Abstract In gregarious animals, social network positions of individuals may influence their life-history and fitness. Although association patterns and the position of individuals in social networks can be shaped by phenotypic differences and by past interactions, few studies have quantified their relative importance. We evaluated how phenotypic differences and familiarity influence social preferences and the position of individuals within the social network. We monitored wild-caught common waxbills (Estrilda astrild) with radio-frequency identifiers in a large mesocosm during the non-breeding and breeding seasons of two consecutive years. We found that social networks were similar, and that the centrality of individuals was repeatable, across seasons and years, indicating a stable social phenotype. Nonetheless, there were seasonal changes in social structure: waxbills associated more strongly with opposite-sex individuals in breeding seasons, whereas in non-breeding seasons they instead assorted according to similarities in social dominance. We also observed stronger assortment between birds that were introduced to the mesocosm at the same time, indicating long-lasting bonds among familiar individuals. Waxbills that had been introduced to the mesocosm more recently occupied more central network positions, especially during breeding seasons, perhaps indicating that these birds had less socially-differentiated associations with flock members. Finally, individual differences in color ornamentation and behavioral assays of personality, inhibitory control, and stress were not related to network centrality or association patterns. Together, these results suggest that, in gregarious species like the common waxbill, social networks may be more strongly shaped by long-lasting associations with familiar individuals than by phenotypic differences among group members.

中文翻译：

---

熟悉、支配、性别和季节塑造了常见的蜡嘴社交网络

摘要 在群居动物中，个体的社交网络位置可能会影响其生活史和健康状况。尽管关联模式和个人在社交网络中的位置可以通过表型差异和过去的互动来塑造，但很少有研究量化它们的相对重要性。我们评估了表型差异和熟悉度如何影响社会偏好和个人在社交网络中的位置。在连续两年的非繁殖和繁殖季节，我们用射频识别器在一个大的中宇宙监测了野生捕获的普通蜡嘴 (Estrilda astrild)。我们发现社交网络是相似的，并且个体的中心性是可重复的，跨季节和跨年，表明稳定的社会表型。尽管如此，社会结构存在季节性变化：蜡嘴在繁殖季节与异性个体的关联性更强，而在非繁殖季节，它们则根据社会支配地位的相似性进行分类。我们还观察到同时引入中宇宙的鸟类之间的分类更强，这表明熟悉的个体之间存在着长期的联系。最近被引入中宇宙的蜡嘴占据了更多的中心网络位置，尤其是在繁殖季节，这可能表明这些鸟类与群体成员的社会分化关联较少。最后，色彩装饰和人格行为分析、抑制控制和压力的个体差异与网络中心性或关联模式无关。一起，