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Animals
Special Issues
Use of Social Network Analysis to Evaluate Animal Welfare
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Use of Social Network Analysis to Evaluate Animal Welfare

A special issue of Animals (ISSN 2076-2615). This special issue belongs to the section "Animal Welfare".

Deadline for manuscript submissions: closed (31 March 2022) | Viewed by 9840

Special Issue Editor

Dr. Laura Ozella

E-Mail Website
Guest Editor
Department of Veterinary Sciences, University of Turin, Via Giuseppe Verdi, 8, 10124 Torino TO, Italy
Interests: analysis of animal welfare and behavior using noninvasive methods in domestic and exotic species; animal social network; proximity sensors; global positioning system; infectious disease epidemiology

Special Issue Information

Dear Colleagues,

Social network analysis is increasingly used by behavioral ecologists to describe the patterns and quality of interactions among individuals. The behavior of individuals both affects and is affected by the presence and behavior of others within their social networks. Social interactions can therefore influence animal welfare. Animals in a variety of environments face similar welfare issues, such as the spread of diseases, social stress and social aggression. Social network analysis has the potential to be a highly useful tool in monitoring the welfare and health of a wide variety of animal populations, both domestic and wild.

In particular, the detection of specific network patterns can help in evaluating animal welfare through the identification of (1) individuals who contribute to the maintenance of good welfare or facilitate the appearance of poor welfare, (2) preferred and avoided social associations between individuals within a group, (3) the social dynamics and temporal structural features of a network that can influence the group stability or instability, (4) how individuals interact and how an infection spreads through a population and (5) physiological wellbeing in social animals living in a group.

The aim of this Special Issue is to present recent research and reviews on the “Use of Social Network Analysis to Evaluate Animal Welfare” with the aim of stimulating interest in, understanding of and exploration of this important field.

Dr. Laura Ozella
Guest Editor

Manuscript Submission Information

Manuscripts should be submitted online at www.mdpi.com by registering and logging in to this website. Once you are registered, click here to go to the submission form. Manuscripts can be submitted until the deadline. All submissions that pass pre-check are peer-reviewed. Accepted papers will be published continuously in the journal (as soon as accepted) and will be listed together on the special issue website. Research articles, review articles as well as short communications are invited. For planned papers, a title and short abstract (about 100 words) can be sent to the Editorial Office for announcement on this website.

Submitted manuscripts should not have been published previously, nor be under consideration for publication elsewhere (except conference proceedings papers). All manuscripts are thoroughly refereed through a single-blind peer-review process. A guide for authors and other relevant information for submission of manuscripts is available on the Instructions for Authors page. Animals is an international peer-reviewed open access semimonthly journal published by MDPI.

Please visit the Instructions for Authors page before submitting a manuscript. The Article Processing Charge (APC) for publication in this open access journal is 2400 CHF (Swiss Francs). Submitted papers should be well formatted and use good English. Authors may use MDPI's English editing service prior to publication or during author revisions.

Keywords

  • Animal welfare
  • Social behavior
  • Social structure
  • Temporal networks
  • Disease transmission
  • Physiological welfare

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Published Papers (2 papers)

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Research

16 pages, 1307 KiB  
Article
Respiratory Disease Risk of Zoo-Housed Bonobos Is Associated with Sex and Betweenness Centrality in the Proximity Network
by Jonas R. R. Torfs, Marcel Eens, Daan W. Laméris and Nicky Staes
Animals 2021, 11(12), 3597; https://doi.org/10.3390/ani11123597 - 19 Dec 2021
Cited by 4 | Viewed by 4267
Abstract
Infectious diseases can be considered a threat to animal welfare and are commonly spread through both direct and indirect social interactions with conspecifics. This is especially true for species with complex social lives, like primates. While several studies have investigated the impact of [...] Read more.
Infectious diseases can be considered a threat to animal welfare and are commonly spread through both direct and indirect social interactions with conspecifics. This is especially true for species with complex social lives, like primates. While several studies have investigated the impact of sociality on disease risk in primates, only a handful have focused on respiratory disease, despite it being a major cause of morbidity and mortality in both wild and captive populations and thus an important threat to primate welfare. Therefore, we examined the role of social-network position on the occurrence of respiratory disease symptoms during one winter season in a relatively large group of 20 zoo-housed bonobos with managed fission-fusion dynamics. We found that within the proximity network, symptoms were more likely to occur in individuals with higher betweenness centrality, which are individuals that form bridges between different parts of the network. Symptoms were also more likely to occur in males than in females, independent of their social-network position. Taken together, these results highlight a combined role of close proximity and sex in increased risk of attracting respiratory disease, two factors that can be taken into account for further welfare management of the species. Full article
(This article belongs to the Special Issue Use of Social Network Analysis to Evaluate Animal Welfare)
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19 pages, 4011 KiB  
Article
Effect of Infant Presence on Social Networks of Sterilized and Intact Wild Female Balinese Macaques (Macaca fascicularis)
by Gwennan Giraud, Sebastian Sosa, Alain Hambuckers, Stefan Deleuze, I Nengah Wandia, Marie-Claude Huynen, Pascal Poncin and Fany Brotcorne
Animals 2021, 11(9), 2538; https://doi.org/10.3390/ani11092538 - 29 Aug 2021
Cited by 7 | Viewed by 4211
Abstract
Contraception is increasingly used to control wild animal populations. However, as reproductive condition influences social interactions in primates, the absence of new offspring could influence the females’ social integration. We studied two groups of wild macaques (Macaca fascicularis) including females recently [...] Read more.
Contraception is increasingly used to control wild animal populations. However, as reproductive condition influences social interactions in primates, the absence of new offspring could influence the females’ social integration. We studied two groups of wild macaques (Macaca fascicularis) including females recently sterilized in the Ubud Monkey Forest, Indonesia. We used social network analysis to examine female grooming and proximity networks and investigated the role of infant presence on social centrality and group connectivity, while controlling for the fertility status (sterilized N = 14, intact N = 34). We compared the ego networks of females experiencing different nursing conditions (young infant (YI) vs. old infant (OI) vs. non-nursing (NN) females). YI females were less central in the grooming network than other females while being more central in proximity networks, suggesting they could keep proximity within the group to protect their infant from hazards, while decreasing direct grooming interactions, involving potential risks such as kidnapping. The centrality of sterilized and intact females was similar, except for the proximity network where sterilized females had more partners and a better group connectivity. These results confirm the influence of nursing condition in female macaque social networks and did not show any negative short-term effects of sterilization on social integration. Full article
(This article belongs to the Special Issue Use of Social Network Analysis to Evaluate Animal Welfare)
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