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Social niche conformance: When, how and why

Sylvia Kaiser

Group-living animals are particularly capable of living in various individualised social niches that are shaped by high or low ranking positions. The individualised social niche is a subset of the species’ niche arising from the interaction of an individual with its social environment. In order to adjust to these individualised niches, (i.e. niche conformance) it has been shown that a predictive adaptive shaping of behavioural phenotypes occurs in early phases of life. In guinea pigs, we demonstrated in the first funding period that such an adaptive shaping can also occur during adolescence and even beyond. Based on these findings, the overall aim of this project in the second funding period is to elucidate causes and consequences of social niche conformance in guinea pigs over lifetime. Therefore, we will compare males living in two distinct social environments: Half of them will live in heterosexual pairs without further social stimulation. The other half will also live in heterosexual pairs but will receive additional social stimulation by introducing an unknown male or female several times for a short time into their home enclosure. This procedure increases the number of social interactions, which is known to be a crucial factor constituting individualised social niches. We will ask three questions: 1) When, 2) how and 3) why does social niche conformance occur? To answer the first two questions, we will compare the behaviour and endocrine parameters of juvenile, adolescent and adult male guinea pigs living in the two distinct social environments. We will conduct a variance component analysis using between-individual and within-individual differences of the endocrine traits to quantify the extent to which the traits remain stable over time. To investigate why social niche conformance occurs, we will determine paternities of males coming from the two distinct social environments in a competitive situation. From a broader perspective, this project will contribute substantially to a deeper understanding of the mechanisms and consequences of social niche conformance.