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Female clustering in cockroach aggregations – a case of social niche construction?
Stanley, Christina R. Preziosi, Richard F. Liddiard Williams, H.
Stanley, Christina R.
Preziosi, Richard F.
Liddiard Williams, H.
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Publication Date
2018-07-18
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Abstract
Individuals in groups can suffer costs through interactions with adversarial or unknown conspecifics. Social niche construction allows individuals to buffer such potential costs by only engaging in preferred associations. This may be particularly beneficial in insect aggregations, which are often large and highly fluid. However, little is known regarding the structuring of such aggregations. Here we use social network analyses to test for fine-scale social structure in resting aggregations of the sub-social cockroach Diploptera punctata and to explore the social pressures that contribute towards such structure. We showed that females were significantly more gregarious than males and formed the core of the proximity network, thus demonstrating a higher level of social integration. This fine-scale structure is likely to result from females displacing males; females initiated most displacements whilst males received the majority. We explain this behaviour in terms of social niche construction by showing that females received significantly fewer approaches and investigations at more female-biased local sex ratios. We therefore suggest that female social clustering occurs in this, and presumably other, species to reduce potential costs associated with male harassment. This demonstrates how social niche construction can lead to higher level social structure; we suggest this approach could be used across a range of species in order to improve our understanding of the evolution of sociality.
Citation
Stanley, C. R., Liddiard Williams, H. & Preziosi, R. F. (2018). Female clustering in cockroach aggregations: a case of social niche construction? Ethology, 124(10), 706-718.
Publisher
Wiley
Journal
Ethology
Research Unit
DOI
10.1111/eth.12799
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PubMed Central ID
Type
Article
Language
en
Description
This is the peer reviewed version of the following article: Stanley, C. R., Liddiard Williams, H. & Preziosi, R. F. (2018). Female clustering in cockroach aggregations: a case of social niche construction? Ethology, 124(0), which will be published in final form at https://doi.org/10.1111/eth.12799. This article may be used for non-commercial purposes in accordance with Wiley Terms and Conditions for Self-Archiving
Series/Report no.
ISSN
0179-1613
EISSN
1439-0310