Socioecology of free-ranging dogs

Socioecological explanations of animal social behaviour are logically compelling and have attracted large attention but also criticism due to inconsistent empirical support. These inconsistencies were largely dealt with by the creation of taxon-specific socioecological hypotheses that even base on different terminologies and hamper the development of a universal concept. We will first integrate hypotheses about primate and carnivore feeding socioecology (the Socioecological Model SEM and the Resource Dispersion Hypothesis RDH) by translating them into the same terminology, thereby deriving new perspectives and predictions. We will then apply a highly comprehensive dataset to critically test the validity of both concepts and how they may be integrated. Specifically, we will investigate a) how food monopolization potential influences social despotism (SEM), b) whether this relationship is attenuated by social tolerance, c) how social tolerance relates to kinship, social bonds and social interdependence due to the need for collective action (SEM), and d) whether the effects of fluctuation in food abundance on group and territory size reflect social tolerance or intolerance (i.e. eviction), thereby discerning the SEM from the RDH. We will collect detailed data on 7 groups of free-ranging non-pet dogs in Morocco. Free-ranging dogs show high social flexibility which relates to a lack of several major socioecological factors such as risk of predation and infanticide, which also allows to better disentangle the remaining factors. Our study groups represent socioecological contrasts along the three dimensions that are spanned by the hypotheses (social despotism, social tolerance and temporal fluctuation in food abundance) which allows us to test integrated predictions along all three dimensions. We will record detailed data on feeding ecology (covering 7 aspects of food monopolization potential plus food abundance) and social behaviour (focal animal protocols and large-scale proximity scans that cover the entire area), accompanied by physical condition scores and hair stable isotope analysis (to address individual differences in access to food in terms of quantity and quality), DNA analysis (kinship) and GPS data (home range size). We pioneer in integrating primate and carnivore socioecological theory into a single framework and in comprehensively testing this new framework in an exceptional setting. Our study will yield new insights into the flexibility of and constraints on mammalian socioecology, and into the general validity of the concept. Studying free-ranging dogs, our results will further add to domestication research and fundamental public health issues.