Valéria Romano, Cédric Sueur, Andrew J.J. MacIntosh

Social structure can regulate information and pathogen transmission via social contact or proximity, which ultimately affects individual fitness. In theory, the same network properties that favor social information transmission also favor the spread of socially-transmitted pathogens, creating a trade-off between them. The mechanisms underlying the development and stability of individual relationships considering this trade-off remain underexplored. Here, we outline the evolutionary mechanisms of social transmission and hypothesize that network topology can be optimized in a way that balances the costs and benefits of social relationships. In this context, emergent network properties might reflect a trade-off between information and pathogen transmission in animal societies. We then propose an implementation of Hinde’s classical framework by incorporating the costs of socializing in a negative feedback loop in the emergence of social structure. We hope this manuscript encourages research into this underxplored social trade-off and the evolutionary processes underlying it.