PRE2023-SOCIALBORN. Social phenotype plasticity: maternal effects, early-life environment, and the development of individuality in social traits-PID2022-139166NB-I00

Social interactions are a ubiquitous component of (our) life, and in fact, a lack of social interactions is a significant driver for aging and morbidity in humans and other vertebrates. Evolution has thus made organisms very adequate in dealing with their inherently social life, but we know rather little about the behavioural mechanisms underlying this ability. The objectives of this project are hence to advance our knowledge on this fundamental question by following an integrative approach that explores the development of adaptive social behaviour and how it is shaped by social experiences early in life. Given that behavioural individuality is a fundamental characteristic of animal populations, the project will start at the individual level, with possibilities for upscaling to social networks and the community level. For this, we will incorporate approaches from complex network theory and apply state-of-the-art epigenetic and physiological approaches. The results of the project may become relevant for the social sciences and medical research, as they may ultimately provide a better understanding of maladaptive social behaviour (= disorders) in humans. Furthermore, the project will allow generating predictions about the adaptations to environmental changes of anthropogenic origin, and, in general, to any change that has effects on social density. For more details about the PhD position, please see the attached document.