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Updated: Jan 16, 2026

Assessment of Social Interaction Behaviors
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Assessment of Social Interaction Behaviors

Published on: February 25, 2011

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Quality, quantity, and the adaptive function of social relationships

Delphine De Moor1, Lauren J N Brent2

  • 1Centre for Research in Animal Behaviour, University of Exeter, Exeter, UK; Department of Primate Behavior and Evolution, Max Planck Institute for Evolutionary Anthropology, Leipzig, Germany.

Trends in Ecology & Evolution
|September 30, 2025
PubMed
Summary

Understanding animal social behavior is key to fitness. This study proposes that relationship quality offers social support against local competition, while relationship quantity provides tolerance against global predation risks.

Keywords:
Adaptive Relationships Frameworksocial evolutionsocial networkssocial strategysocial systemsocioecology

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