contagion in real social networks: insights from social insects
DESCRIPTION
Contagion in real social networks: insights from social insects. Michael Otterstatter Zachary Jacobson. What is a social network?. Influence. Disease. Information. Resources. Disease spread in social networks. Meyers et al. 2005. J. Theor. Biol. WHO 2005. - PowerPoint PPT PresentationTRANSCRIPT
Contagion in real social networks:insights from social insects
Michael Otterstatter
Zachary Jacobson
What is a social network?
Information
Resources
Disease
Influence
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Disease spread in social networks
WHO 2005
Meyers et al. 2005. J. Theor. Biol.
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Problem: disease spread is unobservable
A possible solution: study transmission of observable proxies for contagious disease
▫ infectious spread of behaviour (behavioural contagion)
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A novel approach
The transmission of behaviour, as a proxy for disease, can be studied directly in social insect networks
Here, we ask
•does mobility behaviour spread contagiously among bumble bees via social contact?
•is the contagious spread of behaviour a useful proxy for the spread of disease?
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Materials and methods
•Bumble bees (Bombus spp.)▫7 colonies, reared from wild queens▫colonies maintained in the lab under constant light,
temperature▫bees allowed to forage at will in flight cage ▫observations throughout colony cycle (3-20+ bees)
•Automated behavioural tracking▫Ethovision software used for 331 hr hive observations,
tracking movement and contacts between nestmates▫all observations and analyses are based on the natural
behaviour of bees within their hive
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Lifecycle of bumble bees
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Bumble bees in the lab
‘bee-movie’
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Automated tracking of bee behaviour5 cm
Example of movement traces from a single colony
colony
flight cage
behavioural trackingsoftware
videocamera
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Three analyses of bee mobility behaviour
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1. Analysis of isolated bees
Do isolated inactive bees ‘activate’ spontaneously after a fixed interval?
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2. Analysis of interacting bees
contactrates
Are inactive bees ‘activated’ by contacts from mobile nestmates?
zzz
mobility behaviour
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3. Analysis of all bees within a hive
In an active hive, is a bee’s movement behaviour related to its recent contact rate with nestmates?
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Results of bee behaviour analysis
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1. Mobility behaviour of isolated bees
Isolated bees show no inherent rhythm of activity
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2. Mobility behaviour of interacting bees
Inactive bees
…that became active (n=89) …that remained inactive (n=21)
rec’d 1.46 contacts/min rec’d 0.14 contacts/min
Inactive bees receiving many contacts from mobile nestmates tend to become mobile themselves
zzz
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P = 0.03
P = 0.001
After a ‘refractory’ period, contacts from nestmates increase a bee’s probability of becoming mobile(logistic regression)
2. Mobility behaviour of interacting bees zzz
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3. Mobility behaviour of all nestmates
Granger Causality Statistics
Uni-directional causalityContact causes
MobilityMobility causes
ContactsBi-directional
causality No causality
4 bees 5 bees 17 bees 8 bees
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In most cases, social contacts cause mobility behaviour to spread between bees and mobility feeds back to cause increased contacts (bi-directional causality)
(summary results from multivariate time-series analysis)
Predicted dynamics of groups
Simulated activity of social group (Goss & Deneubourg, 1988)
When individuals behave as we observed:
We expect group behaviour like this:
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Observed dynamics in bee hives
In bee hives, activity level showed stable cycles as predicted
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Observed dynamics in bee hives
Also, average rates of contact within hives showed stable cycles
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Spread of behaviour and disease
Importantly, these results suggest that the basic underlying ‘model’ of behavioural contagion and disease contagion may be the same:
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Behavioural contagion:
Disease contagion (SIR model):
Conclusions
•Mobility behaviour spreads contagiously among bumble bees through social contact
•Social transmission of mobility, like disease, results in oscillatory dynamics at group level
•Studying observable transmission of behaviour offers a way to understand the unobservable spread of disease in social networks
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Acknowledgements
Technical assistance:
Kieran Samuk, Athena Fung
Funding:
Health Canada Postdoctoral Fellowship Program
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