Structure and resilience of the social network in an insect colony as a function of colony size |
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Authors: | Dhruba Naug |
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Institution: | (1) Department of Biology, Colorado State University, Fort Collins, CO 80523, USA |
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Abstract: | Social interactions are critical to the organization of worker activities in insect colonies and their consequent ecological
success. The structure of this interaction network is therefore crucial to our understanding of colony organization and functioning.
In this paper, I study the properties of the interaction network in the colonies of the social wasp Ropalidia marginata. I find that the network is characterized by a uniform connectivity among individuals with increasing heterogeneity as colonies
become larger. Important network parameters are found to be correlated with colony size and I investigate how this is reflected
in the organization of work in colonies of different sizes. Finally, I test the resilience of these interaction networks by
experimental removal of individuals from the colony and discuss the structural properties of the network that are related
to resilience in a social network.
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: | Social networks Social interactions Colony size Social insects Ropalidia marginata |
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