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Climate change and rising sea levels have led to managed realignment at the coast, but the practice of realignment has an ambiguous socioecological identity that has hindered its widespread use. Realignment represents the realization of the nature‐based coastal management strategies first proposed in the United States during the Shoreline Debate of the early 1980s. It was put into practice in 1990 on Northey Island, Essex, as an experimental response to coastal erosion, and has subsequently become relatively widespread on the British coast. Realignment has been represented either as a form of ecological modernisation or as a rewilding, though it can challenge both these understandings through the radical ambiguity of the 'wild experiments' it produces. This ambiguity, however, means that while realignment has the potential to enable a structural transformation of socioecological relations at the coast, it has commonly only been used for the purposes of pragmatic environmental reform. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

As urbanization expands, it is becoming increasingly important to understand how anthropogenic activity is affecting ecological and evolutionary processes. Few studies have examined how human social patterns within cities can modify eco‐evolutionary dynamics. We tested how socioeconomic variation corresponds with changes in trophic interactions and natural selection on prey phenotypes using the classic interaction between goldenrod gall flies (Eurosta solidaginis) and their natural enemies: birds, beetles, and parasitoid wasps. We sampled galls from 84 sites across neighbourhoods with varying socioeconomic levels, and quantified the frequency of predation/parasitism on flies and natural selection by each enemy. We found that bird predation was higher in the highest income neighbourhoods, increasing the strength of selection for smaller galls. Wasp and beetle attack, but not their strength of selection, increased in lower income neighbourhoods. We show that socioeconomic variation in cities can have strong unintended consequences for the ecology and evolution of trophic interactions. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Context is important when considering how racism acts to harm Black youth. Hence, social scientists developed socioecological theories that consider both the individual and the context(s) which shapes them. We used these theories to make sense of the challenges facing Black youth and identify points for intervention. However, these theories were rarely shared with community participants. Theory, at its core, is a way to make sense of the world. Theory shared in an age‐appropriate manner can help youth make sense of their experiences in a way that promotes psychological wellness. This paper describes the intentional sharing of socioecological theory with community members engaged in two community‐based mental health programs. Our team has collaborated closely with community stakeholders to implement and iteratively improve these programs. This first‐person account presents the doctoral students' experiences in engaging community members in using socioecological theory to improve the programs with which they have identified as useful to their community. The article underscores the importance of elevating community voices when engaging in community‐based research and how that engagement is more fundamental as programs become well‐established. Highlights: Community‐based participatory research (CBPR) encourages a more equitable research process.Together, CBPR and socioecological theories contextualize the lived experiences of Black youth.The socioecological theory presented in an age‐appropriate fashion inspired youth‐driven action.Revised curriculums of both CBPR programs reflect this salient interest in community engagement.Ongoing discussion with community members is essential in ensuring CBPR interventions stay relevant. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Inequity aversion (IA), the affective, cognitive, and behavioral response to inequitable outcomes, allows individuals to avoid exploitation and therefore stabilizes cooperation. The presence of IA varies across animal species, which has stimulated research to investigate factors that might explain this variation, and to investigate underlying affective responses. Among great apes, IA is most often studied in chimpanzees. Here, we investigate IA in bonobos, a reputedly tolerant and cooperative species for which few IA studies are available. We describe how bonobos respond to receiving less preferred rewards than a partner in a token exchange task. We show that bonobos respond to receiving less preferred rewards by refusing tokens and rewards, and by leaving the experimental area. Bonobos never refused a trial when receiving preferred rewards, and thus showed no advantageous IA. We also investigate the variability in the disadvantageous IA response on a dyadic level, because the level of IA is expected to vary, depending on characteristics of the dyad. Like in humans and chimpanzees, we show that the tolerance towards inequity was higher in bonobo dyads with more valuable relationships. To study the affective component of IA, we included behavioral and physiological measures of arousal: a displacement behavior (rough self‐scratching) and changes in salivary cortisol levels. Both measures of arousal showed large variability, and while analyses on rough self‐scratching showed no significant effects, salivary cortisol levels seemed to be lower in subjects that received less than their partner, but higher in subjects that received more than their partner, albeit that both were not significantly different from the equity condition. This suggests that although overcompensated bonobos showed no behavioral response, they might be more aroused. Our data support the cooperation hypothesis on an interspecific and intraspecific level. They show inequity aversion in bonobos, a reputedly cooperative species, and suggest that the variability in IA in bonobos can be explained by their socioecology. Most successful cooperative interactions happen between mothers and their sons and among closely bonded females. The limited need to monitor the partners' investment within these dyads can result in a higher tolerance towards inequity. We therefore suggest future studies to consider relevant socioecological characteristics of the species when designing and analyzing IA studies. Research highlights: Bonobos responded to inequity by refusing tokens and moving away from the experimenterOvercompensated subjects showed more arousal, as measured by salivary cortisolThe level of inequity aversion decreased with increasing relationship quality [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This study identified resilience processes at the individual, family, and community levels among Filipino migrant domestic workers (MDWs). Resilience processes highlight strengths and resources that can enhance positive adaptation to problems that affect this vulnerable migrant group. Data came from focus groups and key informant interviews involving 27 MDWs and 7 key informants. Data was analyzed using thematic analysis and organized according to the socioecological model. Results revealed 7 resilience processes. Financial coping, health management, and spirituality were found across levels. Companionship and emotional support are transacted within family and community levels, whereas expanding knowledge and support occurs at individual and community levels. MDWs and their families prioritize each family member, whereas the community provides legal support. Resilience processes exist across ecological levels. However, individual resilience processes are insufficient, thus necessitating collective agency through familial and community resilience processes and building social structures that facilitate resilience. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The environmental influences on early childhood development are understudied. The association between vegetation cover (i.e., trees, shrubs, grassed areas) in four key behaviour settings and socioemotional functioning was investigated in 1196 young children (2–5 years). Emotional difficulties were inversely associated with vegetation cover in the home yard (OR: 0.81 [0.69—0.96]) and neighbourhood (OR: 0.79 [0.67–0.94]), but not in early childhood education and care (ECEC) centre outdoor areas or the ECEC neighbourhood. The higher odds of emotional difficulties associated with lower levels of maternal education was reduced with higher percentages of home yard vegetation cover. There was no evidence of mediation of the relationship between emotional difficulties and vegetation cover by time spent playing outside the home, day or nighttime sleep duration, or physical activity. We found no associations between vegetation cover and conduct, hyperactivity and inattention, peer difficulties, or prosocial behaviours. A video abstract of this article can be viewed at https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=J3HeEiIjVZc [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Humpback dolphins (Sousa spp.) are obligate shallow‐water and resident species, and they typically live in fission–fusion societies composed of small‐sized groups with changeable membership. However, we have scant knowledge of their behavioral ecology, starting with potential factors influencing inter‐population variability of their group sizes. Here, we compiled a new global dataset of humpback dolphin group sizes based on 150 published records. Our data indicated an inter‐specific consistency of group‐living strategy among the 4 species in the Sousa genus, as these species preferred living in small‐sized groups with a mean size of mostly no more than 10, a minimum size of single individual or small pairs, and a maximum size of several tens or ≈100. In addition, we clearly showed the geographic variations in group sizes of humpback dolphins at a global scale. We found that the geographic variations in humpback dolphin group sizes were primarily associated with the latitude, sea surface temperature, and abundance. To conclude, our findings provide insights into social dynamics and socioecological trade‐offs of humpback dolphins, and help better understand how these resident animals adapted to their shallow‐water habitats from the perspectives of biogeography and socioecology. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

In contrast to the African great apes, orangutans (Pongo spp.) are semisolitary: Individuals are often on their own, but form aggregations more often than expected by chance. These temporary aggregations provide social benefits such as mating opportunities. When fruit availability is high, costs of aggregating should be lower, because competition is less pronounced. Therefore, average party size is expected to be higher when fruit availability is high. This hypothesis would also explain why orangutans in highly fruit‐productive habitats on Sumatra are more gregarious than in the usually less productive habitats of Borneo. Here, we describe the aggregation behavior of orangutans in less productive Sumatran habitats (Sikundur and Batang Toru), and compare results with those of previously surveyed field sites. Orangutans in Sikundur were more likely to form parties when fruit availability was higher, but the size of daily parties was not significantly affected by fruit availability. With regard to between‐site comparisons, average party sizes of females and alone time of parous females in Sikundur and Batang Toru were substantially lower than those for two previously surveyed Sumatran sites, and both fall in the range of values for Bornean sites. Our results indicate that the assessment of orangutans on Sumatra as being more social than those on Borneo needs revision. Instead, between‐site differences in sociality seem to reflect differences in average fruit availability. Research Highlights: Sumatran orangutans in Sikundur were more likely to form parties when fruit availability was higher, but fruit availability did not significantly influence the daily party size on days with party formation. Orangutans in less productive Sumatran forest had a lower average party size than orangutans in highly productive Sumatran forest, and their average party size falls within the range of reported values for Bornean orangutans. Between‐site differences in orangutan sociality may be mediated by between‐site differences in fruit availability, and previously described differences in sociality between orangutans on Sumatra and Borneo may need revision. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The geography of the former watermills on the River Thames demonstrates the state of contingency upon which the liquid materiality of landscape is founded. Watermills were introduced into England during the Roman occupation and came to have an important role in the socioecology of the Thames, and an important place in its medieval and early-modern landscape. The pattern of mills established on the river by the eleventh century remained stable for some hundreds of years because of the locational constraints enforced by a framework of capital investment and legal rights. However, the built form of the mills caused conflict in the use of the river between milling and navigation, and this conflict was worsened by the growth of traffic in the early-modern period. By the late eighteenth century the ownership and operation of mills was perceived a significant element in the crisis affecting the Thames. That crisis was only resolved in the nineteenth century with the marginalisation of milling in the socioecology of the river and therefore in its water landscape. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The multilevel society of hamadryas baboons, consisting of troops, bands, clans, and one-male units (OMUs), is commonly perceived to be an effective means of adapting to variable food availability while allowing spatial cohesion in response to predator pressure. The relationship between these variables, however, has never been tested quantitatively. The Filoha site in Awash National Park, Ethiopia is ideally suited to such an investigation as it contains nutrient-dense palm forests in addition to the Acacia scrublands typical of hamadryas distribution elsewhere, allowing comparisons of spatial cohesion across habitat types. Here, we use observations over a 1-year period to examine the relationship between resource availability, perceived predator pressure, and spatial cohesion in a band of wild hamadryas baboons at Filoha. Our results demonstrate that the band was more likely to break into OMUs when foraging in habitats with lower food availability, and that the band fissioned into independent clans more often when preferred resources were not available. Furthermore, the baboons remained in larger aggregations for longer periods of time (i.e., prior to embarking on their daily foraging route) on mornings after predators were heard in the vicinity, and increased cohesion in response to encounters with people who may have been perceived as predators. These results support the notion that hamadryas baboons change their social groupings in response to both food availability and predation risk and that the ability of hamadryas bands to cleave and coalesce in response to changes in these factors underlies the evolution of the hamadryas modular social structure. Am J Phys Anthropol 2012. © 2012 Wiley Periodicals, Inc. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Food abundance and distribution have played a central role in the conceptual theory of primate socioecology [Janson, Behaviour 105:53–76, 1988; Isbell, Behavioral Ecology 2:143–155, 1991; Sterck et al., Behavioral Ecology and Sociobiology 41:291–309, 1997; van Schaik, In: Standen V, Foley RA, editors, Comparative Socioecology. Oxford: Blackwell. p 195–218, 1989]. This theory predicts that agonistic (“contest”) competition should occur when food is distributed in discrete, defensible patches; in contrast, when food sources are distributed uniformly or randomly, non-agonistic (“scramble”) competition is expected. Primatologists usually measure resource density and patchiness from a botanical perspective, ignoring the biology of the animal being studied. Such an approach may be irrelevant in terms of how animals view the dispersion of resources. Using a novel focal-tree method that measures resource availability on a scale that is both spatially and temporally relevant to the animal under investigation, we take a cost-benefit approach to predict the frequency of food-related agonism in white-faced capuchin monkeys (Cebus capucinus) from 11 ecological and social variables. We retained four variables in the regression model: two representing the opportunity for aggression (i.e., feeding bout length and the number of feeding adult females), and two representing opportunity costs (i.e., fruit abundance and the number of potential feeding sites in the focal tree). The results of this study indicate that the amount of food-related aggression in white-faced capuchins can be predicted by variables representing the costs and benefits of contesting a food resource. Am. J. Primatol. 69:533–550, 2007. © 2006 Wiley-Liss, Inc. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Socioecology has traditionally assumed that differences in social form between species derive from selected responses to particular evolutionary environments, while differences within a species reflect plastic responses to contemporary differences in ecology. The issue of behavioural or social plasticity is particularly salient for primatologists as it ties into conceptualizations of the evolution of cognitive capacity. In this regard, savanna baboons Papio hamadryas have provided a focus for research by virtue of their ecological plasticity and a problem for researchers by virtue of marked social differences in one subspecies - hamadryas baboons P. h. hamadryas - that cannot be explained solely by reference to current ecology. It is argued that the problem extends beyond hamadryas and that at least some differences between other populations also reflect selected responses to restricted, local evolutionary conditions. Of particular importance to the understanding of contemporary differences in baboon sociality is the extent to which evolutionary environments have constrained group size and perturbed adult sex ratios and, thereby, structured responses to the ever-present threat of infanticide. The view that there is much to be gained from a phylogenetic approach to population differences in behaviour is endorsed. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The ranging and grouping patterns of a gorilla group were studied during 27 months from 1990–1992 at the Bai Hokou study site, Central African Republic. The study group ranged far daily (average = 2.3 km/day) and had a large home range (22.9 km[sup 2] ), relative to mountain gorillas, and ranging patterns differed between years. During 1990–1992, the bimale study group foraged less cohesively and had more flexible grouping patterns than mountain gorillas. The study group sometimes split into two distinct foraging subgroups, each led by a silverback, and these subgroups occasionally slept apart (mean = 950 m apart). Lowland gorillas rely on many of the same fruit resources as sympatric chimpanzees, and under certain demographic situations gorillas, like sympatric chimpanzees, may adapt their foraging group size to reduce intragroup feeding competition. However, the fiber content of the lowland gorilla diet likely relaxes constraints on foraging party size and facilitates group cohesion relative to chimpanzees. Am. J. Primatol. 43:111–133, 1997. © 1997 Wiley-Liss, Inc. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Proboscis monkey (Nasalis larval us) socioecology was studied at the Natal Lengkuas Station, Tanjung Puting National Park, in Kalimantan Tengah, Indonesia. Data on the nature of intergroup interactions were collected on ten one-male groups and two all-male groups using event sampling during follows and also through evening census surveys. Proboscis monkeys form stable one-male groups, with specific groups regularly associating at their sleeping sites (band members). Both intraband and interband high-intensity agonistic displays (slapping, chasing, biting) were rare. Lower intensity agonistic displays (vocalizations, leaping-branch shaking, and erect penis and open-mouth displays) occurred frequently. Temporal avoidance between bands may have been mediated by early morning vocalizations and branch shaking displays by the adult males. Associations between groups may play a role in displacement avoidance and/or predation avoidance. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This analysis investigates the ontogeny of body size dimorphism in apes. The processes that lead to adult body size dimorphism are illustrated and described. Potential covariation between ontogenetic processes and socioecological variables is evaluated. Mixed-longitudinal growth data from 395 captive individuals (representing Hylobates lar [gibbon], Hylobates syndactylus [siamang], Pongo pygmaeus [orangutan], Gorilla gorilla [gorilla], Pan paniscus [pygmy chimpanzee], and Pan troglodytes ["common" chimpanzee]) form the basis of this study. Results illustrate heterogeneity in the growth processes that produce ape dimorphism. Hylobatids show no sexual differentiation in body weight growth. Adult body size dimorphism in Pongo can be largely attributed to indeterminate male growth. Dimorphism in African apes is produced by two different ontogenetic processes. Both pygmy chimpanzees (Pan paniscus) and gorillas (Gorilla gorilla) become dimorphic primarily through bimaturism (sex differences in duration of growth). In contrast, sex differences in rate of growth account for the majority of dimorphism in common chimpanzees (Pan troglodytes). Diversity in the ontogenetic pathways that produce adult body size dimorphism may be related to multiple evolutionary causes of dimorphism. The lack of sex differences in hylobatid growth is consistent with a monogamous social organization. Adult dimorphism in Pongo can be attributed to sexual selection for indeterminate male growth. Interpretation of dimorphism in African apes is complicated because factors that influence female ontogeny have a substantial effect on the resultant adult dimorphism. Sexual selection for prolonged male growth in gorillas may also increase bimaturism relative to common chimpanzees. Variation in female growth is hypothesized to covary with foraging adaptations and with differences in female competition that result from these foraging adaptations. Variation in male growth probably corresponds to variation in level of sexual selection. © 1995 Wiley-Liss, Inc., (Copyright © 1995 Wiley‐Liss, Inc., A Wiley Company.)

A survey of rhesus monkeys (Macaca mulatta) and hanuman langurs (Presbytis entellus) was conducted in urban and forest areas of Varanasi, India. Data were collected on group size and composition. Nine groups of rhesus monkeys inhabited various urban niches, but langurs were completely absent from urban areas. Approximately 159 rhesus monkeys and 720 langurs lived in the forested area. Both the urban and the forested habitats of this area are being reduced in size, and it is suggested that these populations be moved to nearby forest preserves., (Copyright © 1982 Wiley-Liss, Inc., A Wiley Company.)