DOI: 10.5061/dryad.wm37pvmkx
title: Kinship does not predict the structure of a shark social network

description: Genetic relatedness in animal societies is often a factor that drives the
 structure of social groups. In the marine world, most studies which have
 investigated this question have focused on marine mammals such as whales
 and dolphins. For sharks, recent studies have demonstrated preferential
 associations among individuals from which social communities emerge.
 Assortment patterns have been found according to phenotypic or behavioural
 traits but the role of genetic relatedness in shaping the social structure
 of adult shark populations has, to the best our knowledge, never been
 investigated. Here, we used a social network analysis crossed with DNA
 microsatellite genotyping to investigate the role of the genetic
 relatedness in the social structure of a blacktip reef shark (Carcharhinus
 melanopterus) population. Based on data from 156 groups of sharks, we used
 generalized affiliation indices to isolate social preferences from
 non-social associations, controlling for the contribution of sex, size,
 gregariousness, spatial and temporal overlap on social associations, to
 test for the influence of genetic relatedness on social structure. A
 double permutation procedure was employed to confirm our results and
 account for issues arising from potentially elevated type I and type II
 error rates. Kinship was not a predictor of associations and affiliations
 among sharks at the dyad or community levels as individuals tended to
 associate independently of the genetic relatedness among them. The lack of
 parental care in this species may contribute to the breakdown of family
 links in the population early in life, thereby preventing the formation of
 kin-based social networks.
description: The DataZip file contains the following objects:
 <strong>DataNetwork.csv</strong>
 This file contains all observations of individual sharks
 (rows). <strong>ID</strong> contains the
 identification of all individuals observed in the groups;<br>
 <strong>Group</strong> is the identification number of the
 groups;<br> <strong>Date</strong> is the date at which
 the observation was made;<br> <strong>Year</strong> is
 the year at which the observation was made;<br>
 <strong>Month</strong> is the month number at which the
 observation was made;<br>
 <strong>Period</strong> contains information on the period of
 observation (M = mating period, N = non-mating period);<br>
 <strong>Site</strong> is the site ID where the observation was
 made;<br> <strong>WeekNB</strong> is the week of the
 year at which the observation was made;<br>
 <strong>Spweek</strong> is the continuous week number of these
 observations;<br> <strong>SPMonth</strong> is the
 continuous month number of these observations<br>
 <strong>Genetic</strong> contains information on whether
 genetic sample was taken for the individual.
 <strong>DataBTRS_15sightings.csv</strong>
 This file contains five variables of 156 groups (rows).
 <strong>Date</strong> is the date at which the group
 was observed;<br> <strong>Year</strong> is the year of
 the observed group;<br> <strong>Month</strong> is the
 month of the observed group;<br>
 <strong>Period</strong> contains information on the period of
 observation (M = mating period, N = non-mating period);<br>
 <strong>Site</strong> is the site ID where the observation was
 made;<br> <strong>Lat</strong> is the latitude of the
 site<br> <strong>Long</strong> is the latitude of the
 site<br> <strong>SP</strong> is the continuous week
 number of these observations<br>
 <strong>IDs</strong> contains the identification of all
 individuals observed in the groups.
 <strong>Attribute.csv</strong>
 This file contains five covariables of 106 photo-identified
 individuals. <strong>ID</strong> contains
 the identity of all 106 photo-identified individuals;<br>
 <strong>Sex</strong> contains the sex of each individual,
 where M refer to male individuals and F to females;<br>
 <strong>Size</strong> contains the size (in cm) for each
 individual;<br> <strong>Maturity</strong> contains the
 maturity status for each individual (MATURE = sexually mature, IMMATURE =
 sexually immature);<br> <strong>DNA </strong>contains
 information on whether genetic sample was taken for the individual (Y =
 sampled, N = unsampled).
 <strong>No.sightings.csv</strong>
 This file contains three covariables of 106 photo-identified
 individuals in the overall study (without threshold).
 <strong>ID</strong> contains the identity of all 106
 photo-identified individuals;<br>
 <strong>Sightings</strong> contains the number of times the
 individual was sighted;<br>
 <strong>Context</strong> indicates in which context the number
 of sightings corresponds to (All = overall study, Mating = mating period,
 NonMating = non-mating period)
 <strong>MatrixGeneticRelatedness_Trioml.csv</strong> This file contains the pairwise genetic relatedness (TrioML, Wang 2007) among 83 individuals. <strong>SpatialProfile.csv</strong> This file contains for each individual and each site an encounter rate (i.e., no. sightings of individual at site, divided by no. sampling occasions at site). <strong>CountSightings.csv</strong> This file contains for each individual and each site the number of sightings. <strong>TempData.csv</strong> This file contains five covariables to calculate temporal overlap. <strong>ID</strong> contains the identity of all 106 photo-identified individuals;<br> <strong>Group</strong> is the identification number of the groups;<br> <strong>Date</strong> is the date at which the observation was made;<br> <strong>Site</strong> is the site ID where the observation was made;<br> <strong>SPMonth</strong> is the continuous month number of these observations <strong>Genotype(16markers).txt</strong> This file contains the genotypes of 83 individuals at 16 microsatellite markers.