Social Networks in the Lek-mating Wire-tailed Manakin (Pipra Filicauda)

How social structure interacts with individual behaviour and fitness remains understudied despite its potential importance to the evolution of cooperation. Recent applications of network theory to social behaviour advance our understanding of the role of social interactions in various contexts. Here we applied network theory to the social system of lek-mating wire-tailed manakins (Pipra filicauda, Pipridae, Aves). We analysed the network of interactions among males in order to begin building a comparative framework to understand where coordinated display behaviour lies along the continuum from solitary to obligately cooperative dual-male displays in the family Pipridae. Network degree (the number of links from a male to others) ranged from 1 to 10, with low mean and high variance, consistent with the theory for the evolution of cooperation within social networks. We also assessed factors that could predict social and reproductive success of males. Four network metrics, degree, eigenvector centrality, information centrality and reach, some of which assess circuitous as well as the shortest (geodesic) paths of male connectivity, predicted male social rise. The duration of a male's territorial tenure during the 4 years of the study predicted his probability of siring offspring.