Fission–fusion social dynamics are common among a number of vertebrate taxa, and yet the factors shaping these variable associations among subgroup members have not been widely addressed. Associations may occur simply because of shared habitat preferences; however, social ties may also be influenced by genetic relatedness (kinship) or social attraction. Here, we investigate the association patterns of wild black-and-white ruffed lemurs, Varecia variegata, in Ranomafana National Park, Madagascar using behavioural, spatial (home range) and genetic data from 24 individually identified animals. We collected 40 840 records of group composition over a 17-month period and from this calculated pairwise association indices. We also used ranging coordinates and genetic samples to estimate patterns of spatial overlap and kinship, and then related these measures to patterns of affiliation. From these analyses, we found that dyadic ruffed lemur social associations were generally sparse and weak, that home range overlap was minimal and that average relatedness within the community was low. We found no evidence that kinship was related to patterns of either spatial overlap or social association; instead, associations were primarily driven by space use. Moreover, social preferences were unrelated to kinship. While home range overlap explained most of the variation seen in social association, some variation remained unaccounted for, suggesting that other social, ecological and biological factors such as shared resource defence or communal breeding might also play a role in social attraction. Our results further highlight the need to consider individual space use and nuances of species behaviour when investigating social preference and social association more generally.

中文翻译：

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遗传相关性无法解释黑白领狐猴 Varecia variegata 的社会偏好

裂变融合社会动态在许多脊椎动物分类群中很常见，但影响亚群成员之间这些可变关联的因素尚未得到广泛解决。关联可能仅仅因为共享的栖息地偏好而发生；然而，社会联系也可能受到遗传相关性（亲属关系）或社会吸引力的影响。在这里，我们使用来自 24 只个体识别动物的行为、空间（家庭范围）和遗传数据调查了马达加斯加拉诺玛法纳国家公园的野生黑白环狐猴 Varecia variegata 的关联模式。我们收集了 17 个月内的 40 840 条组组成记录，并从这个计算出的成对关联指数中得出。我们还使用测距坐标和遗传样本来估计空间重叠和亲属关系的模式，然后将这些措施与从属模式联系起来。从这些分析中，我们发现二元环狐猴的社会交往普遍稀少且薄弱，家庭范围重叠最小，社区内的平均亲缘关系较低。我们没有发现任何证据表明亲属关系与空间重叠或社会关联模式有关；相反，协会主要是由空间使用驱动的。此外，社会偏好与亲属关系无关。虽然家庭范围重叠解释了社会关联中的大部分变化，但仍有一些变化无法解释，这表明其他社会、生态和生物因素，如共享资源防御或社区繁殖也可能在社会吸引力中发挥作用。