Organisms living in hot, arid environments face important risks associated with hyperthermia and dehydration which are expected to become more severe with climate change. To mitigate these risks, individuals often modify behaviour, e.g. reducing activity and seeking shade. These behavioural modifications may affect interactions between individuals, with consequences for the social structure of groups. We tested whether the social structure of cooperative groups of sociable weavers Philetairus socius varied with environmental temperature. We recorded the nature and frequency of interactions at feeders positioned beneath three sociable weaver colonies (n = 49 identified birds) in the Kalahari Desert with respect to environmental temperatures over a 30‐day period. Using random forest models, we examined whether thermal conditions predicted variation in social network structure. We also conducted focal observations of individual weavers to assess functional links between temperature, intensity of heat dissipation behaviour (panting) and immediate effects on social behaviour. Our results suggest that the social structure of weaver colonies becomes less cohesive and more fragmented at extreme and variable environmental temperatures. These changes in network structure appear to be linked with individuals’ heat dissipation behaviour: extreme and variable temperatures were associated with increased panting, which was significantly correlated with an immediate reduction in the frequency of association. Collectively, our results indicate that interactions within groups could be disturbed by environmental temperature variation and extremes. Changing temperature regimes could therefore affect the functioning of animal societies by altering social networks.

中文翻译：

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极端多变的环境温度与高度社交化的雀形目社交网络的凝聚力降低有关

生活在炎热干燥的环境中的生物面临着与高温和脱水相关的重要风险，随着气候变化，生物风险将变得更加严重。为了减轻这些风险，个人经常修改行为，例如减少活动和寻找阴影。这些行为改变可能会影响个体之间的互动，从而影响群体的社会结构。我们测试了社交编织者合作组织Philetairus socius的社会结构是否随环境温度而变化。我们记录了位于卡拉哈里沙漠中三个社交织布者殖民地（n = 49只已鉴定的鸟类）下方的喂食器之间的相互作用的性质和频率，其相对于30天的环境温度而言。使用随机森林模型，我们检查了热条件是否可以预测社交网络结构的变化。我们还对各个织布工进行了集中观察，以评估温度，散热行为强度（喘气）和对社会行为的直接影响之间的功能联系。我们的结果表明，在极端和变化的环境温度下，编织者殖民地的社会结构变得不那么凝聚力，更加分散。网络结构的这些变化似乎与个人的散热行为有关：极端温度和变化温度与气喘加剧相关，而气喘与立即减少结缔频率显着相关。总体而言，我们的结果表明，群体内的相互作用可能会受到环境温度变化和极端因素的干扰。因此，温度制度的变化可能会通过改变社会网络而影响动物社会的运作。