Measurement of spatial behavior: methodology applied to rhesus monkeys, neon tetras, communal and solitary spiders, cockroaches, and gnats in open fields.

The comparison of spacing patterns between animal groups is made possible by a methodology which uses the following steps: Members of a group are photographed from above, animal position coordinates are extracted from photographs, and 10 objective measures of distance or distribution are computed. Six group-living species with different life-styles were compared in replicate groups: rhesus monkeys, neon tetra fish, communal spiders Mallos gregalis, funnel web spiders Agelenopsis utahena, American cockroaches, and eye gnats. Groups of 25 individuals were released into open-field arenas scaled to the animals' size. Photographic intervals were computed according to the motility of each species. Spacing measures were contrasted between replicate groups and each species was compared to an inanimate control model. Every species showed significant active spatial behavior in three or more measures. Replicates adhered to general species patterns and some group-typical spacing values were found. Three general patterns of spacing were present: spatial subgroups of 3–4 members in monkeys and communal spiders (most interactive groups); more homogeneous, significant aggregation in neon tetras and cockroaches (less interactive groups); and uniform distance spacing in funnel web spiders and eye gnats (predominantly solitary life-style). Applications for future studies, behavioral mechanisms, and group spacing theory are discussed.

[1]  P. J. Clark,et al.  Distance to Nearest Neighbor as a Measure of Spatial Relationships in Populations , 1954 .

[2]  C. Breder.  On the survival value of fish schools , 1967, Zoologica : scientific contributions of the New York Zoological Society..

[3]  R. Chamberlin.  Spiders of the Georgia region of North America , 1944 .

[4]  Peter N. Witt,et al.  A Spider’s Web , 1968, Springer Berlin Heidelberg.

[5]  J. W. Burgess,et al.  Spider Webs: Design and Engineering , 1976 .

[6]  M. Sachs.  Objective Knowledge , 1974 .

[7]  P. Witt,et al.  Ontogeny of Web-building Behavior in Two Orb-weaving Spiders , 1972 .

[8]  B. Dudek,et al.  Development and evolution of brain size : behavioral implications , 1979 .

[9]  F. A. Pitelka,et al.  PRINCIPLES OF ANIMAL ECOLOGY , 1951 .

[10]  Viktor Mikhaĭlovich Glushkov,et al.  An Introduction to Cybernetics , 1957, The Mathematical Gazette.

[11]  G. Weinberg.  An Introduction to General Systems Thinking , 1975 .

[12]  George C. Williams,et al.  Sex and evolution. , 1975, Monographs in population biology.

[13]  B. Latané.  Gregariousness and fear in laboratory rats , 1969 .

[14]  J. Jones.  Tools for Thought , 1977 .

[15]  P. Marler.  Studies of fighting in Chaffinches (3) proximity as a cause of aggression , 1956 .

[16]  Alan Mowle,et al.  Tools for Thought , 1978 .

[17]  H. Hediger,et al.  Wild animals in captivity , 1950 .

[18]  T. J. Pitcher,et al.  The three-dimensional structure of schools in the minnow, Phoxinus phoxinus (L.) , 1973 .

[19]  P. Risch.  Quantitative analysis of orb web patterns in four species of spiders , 1977, Behavior genetics.

[20]  B. Latané,et al.  Social and nonsocial attraction in rats. , 1968, Journal of personality and social psychology.

[21]  R. Sommer.  Studies in Personal space , 1959 .

[22]  C. Breder.  Equations Descriptive of Fish Schools and Other Animal Aggregations , 1954 .

[23]  H. Thompson.  Distribution of Distance to Nth Neighbour in a Population of Randomly Distributed Individuals , 1956 .

[24]  Carol M. Werner,et al.  Interaction motivates attraction: Rats are fond of fondling. , 1974 .

[25]  A. H. Esser.  Behavior and Environment , 1971 .

[26]  G. Syme,et al.  The role of sex and novelty in determining the social response to lithium chloride , 2004, Psychopharmacologia.

[27]  J. S. Brown,et al.  Gradients of approach and avoidance responses and their relation to level of motivation. , 1948, Journal of comparative and physiological psychology.

[28]  E. Hall,et al.  The Hidden Dimension , 1970 .

[29]  R. Dow.  Dispersal of Adult Hippelates Pusio, The Eye Gnat , 1959 .

[30]  J. L. Myers.  Fundamentals of Experimental Design , 1972 .

[31]  R. Lewontin.  ‘The Selfish Gene’ , 1977, Nature.

[32]  George C. Williams,et al.  Adaptation and Natural Selection , 2018 .

[33]  Karl P. Schmidt,et al.  Principles of Animal Ecology , 1950 .

[34]  D. Wood‐Gush,et al.  A behavioural comparison of domestic and mallard ducks. Spatial relationships in small flocks , 1975, Animal Behaviour.

[35]  C. Carpenter.  Naturalistic behavior of nonhuman primates , 1964 .

[36]  W. J. Bell,et al.  Aggressiveness in the cockroach Periplaneta americana (Orthoptera, Blattidae). , 1973, Behavioral biology.

[37]  N. Tinbergen,et al.  An Experiment On Spacing-Out as a Defence Against Predation , 1967 .

[38]  W. Ashby,et al.  An Introduction to Cybernetics , 1957 .

[39]  Charles M. Breder,et al.  Studies on social groupings in fishes. Bulletin of the AMNH ; v. 117, article 6 , 1959 .

[40]  C. Breder,et al.  Comparative Behavior of Various Fishes under Differing Conditions of Aggregation , 1947 .

[41]  D. Wood‐Gush,et al.  A behavioural comparison of domestic and mallard ducks. Habituation and flight reactions , 1975, Animal Behaviour.