Potential banana skins in animal social network analysis |
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Authors: | Richard James Darren P Croft Jens Krause |
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Institution: | (1) Department of Physics and Centre for Mathematical Biology, University of Bath, Bath, BA2 7AY, UK;(2) School of Biological Sciences, College of Natural Sciences, Bangor University, Bangor, Gwynedd, LL57 2UW, UK;(3) Institute of Integrative and Comparative Biology, University of Leeds, Leeds, LS2 9JT, UK |
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Abstract: | Social network analysis is an increasingly popular tool for the study of the fine-scale and global social structure of animals.
It has attracted particular attention by those attempting to unravel social structure in fission–fusion populations. It is
clear that the social network approach offers some exciting opportunities for gaining new insights into social systems. However,
some of the practices which are currently being used in the animal social networks literature are at worst questionable and
at best over-enthusiastic. We highlight some of the areas of method, analysis and interpretation in which greater care may
be needed in order to ensure that the biology we extract from our networks is robust. In particular, we suggest that more
attention should be given to whether relational data are representative, the potential effect of observational errors and
the choice and use of statistical tests. The importance of replication and manipulation must not be forgotten, and the interpretation
of results requires care.
This contribution is part of the special issue “Social Networks: new perspectives” (Guest Editors: J. Krause, D. Lusseau and
R. James). |
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Keywords: | Animal social networks Social structure Methods |
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