Diving beneath the surface: long-term studies of dolphins and whales

Mann, Janet; Karniski, Caitlin

doi:10.1093/jmammal/gyx036

Cited by 33 publications

(16 citation statements)

References 93 publications

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“…There are three important issues we want to address about how to improve future comparative studies. First, despite evidence that IVSO has been observed in mammals (Agnani, Kauffmann, Hayes, Schradin, in press;Dalerum, 2007;Garber et al, 2016;Mann & Karniski, 2017;Valomy, Hayes, & Schradin, 2015) and other taxa (Lott, 1991;Schradin, 2013), existing databases on the social organization of mammals and other taxa typically do not consider IVSO but assign one form of social organization to each species. Ignoring IVSO in comparative studies can lead to spurious conclusions about social evolution (Sandel et al, 2016;Silvestro, Kostikova, Litsios, Pearman, & Salamin, 2015).…”

Section: Te S Ting Pred Ic Ti On S In Compar Ative S Tudie Smentioning

confidence: 99%

The evolution of intraspecific variation in social organization

et al. 2018

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Many species show intraspecific variation in their social organization (IVSO), which means the composition of their social groups can change between solitary living, pair living, or living in groups. Understanding IVSO is important because it demonstrates species resilience to environmental change and can help us to study ultimate and proximate reasons for group living by comparing solitary and group‐living individuals in a single species. It has long been realized that the environment plays a key role in explaining the occurrence of IVSO. IVSO is expected to have evolved in variable environments and can thus be a key adaptation to environmental change. It has previously been suggested that four different mechanisms relying on the environment exist that can lead to IVSO: environmental disrupters, genetic differentiation, developmental plasticity, and social flexibility. All four mechanisms depend on the environment such that focusing only on environmental factors alone cannot explain IVSO. Importantly, only three represent evolved mechanisms, while environmental disrupters leading to the death of important group members induce nonadaptive IVSO. Environmental disrupters can be expected to cause IVSO even in species where IVSO is also an adaptive response. Here, we focus on the questions of why IVSO occurs and why it evolved. To understand IVSO at the species level, it is important to conduct continuous long‐term studies to differentiate between nonadaptive and adaptive IVSO. We predict that IVSO evolves in environments that vary in important ecological variables, such as rainfall, food availability, and population density. IVSO might also depend on life history factors, especially longevity. IVSO is predicted to be more common in species with a short life span and that breed only for one breeding season, being selected to respond optimally to the prevailing environmental situation. Finally, we emphasize the importance of accounting for IVSO when studying social evolution, especially in comparative studies, as not every species can be assigned to one single form of social organization. For such comparative studies, it is important to use data based on the primary literature.

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Section: Te S Ting Pred Ic Ti On S In Compar Ative S Tudie Smentioning

confidence: 99%

The evolution of intraspecific variation in social organization

et al. 2018

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“…Long-term monitoring programs serve a critical role in informing wildlife policymaking and our understanding of ecological systems (Editorial 2017;Hughes et al, 2017;Mann & Karniski, 2017). Such programs are costly (Tyne et al, 2016), and securing funding is an ongoing challenge (Editorial 2017; Hughes et al, 2017).…”

Section: Applicability Of Methods To Other Study Systemsmentioning

confidence: 99%

“…Long-term monitoring programs serve a critical role in understanding ecological systems and for the development of informed wildlife policymaking (Bejder et al, 2006;Editorial 2017;Hughes et al, 2017;Mann & Karniski, 2017;Mullon, Freon, & Cury, 2005;Wittemyer, Daballen, & Douglas-Hamilton, 2013). Unfortunately, long-term studies of long-lived species are both resource and timedemanding (Tyne et al, 2016), and securing their ongoing funding is often a challenge (Editorial 2017; Hughes et al, 2017;Williams & Thomas, 2009).…”

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Implications of survey effort on estimating demographic parameters of a long‐lived marine top predator

Symons

Sprogis

Bejder

2018

Ecology and Evolution

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Effective management of wildlife populations rely on knowledge of their abundance, survival, and reproductive rates. Maintaining long‐term studies capable of estimating demographic parameters for long‐lived, slow‐reproducing species is challenging. Insights into the effects of research intensity on the statistical power to estimate demographic parameters are limited. Here, we investigate implications of survey effort on estimating abundance, home range sizes, and reproductive output of Indo‐Pacific bottlenose dolphins (Tursiops aduncus), using a 3‐year subsample of a long‐term, capture–recapture study off Bunbury, Western Australia. Photo‐identification on individual dolphins was collected following Pollock's Robust Design, where seasons were defined as “primary periods”, each consisting of multiple “secondary periods.” The full dataset consisted of 12 primary periods and 72 secondary periods, resulting in the study area being surveyed 24 times/year. We simulated reduced survey effort by randomly removing one, two, or three secondary periods per primary period. Capture–recapture models were used to assess the effect of survey intensity on the power to detect trends in population abundance, while individual dolphin sighting histories were used to assess the ability to conduct home range analyses. We used sighting records of adult females and their calving histories to assess survey effort on quantifying reproductive output. A 50% reduction in survey effort resulted in (a) up to a 36% decline in population abundance at the time of detection; (b) a reduced ability to estimate home range sizes, by increasing the time for individuals to be sighted on ≥30 occasions (an often‐used metric for home range analyses) from 7.74 to 14.32 years; and (c) 33%, 24%, and 33% of annual calving events across three years going undocumented, respectively. Results clearly illustrate the importance of survey effort on the ability to assess demographic parameters with clear implications for population viability analyses, population forecasting, and conservation efforts to manage human–wildlife interactions.

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“…Nevertheless, by the second decade of the twenty-first century, a number of long-term studies of whales, dolphins and seals in particular were in progress, revealing a fascinating range of life-history characteristics which carried implications for both human and non-human behavioural ecology. 15 For much of human history, however, marine mammals represented an economic, rather than an intellectual resource, and this has had implications for the ways in which scientists have worked on and with the animals. The scientific study of marine mammals is often thought to begin, for example, with the whaling industry, a modern incarnation of a practice with roots deep in human prehistory.…”

Section: All At Sea?mentioning

confidence: 99%

Elemental problems, methodical solutions: expertise, ecology and entertainment in the study of marine mammals

Rees

2019

HoST - Journal of History of Science and Technology

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This paper examines the development of socio-technical strategies and practices for the study and display of marine mammals. It considers how techniques initially developed for terrestrial use were deployed under marine conditions, not least through the adaptation of strategies and habits originating in industry, commerce and the military, in order to facilitate researchers’ access to their subjects. In particular, it examines how these methodological developments intersected with the terrestrial display of marine mammals. Throughout, it shows how the agency of the animals under observation had a key role to play in the emergence of cetology as a profession and as a form of knowledge.

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Diving beneath the surface: long-term studies of dolphins and whales

Cited by 33 publications

References 93 publications

The evolution of intraspecific variation in social organization

The evolution of intraspecific variation in social organization

Implications of survey effort on estimating demographic parameters of a long‐lived marine top predator

Elemental problems, methodical solutions: expertise, ecology and entertainment in the study of marine mammals

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