DOI: 10.5061/dryad.tdz08kq38
title: Social network differences and phenotypic divergence between stickleback ecotypes

description: Elucidating the mechanisms underlying differentiation between populations
 is essential to our understanding of ecological and evolutionary
 processes. While social network analysis has yielded numerous insights in
 behavioral ecology in recent years, it has rarely been applied to
 questions about population differentiation. Here, we use social network
 analysis to assess the potential role of social behavior in the recent
 divergence between two three-spined stickleback ecotypes, “whites” and
 “commons”. These ecotypes differ significantly in their social behavior
 and mating systems as adults, but it is unknown when or how differences in
 social behavior develop. We found that as juveniles, the white ecotype was
 bolder and more active than the common ecotype. Furthermore, while there
 was no evidence for assortative shoaling preferences, the two ecotypes
 differed in social network structure. Specifically, groups of the white
 ecotype had a lower clustering coefficient than groups of the common
 ecotype, suggesting that groups of the white ecotype were characterized by
 the formation of smaller subgroups, or ‘cliques’. Interestingly, ecotypic
 differences in clustering coefficient were not apparent in mixed groups
 composed of whites and commons. The formation of cliques could contribute
 to population divergence by restricting the social environment that
 individuals experience, potentially influencing future mating
 opportunities and preferences. These findings highlight the insights that
 social network analysis can offer into our understanding of population
 divergence and reproductive isolation.
description: Dataset is social behavior data on stickleback using automated
 video tracking technolgy (idTracker - https://www.idtracker.es/).
description: All data was analyzed in R. 
description: # Data for article - Social network differences underlie phenotypic
 divergence between stickleback ecotypes --- Authors: Kevin M. Neumann,
 Alison M. Bell Date created: 11/09/22 Article is currently in review in
 Behavioral Ecology. Data is from a study conducted in October - November
 2020 at the University of Illinois, Urbana-Champaign. This is a laboratory
 study exploring the social behavior of three-spined stickleback fish. Fish
 from two ecoytypes - white and common - were tested for inividual boldness
 and activity. They were then assigned to one of three group types - common
 groups that were ony common ecotype fish, white groups that were only
 white ecotype fish, and mixed groups made up of 50% white ecotype and 50%
 common ecotype. Upon publication, methodological details will be available
 in the manuscript. Until then, contact Kevin M. Neumann for details via
 email - [kevinn4@illinois.edu](mailto:kevinn4@illinois.edu) ## Description
 of the Data and file structure File count: 8 Total file size: 26 KB File
 formats: .csv Files: nodes_white.csv nodes_common.csv nodes_mixed.csv
 edges_white.csv edges_common.csv edges_mixed.csv all_edges.csv
 ind_shoaling_data.csv The 8 .csv files are all to be analyzed in R -
 RStudio 2022.07.0 recommended. The nodes and edges files are for
 constructing social networks of the fish; nodes represent individual fish
 and edges represent interactions between pairs of fish. The individual
 shoaling data file contain further individual level information on fish.
 Details on each file are listed below. # Details on .csv files 1. 1. 1.
 nodes_white.csv, nodes_common.csv, nodes_mixed.csv Each row is an
 individual fish from either the white, common, or mixed group types.
 Columns: name = unique individual ID for each fish id = identifier of fish
 within each group as displayed in the idtracker software; idtracker
 automatically assigns an individual a value from 0-(size of group) during
 tracking color = color for plotting networks; color corresponds to fish
 type (white or common) size = length of fish, in mm boldness = latency to
 emerge from a shelter, in seconds shoaling_group = group that fish was in;
 all fish sharing shoaling group were tested at the same time for social
 behavior holding_tank = tank that fish were held in prior to experiment
 fish_type = ecotype - C = common, W = white 1. 1. 1. edges_white.csv,
 edges_common.csv, edges_mixed.csv, all_edges.csv Each row is a pair of
 fish within either the white, common or mixed group types, or for
 all_edges, all three group types in the same file. All possible pairs of
 fish are listed. Columns: source = individual ID of one interacting fish
 (IDs correspond to "name" in the nodes files) target =
 individual ID of the other interacting fish weight = frequency of
 interaction between the two fish, in seconds interaction = type of
 interaction occurring - sameCC = two common fish in common groups; sameWW
 = two white fish in white groups; sameCM = two common fish in mixed
 groups; sameWM = two white fish in mixed groups; diff = white and common
 fish in mixed groups 1. ind_shoaling_data.csv Each row is an individual
 fish and columns provide information on each individual. Columns: fish_ID
 = unique identifier (this is the same as "name" in the nodes
 files) length_mm = fish length, in mm latency_sec = latency to emerge from
 a shelter, in seconds fish_type = ecotype - C = common, W = white
 group_type = group type - C = common, M = mixed, W = white group =
 specific shoaling group, all fish within a group were tested together
 family = family of origin, fish with same family number are siblings
 holding_tank = tank that fish were held in prior to experiment
 distance_swam_m = how far fish swam during social behavior assays, in
 meters total_interaction_time = sum of time fish spent interacting with
 each other conspecific in behavior assays, in seconds ## Sharing/access
 Information Data is also available on figshare:
 [https://figshare.com/articles/dataset/Analysis_code_and_data/18737369](https://figshare.com/articles/dataset/Analysis_code_and_data/18737369)