Social network analysis is used widely in the social sciences to study
interactions among people, groups, and organizations, yet until now
there has been no book that shows behavioral biologists how to apply it
to their work on animal populations. Exploring Animal Social Networks
provides a practical guide for researchers, undergraduates, and graduate
students in ecology, evolutionary biology, animal behavior, and zoology.
Existing methods for studying animal social structure focus either on
one animal and its interactions or on the average properties of a whole
population. This book enables researchers to probe animal social
structure at all levels, from the individual to the population. No prior
knowledge of network theory is assumed. The authors give a step-by-step
introduction to the different procedures and offer ideas for designing
studies, collecting data, and interpreting results. They examine some of
today's most sophisticated statistical tools for social network analysis
and show how they can be used to study social interactions in animals,
including cetaceans, ungulates, primates, insects, and fish. Drawing
from an array of techniques, the authors explore how network structures
influence individual behavior and how this in turn influences, and is
influenced by, behavior at the population level. Throughout, the authors
use two software packages--UCINET and NETDRAW--to illustrate how these
powerful analytical tools can be applied to different animal social
organizations.