Relationship between spatial and social phenotypes in an avian scavenger

Animals may interact incidentally, by sharing space, or intentionally, by seeking out interactions. Understanding which elements of social interactions can be explained by spatial behavior and which cannot may uncover drivers of individual fitness and population functioning. In an avian scavenger, we tested how space use covaried with social position while flying, feeding, and roosting. We also identified the deviation of observed social centrality from chance and examined how this non-incidental social centrality covaried with space use. In flight, space use was positively associated only with observed social centrality, suggesting that interactions while flying emerge primarily from co-movement. In contrast, space use covaried with non-incidental social centrality while roosting, suggesting a stronger importance of social preferences when interacting at roost sites. Our work demonstrates that the role of animal movements in shaping social interactions differs across social situations. Such an understanding of the spatial-social interface is essential for predicting population responses to environmental changes and conserving threatened species.