Hi MARMAM community,
We are excited to share our new publication in iScience!
Austin, M., and L. J. May-Collado. 2026. Communicative diversity scales with
social network structure in bottlenose dolphins. iScience.
Abstract:
Social relationships can shape the demands placed on animal communication, but
different dimensions of social organization may affect signal repertoires in
different ways. We investigated whether variation in social network structure
covaried with whistle repertoire organization in wild common bottlenose
dolphins (Tursiops truncatus). We combined photo-identification and concurrent
acoustic recordings across two field seasons, quantified group social topology
and bond-strength structure, and characterized whistle repertoires using Hill
diversity and continuous acoustic-distance metrics. Elastic-net models showed
that groups with higher clustering coefficients had lower repertoire diversity,
whereas mean and variable bond strength were associated with acoustic-distance
structure. These relationships persisted after accounting for predominant
behavioral state and group size. Our findings indicate that social cohesion and
relationship heterogeneity correspond to distinct dimensions of communicative
organization, supporting a multidimensional view of social and vocal complexity
in fission-fusion societies.
The article is open access and available here:
https://www.cell.com/iscience/fulltext/S2589-0042(26)03337-7
Laura May-Collado and I are both currently attending the Society for Marine
Mammalogy Biennial Conference (SMM), where I'm presenting this research as
poster AC61. If you're attending and would like to learn more about the study,
we'd be happy to connect! I'm also happy to meet up to discuss the findings in
more detail.
Please don't hesitate to reach out with any questions.
Thanks,
Maia
Maia Austin, Ph.D. (she/her)
Postdoctoral Researcher
Wildlife Conservation Society
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