Meeting Abstract
Social network analyses are often used to capture structural patterns in populations in which individuals interact to varying degrees with conspecifics. However, it is not well known why individuals hold particular network positions, and a potential criticism of social network theory is that networks may only capture individual behaviors, such as activity. If this were true, network-level analyses would not provide novel insights in the study of social behavior. This study measured three types of activity in forked fungus beetles (Bolitotherus cornutus) to understand possible relationships between behavior and network position. We tested a sample of field-collected beetles (n=91) three times to assess the repeatability of activity. We also tested individual beetles (n=64) from a field population on which social network interactions were observed three times per day for seven weeks. The three behaviors were all significantly repeatable (latency to movement: R=0.451, p=6.01×10-11; distance moved: R=0.474, p=2.19×10-9; top speed: R=0.567, p=6.2×10-13). None of the behaviors were significantly correlated with any of three social network metrics (strength, betweenness, and clustering coefficient). These results suggest that network position may capture information above and beyond individual behavior or activity. This study is an important first step in understanding the factors that influence social network position.
