Albery, G.F., Becker, D.J., Firth, J. et al. (107 more authors) (Accepted: 2025) Density-dependent network structuring within and across wild animal systems. Nature Ecology and Evolution. ISSN: 2397-334X (In Press)
Abstract
Theory predicts that high population density leads to more strongly connected spatial and social networks, but how local density drives individuals’ positions within their networks is unclear. This reduces our ability to understand and predict density-dependent processes. Here, we show that density drives greater network connectedness at the scale of individuals within wild animal populations. Across 36 datasets of spatial and social behaviour in >58,000 individual animals, spanning 30 species of fish, reptiles, birds, mammals and insects, 80% of systems exhibit strong positive relationships between local density and network centrality. However, >80% of relationships are nonlinear and 75% are shallower at higher values, indicating saturating trends as demographic and behavioural processes counteract density’s effects. These are stronger and less saturating in spatial than social networks, as individuals become disproportionately spatially connected rather than socially at higher densities. Consequently, ecological processes that depend on spatial connections are likely more density-dependent than those involving social interactions. These findings suggest fundamental scaling rules governing animal social dynamics and could help to predict network structures in novel systems.
Metadata
Item Type: | Article |
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Authors/Creators: |
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Copyright, Publisher and Additional Information: | This is an author produced version of an article accepted for publication in Nature Ecology & Evolution, made available under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution License (CC-BY), which permits unrestricted use, distribution and reproduction in any medium, provided the original work is properly cited. |
Keywords: | Behavioural ecology, Spatial ecology, Disease ecology, Epidemiology, Population dynamics, Social network structure, Network analysis, Spatial analysis |
Dates: |
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Institution: | The University of Leeds |
Academic Units: | The University of Leeds > Faculty of Biological Sciences (Leeds) > School of Biology (Leeds) |
Funding Information: | Funder Grant number NERC, RCUK Shared Services Centre Ltd NE/V013483/2 |
Depositing User: | Symplectic Publications |
Date Deposited: | 24 Jul 2025 13:22 |
Last Modified: | 24 Jul 2025 13:22 |
Status: | In Press |
Publisher: | Nature Research |
Related URLs: | |
Open Archives Initiative ID (OAI ID): | oai:eprints.whiterose.ac.uk:229409 |
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Filename: Spatial-Social Meta-Analysis Manuscript June 2025 _ Author Accepted Copy (1).pdf
Licence: CC-BY 4.0