Meeting Abstract

131-6  Thursday, Jan. 7 14:45  Stress response, gut microbial diversity, and sexual signals correlate with social interactions: A social network study in North American barn swallows LEVIN, I I*; FOSDICK, B K; ZONANA, D M; SONG, S J; KNIGHT, R; SAFRAN, R J; University of Colorado, Boulder; Colorado State University; University of Colorado, Boulder; University of Colorado, Boulder; University of California, San Diego; University of Colorado, Boulder Iris.Levin@colorado.edu

Social network analysis is emerging as a promising tool for integrating behavior, phenotype, and physiology with relational data on animal interactions. We used proximity loggers to quantify interactions in a population of barn swallows (Hirundo rustica erythrogaster). Social networks were constructed from interactions at two different scales of spatial proximity, one consisting of all interactions between 0.1m and 5m (“social network”) and the other based on all interactions within 0.1m (“contact network”). We used node-level analyses to ask what phenotypic and physiological traits correlate with individual network position and dyad-level analyses to understand patterns in the traits of individuals engaging in dyadic interactions. Males with dark ventral plumage, long tail streamers, and higher stress-induced corticosterone levels had more interactions with females in the social network. Interactivity in the contact network was positively related to stress-induced corticosterone levels for both sexes; however, there were sex differences in relationships between gut microbial diversity and interactivity.