociobiology·Alina SchafferFederica Amici
Jul 24, 2021·Royal Society Open Science·Rachel J CrispGerald G Carter
Jan 11, 2022·Philosophical Transactions of the Royal Society of London. Series B, Biological Sciences·Noah D SimonsJenny Tung
Jan 11, 2022·Philosophical Transactions of the Royal Society of London. Series B, Biological Sciences·Eli D Strauss, Daizaburo Shizuka
Jan 11, 2022·Philosophical Transactions of the Royal Society of London. Series B, Biological Sciences·Rebecca J Lewis
Jan 11, 2022·Philosophical Transactions of the Royal Society of London. Series B, Biological Sciences·Palmyre H BoucherieThomas Bugnyar
Jan 11, 2022·Philosophical Transactions of the Royal Society of London. Series B, Biological Sciences·Tobit DehnenDamien R Farine
Jan 11, 2022·Philosophical Transactions of the Royal Society of London. Series B, Biological Sciences·Eli D StraussJames P Curley

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