The effect of social context and social scale on the perception of relationships in monk parakeets

Social relationships formed within a network of interacting group members can have a profound impact on an indi- vidual＇s behavior and fitness. However, we have little understanding of how individuals perceive their relationships and how this perception relates to our external measures of interactions. We investigated the perception of affiliative and agonistic relation- ships at both the dyadic and emergent social levels in two captive groups of monk parakeets （Myiopsitta monachus, n = 21 and 19） using social network analysis and playback experiments. At the dyadic social scale, individuals directed less aggression to- wards their strong affiliative partners and more aggression towards non-partner neighbors.At the emergent social scale, there was no association between relationships in different social contexts and an individual＇s dominance rank did not correlate with its popularity rank. Playback response pattems were mainly driven by relationships in affiliative social contexts at the dyadic scale. In both groups, individual responses to playback experiments were significantly affected by strong affiliative relationships at the dyadic social scale, albeit in different directions in the two groups. Response pattems were also affected by affiliative relation- ships at the emergent social scale, but only in one of the two groups. Within affiliative relationships, those at the dyadic social scale were perceived by individuals in both groups, but those at the emergent social scale only affected responses in one group. These results provide preliminary evidence that relationships in affiliative social contexts may be perceived as more important than agonistic relationships in captive monk parakeet groups. Our approach could be used in a wide range of social species and comparative analyses could provide important insight into how individuals perceive relationships across social contexts and social scales [Current Zoology 61 （1）： 55-69, 2015].

Balancing timeliness of reporting with increasing testing probability for epidemic data

Reporting of epidemiological data requires coordinated action by numerous agencies,across a multitude of logistical steps.Using collated and reported information to inform direct interventions can be challenging due to associated delays.Mitigation can,however,occur indirectly through the public generation of concern,which facilitates adherence to protective behaviors.We utilized a coupled-dynamic multiplex network model with a communication-and disease-layer to examine how variation in reporting delay and testing probability are likely to impact adherence to protective behaviors,such as reducing physical contact.Individual concern mediated adherence and was informed by new-or active-case reporting,at the population-or community-level.Individuals received information from the communication layer:direct connections that were sick or adherent to protective behaviors increased their concern,but absence of illness eroded concern.Models revealed that the relative benefit of timely reporting and a high probability of testing was contingent on how much information was already obtained.With low rates of testing,increasing testing probability was of greater mitigating value.With high rates of testing,maximizing timeliness was of greater value.Population-level reporting provided advanced warning of disease risk from nearby communities;but we explore the relative costs and benefits of delays due to scale against the assumption that people may prioritize community-level information.Our findings emphasize the interaction of testing accuracy and reporting timeliness for the indirect mitigation of disease in a complex social system.