Download Proximate and ultimate consequences of social disruption in

Proximate and ultimate consequences of social disruption in
Trinidadian guppies
Supervisors
Main supervisor: Doctor Safi Darden (University of Exeter)
Co-supervisor: Doctor Eduarda Santos (University of Exeter)
Co-supervisor: Dr. Richard James (University of Bath)
Project enquiries - Email: [email protected] Contact number: +44 (0) 01392 724600
Host Institution: University of Exeter
Project description
The topic of social disruption has captured the attention of a number of disciplines ranging from the humanities
to the sciences. This is most likely driven by the fact that one of the unifying behavioural characteristics of
many species is that they live in social groups or communities. Grouping behaviour can be generated by a
simple positive social attraction among individuals leading to social aggregations. However, for the majority of
social species sociality is underpinned by some form of social recognition and preference. Individuals will
actively associate with preferred social partners and avoid others and, as such, construct a social niche that can
mediate selective pressures and influence individuals and populations as a whole. In fact, evidence is quickly
mounting that the social ties that individuals have with others in the population is directly related to their health,
survival and reproductive success. Environmental factors that disrupt the formation and maintenance of social
ties among individuals in a population are thus likely to come at a significant cost. Using the Trinidadian guppy
(Poecilia reticulata), a study system where females live in highly dynamic societies and experience differing
levels of social disruption depending on their exposure to sexually coercive males, this project will examine the
evolution of mechanisms that reduce or avoid disruption of social ties and the consequences of these for
population level processes. The project will take three approaches for a true interdisciplinary investigation: (1)
It will use natural and established lines of fish to examine how populations vary in social traits as a function of
levels of social disruption experienced over the course of selection. (2) It will use molecular techniques to
examine biological processes underpinning variation in social traits across populations. (3) It will use
mathematical modelling to understand how variation in social disruption and social traits affects population
level processes.
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