[MARMAM] New publication: Sperm whale clans and human societies
The following paper has just been published: Whitehead, H., 2024. Sperm whale clans and human societies. Royal Society Open Science It is open access and available at: https://royalsocietypublishing.org/doi/full/10.1098/rsos.231353 Abstract: Sperm whale society is structured into clans that are primarily distinguished by vocal dialects, which may be symbolic markers of clan identity. However, clans also differ in non-vocal behaviour. These distinctive behaviours, as well as clan membership itself, are learned socially, largely within matrilines. The clans can contain thousands of whales and span thousands of kilometres. Two or more clans typically use an area, but the whales only socialize with members of their own clan. In many respects the closest arallel may be the ethno-linguistic groups of humans. Patterns and processes of human prehistory that may be instructive in studying sperm whale clans include: the extreme variability of human societies; no clear link between modes of resource acquisition and social structure; that patterns of vocalizations may not map well onto other behavioural distinctions; and that interacting societies may deliberately distinguish their behaviour (schismogenesis). Conversely, while the two species and their societies are very different, the existence of very large-scale social structures in both sperm whales and humans supports some primary drivers of the phenomenon that are common to both species (such as cognition, cooperation, culture and mobility) and contraindicates others (e.g. tool-making and syntactic language). Hal Whitehead, Dalhousie University (hwhit...@dal.ca) ___ MARMAM mailing list MARMAM@lists.uvic.ca https://lists.uvic.ca/mailman/listinfo/marmam
[MARMAM] New publication: Using culturally transmitted behavior to help delineate conservation units for species at risk
The following paper has just been published: Whitehead, H., J.K.B. Ford and A.G. Horn. 2023. Using culturally transmitted behavior to help delineate conservation units for species at risk. Biological Conservation It is open access and available at: https://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/pii/S0006320723003403 [https://ars.els-cdn.com/content/image/1-s2.0-S0006320723X0007X-cov150h.gif]<https://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/pii/S0006320723003403> Using culturally transmitted behavior to help delineate conservation units for species at risk<https://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/pii/S0006320723003403> Culture (information or behavior acquired by social learning and shared by members of a community) is an inheritance system that that can contribute t… www.sciencedirect.com Abstract: Culture (information or behavior acquired by social learning and shared by members of a community) is an inheritance system that that can contribute to the designation of conservation units for species at risk. The phenotypic diversity produced by culture is of intrinsic value and behaviorally-cohesive communities or sets of communities may be suitable candidate conservation units. This paper considers how cultural information can contribute to the designation of conservation units, in particular when assessing the discreteness and/or evolutionarily significance of potential units. Call and song dialects are particularly useful for documenting discreteness, while differences in seasonal migrations, if consistent, can be evolutionarily significant. Distinctions in foraging behavior or diet can suggest discreteness and/or evolutionary significance but it is important to show these are not environmentally driven. Social and play behavior can also be used to show discreteness. In some cases, it may not be clear whether behavioral differences are genetically or culturally determined but this may not matter for the delineation of conservation units if the behavioral distinctions are heritable. Genetic correlations can indicate the stability of culturally-determined behavior when transmission processes are parallel (e.g., mitochondrial DNA and behavior learned from the mother). The explicit use of cultural data in the delineation of conservation units is currently rare, but should increase as more detailed and extensive behavioral databases are compiled and analytical methods are developed. Hal Whitehead, Dalhousie University (hwhit...@dal.ca) ___ MARMAM mailing list MARMAM@lists.uvic.ca https://lists.uvic.ca/mailman/listinfo/marmam
[MARMAM] New publication: Current global population size, post-whaling trend and historical trajectory of sperm whales
The following paper has just been published: Whitehead, H., and M. Shin. 2022. Current global population size, post-whaling trend and historical trajectory of sperm whales. Scientific Reports 12: 19468. It is open access and available at: https://doi.org/10.1038/s41598-022-24107-7 Abstract: The sperm whale lives in most deep ice-free waters of the globe. It was targeted during two periods of whaling peaking in the 1840’s and 1960’s. Using a habitat suitability model, we extrapolated estimates of abundance from visual and acoustic surveys to give a global estimate of 736,053 sperm whales (CV = 0.218) in 1993. Estimates of trends in the post-whaling era suggest that: whaling, by affecting the sex ratio and/or the social cohesion of females, reduced recovery rates well after whaling ceased; preferentially-targeted adult males show the best evidence of recovery, presumably due to recruitment from breeding populations; several decades post-whaling, sperm whale populations not facing much human impact are recovering slowly, but populations may be declining in areas with substantial anthropogenic footprint. A theta-logistic population model enhanced to simulate spatial structure and the non-removal impacts of whaling indicated a pre-whaling population of 1,949,698 (CV = 0.178) in 1710 being reduced by whaling, and then then recovering a little to about 844,761 (CV = 0.209) in 2022. There is much uncertainty about these numbers and trends. A larger population estimate than produced by a similar analysis in 2002 is principally due to a better assessment of ascertainment bias. Hal Whitehead, Dalhousie University (hwhit...@dal.ca) ___ MARMAM mailing list MARMAM@lists.uvic.ca https://lists.uvic.ca/mailman/listinfo/marmam
[MARMAM] New publication: Adaptation of sperm whales to open-boat whalers: rapid social learning on a large scale?
The following paper has just been published: Whitehead H, Smith TD, Rendell L. 2021 Adaptation of sperm whales to open-boat whalers: rapid social learning on a large scale? Biology Letters 17: 20210030. https://doi.org/10.1098/rsbl.2021.0030 It is available at: https://royalsocietypublishing.org/doi/10.1098/rsbl.2021.0030 or: http://whitelab.biology.dal.ca/hw/Response%20of%20whales%20to%20whaling%20Biol_Lett_2021.pdf Abstract: Animals can mitigate human threats, but how do they do this, and how fast can they adapt? Hunting sperm whales was a major 19th Century industry. Analysis of data from digitized logbooks of American whalers in the North Pacific found that the rate at which whalers succeeded in harpooning (striking) sighted whales fell by about 58% over the first few years of exploitation in a region. This decline cannot be explained by the earliest whalers being more competent, as their strike rates outside the North Pacific, where whaling had a longer history, were not elevated. The initial killing of particularly vulnerable individuals would not have produced the observed rapid decline in strike rate. It appears that whales swiftly learned effective defensive behaviour. Sperm whales live in kin-based social units. Our models show that social learning, in which naïve social units, when confronted by whalers, learned defensive measures from grouped social units with experience, could lead to the documented rapid decline in strike rate. This rapid, large-scale adoption of new behaviour enlarges our concept of the spatiotemporal dynamics of non-human culture. Hal Whitehead, Dalhousie University (hwhit...@dal.ca) ___ MARMAM mailing list MARMAM@lists.uvic.ca https://lists.uvic.ca/mailman/listinfo/marmam
[MARMAM] Canadian Wildlife Federation Chair in Large Whale Conservation (Assistant Professor) at Dalhousie University
The Canadian Wildlife Federation will fund a Chair in Large Whale Conservation (Assistant Professor; tenure track) at Dalhousie University, Halifax, Canada. We are seeking candidates who will conduct research on the quantification of the impacts of environmental variability, including climate change, on the populations and distribution of large whale species, using a variety of approaches (sea-going, empirical and modelling) to foster a mechanistic understanding of distributional patterns, demographic variation and foraging ecology. Preference will be given to candidates who use and develop modern tools and analytical approaches to quantify and predict whale movement, distribution, and oceanographic habitat associations, such as remote sensing and acoustic detection technologies. At-sea experience with physical and biological oceanographic studies and experience with evidence-based advice to influence conservation policy are assets. Ideally, the candidate will have a PhD in biological oceanography or related discipline focused on large whales, postdoctoral experience, a strong publication record, a history of successful funding applications and mentoring experience. A demonstrated ability to collaborate with national and international academic, governmental, non-governmental and industrial agencies and a strong record of public outreach are desirable. All qualified candidates are encouraged to apply; however, Canadians and permanent residents will be given priority. Dalhousie University is committed to fostering a collegial culture grounded in diversity and inclusiveness. The university encourages applications from Indigenous persons, persons with a disability, racially visible persons, women, persons of a minority sexual orientation and/or gender identity, and all candidates who would contribute to the diversity of our community. For more information, please visit https://www.dal.ca/hiringfordiversity. Candidates can direct enquiries to whale.chairsea...@dal.ca. Review of applications will begin September 8, 2020 and continue until the position is filled. See: https://dal.peopleadmin.ca/postings/3196 Posted by Hal Whitehead, but direct enquiries to whale.chairsea...@dal.ca ___ MARMAM mailing list MARMAM@lists.uvic.ca https://lists.uvic.ca/mailman/listinfo/marmam
[MARMAM] Cultural specialization and genetic diversity: Killer whales and beyond
The following paper has just been published: Whitehead, H. 2020. Cultural specialization and genetic diversity: killer whales and beyond. Journal of Theoretical Biology 490: 110164. It is available at: https://authors.elsevier.com/a/1aUli57im5agj [before 20 March 2020] or: http://whitelab.biology.dal.ca/labpub.htm Abstract: Culturally-transmitted ecological specialization can reduce niche breadths with demographic and ecological consequences. I use agent-based models, grounded in killer whale biology, to investigate the potential consequences of cultural specialization for genetic diversity. In these models, cultural specialization typically reduces the number of mitochondrial haplotypes, mitochondrial haplotype diversity, mitochondrial nucleotide diversity, and heterozygosity at nuclear loci. The causal route of this decline is mostly indirect, being ascribed to a reduction in absolute population size resulting from cultural specialization. However, small group size exacerbates the decline in genetic diversity, presumably because of increased founder effects at the initiation of each cultural ecotype. These results are concordant with measures of low genetic diversity in the killer whale, although culturally-transmitted ecological specialization alone might not be sufficient to fully account for the species’ very low mitochondrial diversity. The process may also operate in other species. Hal Whitehead, Dalhousie University (hwhit...@dal.ca) ___ MARMAM mailing list MARMAM@lists.uvic.ca https://lists.uvic.ca/mailman/listinfo/marmam
[MARMAM] The reach of gene–culture coevolution in animals: Correct URL for paper
The correct URL for this open access paper is: https://www.nature.com/articles/s41467-019-10293-y Apologies Hal Whitehead The following paper, which has a considerable focus on cetaceans, has just been published: "The reach of gene–culture coevolution in animals" by: Hal Whitehead, Kevin Laland, Luke Rendell, Rose Thorogood and Andrew Whiten Nature Communications 10:2405 (2019) Abstract: Culture (behaviour based on socially transmitted information) is present in diverse animal species, yet how it interacts with genetic evolution remains largely unexplored. Here, we review the evidence for gene–culture coevolution in animals, especially birds, cetaceans and primates. We describe how culture can relax or intensify selection under different circumstances, create new selection pressures by changing ecology or behaviour, and favour adaptations, including in other species. Finally, we illustrate how, through culturally mediated migration and assortative mating, culture can shape population genetic structure and diversity. This evidence suggests strongly that animal culture plays an important evolutionary role, and we encourage explicit analyses of gene–culture coevolution in nature. Hal Whitehead, Dalhousie University ___ MARMAM mailing list MARMAM@lists.uvic.ca https://lists.uvic.ca/mailman/listinfo/marmam ___ MARMAM mailing list MARMAM@lists.uvic.ca https://lists.uvic.ca/mailman/listinfo/marmam
[MARMAM] The reach of gene–culture coevolution in animals
The following paper, which has a considerable focus on cetaceans, has just been published: "The reach of gene–culture coevolution in animals" by: Hal Whitehead, Kevin Laland, Luke Rendell, Rose Thorogood and Andrew Whiten Nature Communications 10:2405 (2019) It is Open Access and available at: https://www-nature-com.ezproxy.library.dal.ca/articles/s41467-019-10293-y Abstract: Culture (behaviour based on socially transmitted information) is present in diverse animal species, yet how it interacts with genetic evolution remains largely unexplored. Here, we review the evidence for gene–culture coevolution in animals, especially birds, cetaceans and primates. We describe how culture can relax or intensify selection under different circumstances, create new selection pressures by changing ecology or behaviour, and favour adaptations, including in other species. Finally, we illustrate how, through culturally mediated migration and assortative mating, culture can shape population genetic structure and diversity. This evidence suggests strongly that animal culture plays an important evolutionary role, and we encourage explicit analyses of gene–culture coevolution in nature. Hal Whitehead, Dalhousie University ___ MARMAM mailing list MARMAM@lists.uvic.ca https://lists.uvic.ca/mailman/listinfo/marmam
[MARMAM] Update to SOCPROG
A new and updated version of SOCPROG, SOCPROG2.9 (both compiled and uncompiled downloads) is available at: http://whitelab.biology.dal.ca/SOCPROG/social.htm SOCPROG is a MATLAB-based package of programs for the analysis of animal social structures, movements and populations. The compiled version does not need MATLAB itself. This version is compatible with MATLAB2018b (although it will likely work well on recent and soon-to-be-released versions of MATLAB). It fixes a few bugs and adds functionality compared to previous versions (especially association complexity). Thanks Hal Whitehead, Dalhousie University, Canada ___ MARMAM mailing list MARMAM@lists.uvic.ca https://lists.uvic.ca/mailman/listinfo/marmam
[MARMAM] Kinship in sperm whales
We are pleased to announce the publication of two papers on how kinship relates to alloparental care and vocal repertoire in sperm whales, respectively: Konrad, C.M., T. Frasier, H. Whitehead and S. Gero. 2018. Kin selection and allocare in sperm whales. Behavioral Ecology Konrad, C.M., T. Frasier, L. Rendell, H. Whitehead and S. Gero. 2018. Kinship and association do not explain vocal repertoire variation among individual sperm whales or social units. Animal Behaviour 145: 131-140. PDF's of both papers are available at our lab. website: http://whitelab.biology.dal.ca/labpub.htm Hal Whitehead, Dalhousie University Abstracts: Konrad, C.M., T. Frasier, H. Whitehead and S. Gero. 2018. Kin selection and allocare in sperm whales. Behavioral Ecology Cooperative care and defense of young are hypothesized to be foundational to the societies of several species, including the sperm whale (Physeter macrocephalus). However, the extent of allocare among sperm whales and the mechanisms driving it have not been well-characterized. Sperm whale social units are matrilineally based, making kin selection a likely key driver of allocare, but the relationship between kinship and calf care is essentially unknown. We investigate calf care in the context of kinship, by combining association and interaction data with genetic profiles for 16 calves from 7 eastern Caribbean social units. Mothers were the primary associate for 62.5% of calves, and the primary nurse for 87.5%, so behavioral observations are not always sufficient for assigning maternity. Babysitting and allonursing were frequent in some cases, particularly for calves less than a year old. Within social units, babysitting rates were correlated with relatedness (rs = 0.4, P < 0.05), and allonurses were, on average, closer maternal relatives of the calves they nursed than were available females who were not allonurses (Δr = 0.14, P = 0.054). Exceptions to the overall positive relationship between allocare and kinship suggest that additional factors influencing allocare among sperm whales may include reciprocity, group augmentation and gaining maternal experience. Konrad, C.M., T. Frasier, L. Rendell, H. Whitehead and S. Gero. 2018. Kinship and association do not explain vocal repertoire variation among individual sperm whales or social units. Animal Behaviour 145: 131-140. Vocal learning often results in distinct dialects among individuals or groups, but the forces selecting for these phenomena remain unclear. Female sperm whales, Physeter macrocephalus, and their dependent offspring live in matrilineally based social units, and the units associate within sympatric clans. The clans have distinctive dialects of codas (patterns of clicks), as do, to a lesser extent, the units within clans. We examined the similarity of coda repertoires of individuals and units from the eastern Caribbean and related these to patterns of kinship and social association. Similarity in coda repertoires was not discernibly correlated with close kinship or association rates for either individuals or units (matrix correlation coefficients <0.12 for all tests using whole repertoires and data from all units). This supports the prevailing hypothesis that these vocalizations are culturally transmitted. The lack of correlation also indicates that vocal learning may occur broadly within clans, rather than preferentially from close kin or close social associates within social units, or that biases in vocal learning at lower levels of social structure are diffused by clan-level processes, such as conformity. Finally, an absence of signals of kinship in vocalization patterns suggests that a different mechanism, perhaps familiarity through repeated association, mediates kin selection among sperm whales. ___ MARMAM mailing list MARMAM@lists.uvic.ca https://lists.uvic.ca/mailman/listinfo/marmam
[MARMAM] Consequences of culturally-driven ecological specialization: Killer whales and beyond
The following paper has just been published: Consequences of culturally-driven ecological specialization: Killer whales and beyond. by: Hal Whitehead and John K.B. Ford Journal of Theoretical Biology 456: 279-294 Abstract: Culturally-transmitted ecological specialization occurs in killer whales, as well as other species. We hypothesize that some of the remarkable demographic and ecological attributes of killer whales result from this process. We formalize and model (using agent-based stochastic models parametrized using killer whale life history) the cultural evolution of specialization by social groups, in which a narrowing of niche breadth is spread and maintained in a group through social learning. We compare the demographic and ecological results of cultural specialization to those of a similar model of specialization through natural selection. We found that specialization, through either the cultural or natural selection routes, is adaptive in the short term with specialization often increasing fitness. Generalization, in contrast, is rarely adaptive. The cultural evolution of specialization can lead to increased rates of group extirpation. Specialization has little effect on group size b! ut tends to reduce population size and resource abundance. While the two specialization processes produce similar results, cultural specialization can be very much faster. The results are generally consistent with what we know of the formation and maintenance of specialist ecotypes in killer whales, and have implications for the persistence, nature and ecological effects of these apex predators. You can read a .pdf at: http://whitelab.biology.dal.ca/labpub.htm Hal Whitehead Dalhousie University hwhit...@dal.ca ___ MARMAM mailing list MARMAM@lists.uvic.ca https://lists.uvic.ca/mailman/listinfo/marmam
[MARMAM] Gene-culture coevolution in whales and dolphins
The following paper has just been published: Whitehead H (2017) Gene–culture coevolution in whales and dolphins. Proc Natl Acad Sci USA 114:7814–7821 It is available (open access) at: http://www.pnas.org/content/114/30/7814.full A commentary "Can animal culture drive evolution?" by Carolyn Beans, exploring wider issues, accompanies it: http://www.pnas.org/content/114/30/7734.full Abstract: Whales and dolphins (Cetacea) have excellent social learning skills as well as a long and strong mother–calf bond. These features produce stable cultures, and, in some species, sympatric groups with different cultures. There is evidence and speculation that this cultural transmission of behavior has affected gene distributions. Culture seems to have driven killer whales into distinct ecotypes, which may be incipient species or subspecies. There are ecotype-specific signals of selection in functional genes that correspond to cultural foraging behavior and habitat use by the different ecotypes. The five species of whale with matrilineal social systems have remarkably low diversity of mtDNA. Cultural hitchhiking, the transmission of functionally neutral genes in parallel with selective cultural traits, is a plausible hypothesis for this low diversity, especially in sperm whales. In killer whales the ecotype divisions, together with founding bottlenecks, selection, and cultural hitchhiking, likely explain the low mtDNA diversity. Several cetacean species show habitat-specific distributions of mtDNA haplotypes, probably the result of mother–offspring cultural transmission of migration routes or destinations. In bottlenose dolphins, remarkable small-scale differences in haplotype distribution result from maternal cultural transmission of foraging methods, and large-scale redistributions of sperm whale cultural clans in the Pacific have likely changed mitochondrial genetic geography. With the acceleration of genomics new results should come fast, but understanding gene–culture coevolution will be hampered by the measured pace of research on the socio-cultural side of cetacean biology. Hal Whitehead, Dalhousie University ___ MARMAM mailing list MARMAM@lists.uvic.ca https://lists.uvic.ca/mailman/listinfo/marmam
[MARMAM] SOCPROG WORKSHOP
SOCPROG WORKSHOP A 4-day workshop on “SOCPROG & the analysis of animal social structure using individual identifications” will be held at Dalhousie University, Halifax, Nova Scotia, 2-5 August 2016. It will include information on concepts and techniques of analyzing animal social structures, how to use SOCPROG and opportunities for Hal Whitehead and colleagues to help you work with your own data or test data. Cost: Can$600. For more information and to register: http://stay.dal.ca/KxRegistration/Registration/Welcome.aspx?e=E4A986D3881F34005381ACDB78D400C8 Thanks Hal Whitehead, Dalhousie University ___ MARMAM mailing list MARMAM@lists.uvic.ca https://lists.uvic.ca/mailman/listinfo/marmam
[MARMAM] SOCPROG: UPDATE AND WORKSHOP
UPDATE: SOCPROG 2.7 AND WORKSHOP A new and updated version of SOCPROG, SOCPROG2.7 (both compiled and uncompiled downloads) is available at: http://whitelab.biology.dal.ca/SOCPROG/social.htm [New location] This version is compatible with MATLAB2015a. It fixes a few bugs and adds functionality compared to previous versions. For instance the calculation of social differentiation is now about 7 times faster. I hope this helps. Let me know about any problems that remain, or have been introduced. ALSO: a 4-day workshop on “SOCPROG & the analysis of animal social structure using individual identifications” will be held at Dalhousie University, Halifax, Nova Scotia, 2-5 August 2016. It will include information on concepts and techniques of analyzing animal social structures, how to use SOCPROG and opportunities for Hal Whitehead and colleagues to help you work with your own data or test data. Cost: Can$600. For more information and to register: http://stay.dal.ca/KxRegistration/Registration/Welcome.aspx?e=E4A986D3881F34005381ACDB78D400C8 Thanks Hal Whitehead, Dalhousie University ___ MARMAM mailing list MARMAM@lists.uvic.ca https://lists.uvic.ca/mailman/listinfo/marmam
[MARMAM] Book: The cultural lives of whales and dolphins
Just published: “The cultural lives of whales and dolphins” by Hal Whitehead and Luke Rendell University of Chicago Press 408 pages | 15 color plates, 7 halftones, 4 line drawings, 5 tables | 6 x 9 | © 2014 For contents, blurb, reviews, or to order: http://www.press.uchicago.edu/ucp/books/book/chicago/C/bo12789830.html hardcover: US$35 ebook: US$21 Hal Whitehead, Dalhousie University, Halifax, Canada hwhit...@dal.ca Luke Rendell, University of St Andrews, Scotland ___ MARMAM mailing list MARMAM@lists.uvic.ca https://lists.uvic.ca/mailman/listinfo/marmam
[MARMAM] SOCPROG2.5
An update of SOCPROG, SOCPROG2.5 (both compiled and uncompiled versions), is available at *http://myweb.dal.ca/hwhitehe/social.htm http://myweb.dal.ca/hwhitehe/social.htm*. SOCPROG is a series of MATLAB programs written by Hal Whitehead for analyzing data on the social structure, population structure and movements of identified individuals. SOCPROG2.5 includes a number of bug fixes and enhancements since SOCPROG2.4. The most important changes are: 1. Addressing compatibility issues with the change from MATLAB7 to MATLAB8. 2. Compiled version of SOCPROG2.5 should work on Windows 7 or Windows 8. 3. Social association can now be defined using locational data. 4. Export to GraphML format. 5. Output of estimated standard errors of association indices. 6. Adjustment of association indices for gregariousness (Godde et al. Animal Behaviour 2013). 7. Estimation of mortality using social relationship data (Whitehead and Gero Methods in Ecology and Evolution 2013). I hope SOCPROG2.5 is useful. Let me know about any problems that remain, or have been introduced. Thanks Hal Hal Whitehead (*hwhit...@dal.ca hwhit...@dal.ca*) Biology Department, Dalhousie University ___ MARMAM mailing list MARMAM@lists.uvic.ca https://lists.uvic.ca/mailman/listinfo/marmam
