Density-dependent network structuring within and across wild animal systems

Albery, Gregory F and Becker, Daniel J and Firth, Josh A and De Moor, Delphine and Ravindran, Sanjana and Silk, Matthew and Sweeny, Amy R and Vander Wal, Eric and Webber, Quinn and Allen, Bryony and Babayan, Simon A and Barve, Sahas and Begon, Mike and Birtles, Richard J and Block, Theadora A and Block, Barbara A and Bradley, Janette E and Budischak, Sarah and Buesching, Christina and Burthe, Sarah J and Carlisle, Aaron B and Caselle, Jennifer E and Cattuto, Ciro and Chaine, Alexis S and Chapple, Taylor K and Cheney, Barbara J and Clutton-Brock, Timothy and Collier, Melissa and Curnick, David J and Delahay, Richard J and Farine, Damien R and Fenton, Andy and Ferretti, Francesco and Feyrer, Laura and Fielding, Helen and Foroughirad, Vivienne and Frere, Celine and Gardner, Michael G and Geffen, Eli and Godfrey, Stephanie S and Graham, Andrea L and Hammond, Phil S and Henrich, Maik and Heurich, Marco and Hopwood, Paul and Ilany, Amiyaal and Jackson, Joseph A and Jackson, Nicola and Jacoby, David M P and Jacoby, Ann-Marie and Ježek, Miloš and Kirkpatrick, Lucinda and Klamm, Alisa and Klarevas-Irby, James A and Knowles, Sarah and Koren, Lee and Krzyszczyk, Ewa and Kusch, Jillian M and Lambin, Xavier and Lane, Jeffrey E and Leirs, Herwig and Leu, Stephan T and Lyon, Bruce E and Macdonald, David W and Madsen, Anastasia E and Mann, Janet and Manser, Marta and Mariën, Joachim and Massawe, Apia and McDonald, Robbie A and Morelle, Kevin and Mourier, Johann and Newman, Chris and Nussear, Kenneth and Nyaguthii, Brendah and Ogino, Mina and Ozella, Laura and Packer, Craig and Papastamatiou, Yannis P and Paterson, Steve and Payne, Eric and Pedersen, Amy B and Pemberton, Josephine M and Pinter-Wollman, Noa and Planes, Serge and Raulo, Aura and Rodríguez-Muñoz, Rolando and Rudd, Lauren and Sabuni, Christopher and Sah, Pratha and Schallert, Robert J and Sheldon, Ben C and Shizuka, Daizaburo and Sih, Andrew and Sinn, David L and Sluydts, Vincent and Spiegel, Orr and Telfer, Sandra and Thomason, Courtney A and Tickler, David M and Tregenza, Tom and VanderWaal, Kimberley and Walmsley, Sam and Walters, Eric L and Wanelik, Klara M and Whitehead, Hal and Wielgus, Elodie and Wilson-Aggarwal, Jared and Wohlfeil, Caroline and Bansal, Shweta (2025) Density-dependent network structuring within and across wild animal systems. Nature Ecology and Evolution. ISSN 2397-334X

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Abstract

Theory predicts that high population density leads to more strongly connected spatial and social networks, but how local density drives individuals' positions within their networks is unclear. This gap reduces our ability to understand and predict density-dependent processes. Here we show that density drives greater network connectedness at the scale of individuals within wild animal populations. Across 36 datasets of spatial and social behaviour in >58,000 individual animals, spanning 30 species of fish, reptiles, birds, mammals and insects, 80% of systems exhibit strong positive relationships between local density and network centrality. However, >80% of relationships are nonlinear and 75% are shallower at higher values, indicating saturating trends that probably emerge as a result of demographic and behavioural processes that counteract density's effects. These are stronger and less saturating in spatial compared with social networks, as individuals become disproportionately spatially connected rather than socially connected at higher densities. Consequently, ecological processes that depend on spatial connections are probably more density dependent than those involving social interactions. These findings suggest fundamental scaling rules governing animal social dynamics, which could help to predict network structures in novel systems.