title: Collective decision-making promotes fitness loss in a fusion-fission society.
abstract: While collective decision-making is recognised as a significant contributor to fitness in social species, the opposite outcome is also logically possible. We show that collective movement decisions guided by individual bison sharing faulty information about habitat quality promoted the use of ecological traps. The frequent, but short-lived, associations of bison with different spatial knowledge led to a population-wide shift from avoidance to selection of agricultural patches over 9 years in and around Prince Albert National Park, Canada. Bison were more likely to travel to an agricultural patch for the first time by following conspecifics already familiar with agricultural patches. Annual adult mortality increased by 12% due to hunting of bison on agricultural lands. Maladaptive social behaviour accordingly was a major force that contributed to a ~50% population decline in less than a decade. In human-altered landscapes, social learning by group-living species can lead to fitness losses, particularly in fusion-fission societies.
authors.affiliation: Département de Biologie et Centre d'Étude de la Forêt, Université Laval, 1045 Ave. de la Médecine, Québec, QC, G1V 0A6, Canada.
authors.forename: Marie
authors.initials: M
authors.lastname: Sigaud
authors.affiliation: Département de Biologie et Centre d'Étude de la Forêt, Université Laval, 1045 Ave. de la Médecine, Québec, QC, G1V 0A6, Canada.|Wyoming Cooperative Fish and Wildlife Research Unit, University of Wyoming, Dept 3166, 1000 E University Ave, Laramie, WY, 82071, USA.
authors.forename: Jerod A
authors.initials: JA
authors.lastname: Merkle
authors.affiliation: Parks Canada Agency, Box 220, Radium Hot Springs, BC, V0A 1M0, Canada.
authors.forename: Seth G
authors.initials: SG
authors.lastname: Cherry
authors.affiliation: Department of Integrative Biology, University of Guelph, 50 Stone Road E., Guelph, ON, N1G 2W1, Canada.
authors.forename: John M
authors.initials: JM
authors.lastname: Fryxell
authors.affiliation: Santa Fe Institute, 1399 Hyde Park Road, Santa Fe, NM, 87501, USA.
authors.forename: Andrew
authors.initials: A
authors.lastname: Berdahl
authors.affiliation: Département de Biologie et Centre d'Étude de la Forêt, Université Laval, 1045 Ave. de la Médecine, Québec, QC, G1V 0A6, Canada.
authors.forename: Daniel
authors.initials: D
authors.lastname: Fortin
mesh_terms: D000818:Animals; D016164:Bison / Q000235:genetics / Q000502:physiology*; D003657:Decision Making; D017753:Ecosystem; D005260:Female; D056084:Genetic Fitness; D011157:Population Dynamics; D012525:Saskatchewan; D012919:Social Behavior
keywords: 
  Bison bison
  ; Prince Albert National Park; collective decisions; ecological trap; fusion-fission; habitat selection; population dynamics