Social integration confers thermal benefits in a gregarious primate

McFarland, R. ORCID: 0000-0001-8245-9269, Fuller, A., Hetem, R.S., Mitchell, D., Maloney, S.K., Henzi, S.P. and Barrett, L., 2015. Social integration confers thermal benefits in a gregarious primate. Journal of Animal Ecology, 84 (3), pp. 871-878. ISSN 0021-8790

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Abstract

1. Sociality has been shown to have adaptive value for gregarious species, with more socially integrated animals within groups experiencing higher reproductive success and longevity. The value of social integration is often suggested to derive from an improved ability to deal with social stress within a group; other potential stressors have received less attention.
2. We investigated the relationship between environmental temperature, an important non-social stressor, and social integration in wild female vervet monkeys (Chlorocebus pygerythrus), using implanted data loggers to obtain direct measures of core body temperature.
3. Heterothermy (as measured by 24-h amplitude of body temperature) increased, and 24-h minima of body temperature decreased, as the 24-h minimum ambient temperature decreased. As winter progressed, monkeys became increasingly heterothermic and displayed lower 24-h minima of body temperature.
4. Monkeys with a greater number of social partners displayed a smaller 24-h amplitude (that is, were more homoeothermic) and higher 24-h minima of body temperature (that is, became less hypothermic), than did animals with fewer social partners.
5. Our findings demonstrate that social integration has a direct influence on thermoregulatory ability: individual animals that form and maintain more social relationships within their group experience improved thermal competence compared to those with fewer social relationships.
6. Given the likely energetic consequences of thermal benefits, our findings offer a viable physiological explanation that can help account for variations in fitness in relation to individual differences in social integration.

Item Type: Journal article
Publication Title: Journal of Animal Ecology
Creators: McFarland, R., Fuller, A., Hetem, R.S., Mitchell, D., Maloney, S.K., Henzi, S.P. and Barrett, L.
Publisher: Wiley
Date: May 2015
Volume: 84
Number: 3
ISSN: 0021-8790
Identifiers:
NumberType
10.1111/1365-2656.12329DOI
1492422Other
Rights: This is the peer reviewed version of the following article: McFarland, R., Fuller, A., Hetem, R. S., Mitchell, D., Maloney, S. K., Henzi, S. P., & Barrett, L. (2015). Social integration confers thermal benefits in a gregarious primate. Journal of Animal Ecology, 84(3), 871-878, which has been published in final form at https://doi.org/10.1111/1365-2656.12329 This article may be used for non-commercial purposes in accordance with Wiley Terms and Conditions for Use of Self-Archived Versions. This article may not be enhanced, enriched or otherwise transformed into a derivative work, without express permission from Wiley or by statutory rights under applicable legislation. Copyright notices must not be removed, obscured or modified. The article must be linked to Wiley’s version of record on Wiley Online Library and any embedding, framing or otherwise making available the article or pages thereof by third parties from platforms, services and websites other than Wiley Online Library must be prohibited.
Divisions: Schools > School of Social Sciences
Record created by: Laura Ward
Date Added: 16 Nov 2021 10:08
Last Modified: 16 Nov 2021 10:08
URI: https://irep.ntu.ac.uk/id/eprint/44804

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