Dr. Lauren Brent
Leverhulme Early Career Fellow, Lecturer, University of Exeter

Fitness Correlates of Social Networks in Group-living Animals

For many group-living animals, a lack of inter-personal relationships is associated with poorer health, diminished reproductive output, and reduced survival. These findings are important because they suggest that social relationships are adaptive. Yet just how widespread the association between sociality and fitness reaches remains unclear, including whether it occurs in members of the dispersing sex, whether it is consistent across an individual’s life course, and whether it extends to the polyadic connections that make up most social networks. I address these gaps in understanding using long-term data collected on rhesus macaque monkeys. My results suggest the association between sociality and fitness runs deep in primate systems, further confirming the adaptive function of social relationships

This lecture is made possible in part by a generous Endowment by the family of Allen. L. Edwards.