Social Barriers in Ecological Landscapes: The Social Resistance Hypothesis

• Published in: Trends in ecology & evolution (Amsterdam) Vol. 35; no. 2; pp. 137 - 148
• Main Authors: Armansin, Nicolette C., Stow, Adam J., Cantor, Mauricio, Leu, Stephan T., Klarevas-Irby, James A., Chariton, Anthony A., Farine, Damien R.
• Format: Journal Article
• Language: English
• Published: England Elsevier Ltd 01.02.2020
• Subjects: Animals; connectivity; dispersal; Ecosystem; Gene Flow; landscape genetics; reproduction; Social Behavior; social environment; social systems; dispersal; landscape genetics; social systems; connectivity; social environment; reproduction
• ISSN: 0169-5347; 1872-8383
• DOI: 10.1016/j.tree.2019.10.001

Across animal societies, individuals invest time and energy in social interactions. The social landscape that emerges from these interactions can then generate barriers that limit the ability of individuals to disperse to, and reproduce in, groups or populations. Therefore, social barriers can contribute to the difference between the physical capacity for movement through the habitat and subsequent gene flow. We call this contributing effect ‘social resistance’. We propose that social resistance can act as an agent of selection on key life-history strategies and promote the evolution of social strategies that facilitate effective dispersal. By linking landscape genetics and social behaviour, the social resistance hypothesis generates predictions integrating dispersal, connectivity, and life-history evolution. The social environment can impose many challenges for animals as they attempt to disperse and reproduce.The barriers arising from the social environment can generate a difference between where animals can move and where they recruit. We define social resistance as the contribution of the social environment to the difference between physical connectivity and gene flow.We hypothesise that social resistance will be greatest when animals have to navigate through social landscapes that have high functional organisation.Social resistance can act as a driver of life-history evolution by selecting for strategies that allow individuals to overcome social barriers.By bridging individual social behaviour and landscape genetics, the social resistance hypothesis allows a greater understanding of the feedback between landscape-level processes and individual-level social behaviour.