Communication in Animal Social Networks: A Missing Link?

Animal social networks and animal communication networks are key disciplines for understanding animal social behavior, yet these disciplines remain poorly integrated. In this review, we show how communication and social networks are inherently linked, with social signals reflecting and affecting social networks. Signals carry key information on the quality and direction of social connections and reveal social connections over long distances. Moreover, social signals can directly affect proximity among conspecifics, by facilitating social attraction and repulsion. Social signals thus mediate many of the social networks we observe. Throughout, we discuss a broad range of signal types and interactions, yet with a focus on acoustic signals and show how they reflect and affect social relationships. With this review we aim to inspire further integration of the social network and communication network disciplines, expecting that it will lead to new insights into the dynamics and evolution of animal social behavior.