Kinship influences sperm whale social organization within, but generally not among, social units
Sperm whales have a multi-level social structure based upon long-term, cooperative social units. What role kinship plays in structuring this society is poorly understood. We combined extensive association data (518 days, during 2005–2016) and genetic data (18 microsatellites and 346 bp mitochondrial...
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crroyalsociety:10.1098/rsos.180914 2024-06-02T08:14:53+00:00 Kinship influences sperm whale social organization within, but generally not among, social units Konrad, Christine M. Gero, Shane Frasier, Timothy Whitehead, Hal Villum Fonden Det Frie Forskningsråd Natural Sciences and Engineering Research Council of Canada Patrick F. Lett Fund Carlsbergfondet Aarhus Universitet 2018 http://dx.doi.org/10.1098/rsos.180914 https://royalsocietypublishing.org/doi/pdf/10.1098/rsos.180914 https://royalsocietypublishing.org/doi/full-xml/10.1098/rsos.180914 en eng The Royal Society https://royalsociety.org/journals/ethics-policies/data-sharing-mining/ Royal Society Open Science volume 5, issue 8, page 180914 ISSN 2054-5703 journal-article 2018 crroyalsociety https://doi.org/10.1098/rsos.180914 2024-05-07T14:16:30Z Sperm whales have a multi-level social structure based upon long-term, cooperative social units. What role kinship plays in structuring this society is poorly understood. We combined extensive association data (518 days, during 2005–2016) and genetic data (18 microsatellites and 346 bp mitochondrial DNA (mtDNA) control region sequences) for 65 individuals from 12 social units from the Eastern Caribbean to examine patterns of kinship and social behaviour. Social units were clearly matrilineally based, evidenced by greater relatedness within social units (mean r = 0.14) than between them (mean r = 0.00) and uniform mtDNA haplotypes within social units. Additionally, most individuals (82.5%) had a first-degree relative in their social unit, while we found no first-degree relatives between social units. Generally and within social units, individuals associated more with their closer relatives (matrix correlations: 0.18–0.25). However, excepting a highly related pair of social units that merged over the study period, associations between social units were not correlated with kinship ( p > 0.1). These results are the first to robustly demonstrate kinship's contribution to social unit composition and association preferences, though they also reveal variability in association preferences that is unexplained by kinship. Comparisons with other matrilineal species highlight the range of possible matrilineal societies and how they can vary between and even within species. Article in Journal/Newspaper Sperm whale The Royal Society Royal Society Open Science 5 8 180914 |
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Open Polar |
collection |
The Royal Society |
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crroyalsociety |
language |
English |
description |
Sperm whales have a multi-level social structure based upon long-term, cooperative social units. What role kinship plays in structuring this society is poorly understood. We combined extensive association data (518 days, during 2005–2016) and genetic data (18 microsatellites and 346 bp mitochondrial DNA (mtDNA) control region sequences) for 65 individuals from 12 social units from the Eastern Caribbean to examine patterns of kinship and social behaviour. Social units were clearly matrilineally based, evidenced by greater relatedness within social units (mean r = 0.14) than between them (mean r = 0.00) and uniform mtDNA haplotypes within social units. Additionally, most individuals (82.5%) had a first-degree relative in their social unit, while we found no first-degree relatives between social units. Generally and within social units, individuals associated more with their closer relatives (matrix correlations: 0.18–0.25). However, excepting a highly related pair of social units that merged over the study period, associations between social units were not correlated with kinship ( p > 0.1). These results are the first to robustly demonstrate kinship's contribution to social unit composition and association preferences, though they also reveal variability in association preferences that is unexplained by kinship. Comparisons with other matrilineal species highlight the range of possible matrilineal societies and how they can vary between and even within species. |
author2 |
Villum Fonden Det Frie Forskningsråd Natural Sciences and Engineering Research Council of Canada Patrick F. Lett Fund Carlsbergfondet Aarhus Universitet |
format |
Article in Journal/Newspaper |
author |
Konrad, Christine M. Gero, Shane Frasier, Timothy Whitehead, Hal |
spellingShingle |
Konrad, Christine M. Gero, Shane Frasier, Timothy Whitehead, Hal Kinship influences sperm whale social organization within, but generally not among, social units |
author_facet |
Konrad, Christine M. Gero, Shane Frasier, Timothy Whitehead, Hal |
author_sort |
Konrad, Christine M. |
title |
Kinship influences sperm whale social organization within, but generally not among, social units |
title_short |
Kinship influences sperm whale social organization within, but generally not among, social units |
title_full |
Kinship influences sperm whale social organization within, but generally not among, social units |
title_fullStr |
Kinship influences sperm whale social organization within, but generally not among, social units |
title_full_unstemmed |
Kinship influences sperm whale social organization within, but generally not among, social units |
title_sort |
kinship influences sperm whale social organization within, but generally not among, social units |
publisher |
The Royal Society |
publishDate |
2018 |
url |
http://dx.doi.org/10.1098/rsos.180914 https://royalsocietypublishing.org/doi/pdf/10.1098/rsos.180914 https://royalsocietypublishing.org/doi/full-xml/10.1098/rsos.180914 |
genre |
Sperm whale |
genre_facet |
Sperm whale |
op_source |
Royal Society Open Science volume 5, issue 8, page 180914 ISSN 2054-5703 |
op_rights |
https://royalsociety.org/journals/ethics-policies/data-sharing-mining/ |
op_doi |
https://doi.org/10.1098/rsos.180914 |
container_title |
Royal Society Open Science |
container_volume |
5 |
container_issue |
8 |
container_start_page |
180914 |
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1800738895676047360 |