title: Female Bechstein's bats adjust their group decisions about communal roosts to the level of conflict of interests.
abstract: Most social animals depend on group decisions for coordination. Recent models suggest that the level of interindividual conflict strongly influences whether groups reach a consensus during decision making. However, few experimental studies have explored how wild animals make group decisions in situations with conflicting interests. Such experimental data are particularly lacking for animal societies with regular fission and fusion of subgroups. In this long-term study, we varied the level of conflict of interest among members of three wild Bechstein's bat (Myotis bechsteinii) colonies with high fission-fusion dynamics experimentally to explore whether the bats adapt their group decisions about communal roosts accordingly. In situations with low levels of conflict of interest, a minority of bats experiencing a roost as suitable was sufficient for a group consensus to use it communally. In contrast, if their interests diverged strongly, the bats no longer sought a compromise, but based their roosting decisions on individual preferences instead. Our results demonstrate that the rules applied to make group decisions can vary with the level of conflict among the individual interests of group members. Our findings are in agreement with predictions of the models and provide evidence for highly flexible group decisions within species.
authors: Zoological Institute and Museum, Ernst Moritz Arndt University of Greifswald, Johann Sebastian Bach Strasse 11/12, 17489 Greifswald, Germany.
authors: Daniela
authors: D
authors: Fleischmann
authors: Isabelle O
authors: IO
authors: Baumgartner
authors: Maude
authors: M
authors: Erasmy
authors: Nanette
authors: N
authors: Gries
authors: Markus
authors: M
authors: Melber
authors: Vera
authors: V
authors: Leinert
authors: Manuela
authors: M
authors: Parchem
authors: Maren
authors: M
authors: Reuter
authors: Pascal
authors: P
authors: Schaer
authors: Sereina
authors: S
authors: Stauffer
authors: Insa
authors: I
authors: Wagner
authors: Gerald
authors: G
authors: Kerth
mesh_terms: D000818:Animals; D001522:Behavior, Animal; D002685:Chiroptera / Q000502:physiology*; D016265:Conflict of Interest; D005260:Female; D006126:Group Processes; D008297:Male