Aggressive dominance can decrease behavioral complexity on subordinates through synchronization of locomotor activities

Abstract

Social environments are known to influence behavior. Moreover, within small social groups, dominant/subordinate relationships frequently emerge. Dominants can display aggressive behaviors towards subordinates and sustain priority access to resources. Herein, Japanese quail ( Coturnix japonica) were used, given that they establish hierarchies through frequent aggressive interactions. We apply a combination of different mathematical tools to provide a precise quantification of the effect of social environments and the consequence of dominance at an individual level on the temporal dynamics of behavior. Main results show that subordinates performed locomotion dynamics with stronger long-range positive correlations in comparison to birds that receive few or no aggressions from conspecifics (more random dynamics). Dominant birds and their subordinates also showed a high level of synchronization in the locomotor pattern, likely emerging from the lack of environmental opportunities to engage in independent behavior. Findings suggest that dominance can potentially modulate behavioral dynamics through synchronization of locomotor activities.

Abstract

Rocio S. Alcala, J. Martin Caliva et al. quantify and model the effect of social environments and individual dominance on temporal dynamics of behaviour in the Japanese quail. They show that dominance can decrease behavioural complexity due to higher levels of synchronization in locomotion.