Group structure and kinship in beluga whale societies
Evolutionary explanations for mammalian sociality typically center on inclusive-fitness benefits of associating and cooperating with close kin, or close maternal kin as in some whale societies, including killer and sperm whales. Their matrilineal structure has strongly influenced the thinking about...
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ftpubmed:oai:pubmedcentral.nih.gov:7351962 2023-05-15T15:41:40+02:00 Group structure and kinship in beluga whale societies O’Corry-Crowe, Greg Suydam, Robert Quakenbush, Lori Smith, Thomas G. Lydersen, Christian Kovacs, Kit M. Orr, Jack Harwood, Lois Litovka, Dennis Ferrer, Tatiana 2020-07-10 http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC7351962/ http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/32651398 https://doi.org/10.1038/s41598-020-67314-w en eng Nature Publishing Group UK http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC7351962/ http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/32651398 http://dx.doi.org/10.1038/s41598-020-67314-w © The Author(s) 2020 Open Access This article is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 International License, which permits use, sharing, adaptation, distribution and reproduction in any medium or format, as long as you give appropriate credit to the original author(s) and the source, provide a link to the Creative Commons license, and indicate if changes were made. The images or other third party material in this article are included in the article’s Creative Commons license, unless indicated otherwise in a credit line to the material. If material is not included in the article’s Creative Commons license and your intended use is not permitted by statutory regulation or exceeds the permitted use, you will need to obtain permission directly from the copyright holder. To view a copy of this license, visit http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/. CC-BY Sci Rep Article Text 2020 ftpubmed https://doi.org/10.1038/s41598-020-67314-w 2020-07-19T00:38:12Z Evolutionary explanations for mammalian sociality typically center on inclusive-fitness benefits of associating and cooperating with close kin, or close maternal kin as in some whale societies, including killer and sperm whales. Their matrilineal structure has strongly influenced the thinking about social structure in less well-studied cetaceans, including beluga whales. In a cross-sectional study of group structure and kinship we found that belugas formed a limited number of distinct group types, consistently observed across populations and habitats. Certain behaviours were associated with group type, but group membership was often dynamic. MtDNA-microsatellite profiling combined with relatedness and network analysis revealed, contrary to predictions, that most social groupings were not predominantly organized around close maternal relatives. They comprised both kin and non-kin, many group members were paternal rather than maternal relatives, and unrelated adult males often traveled together. The evolutionary mechanisms that shape beluga societies are likely complex; fitness benefits may be achieved through reciprocity, mutualism and kin selection. At the largest scales these societies are communities comprising all ages and both sexes where multiple social learning pathways involving kin and non-kin can foster the emergence of cultures. We explore the implications of these findings for species management and the evolution of menopause. Text Beluga Beluga whale Beluga* PubMed Central (PMC) Scientific Reports 10 1 |
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Article O’Corry-Crowe, Greg Suydam, Robert Quakenbush, Lori Smith, Thomas G. Lydersen, Christian Kovacs, Kit M. Orr, Jack Harwood, Lois Litovka, Dennis Ferrer, Tatiana Group structure and kinship in beluga whale societies |
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Article |
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Evolutionary explanations for mammalian sociality typically center on inclusive-fitness benefits of associating and cooperating with close kin, or close maternal kin as in some whale societies, including killer and sperm whales. Their matrilineal structure has strongly influenced the thinking about social structure in less well-studied cetaceans, including beluga whales. In a cross-sectional study of group structure and kinship we found that belugas formed a limited number of distinct group types, consistently observed across populations and habitats. Certain behaviours were associated with group type, but group membership was often dynamic. MtDNA-microsatellite profiling combined with relatedness and network analysis revealed, contrary to predictions, that most social groupings were not predominantly organized around close maternal relatives. They comprised both kin and non-kin, many group members were paternal rather than maternal relatives, and unrelated adult males often traveled together. The evolutionary mechanisms that shape beluga societies are likely complex; fitness benefits may be achieved through reciprocity, mutualism and kin selection. At the largest scales these societies are communities comprising all ages and both sexes where multiple social learning pathways involving kin and non-kin can foster the emergence of cultures. We explore the implications of these findings for species management and the evolution of menopause. |
format |
Text |
author |
O’Corry-Crowe, Greg Suydam, Robert Quakenbush, Lori Smith, Thomas G. Lydersen, Christian Kovacs, Kit M. Orr, Jack Harwood, Lois Litovka, Dennis Ferrer, Tatiana |
author_facet |
O’Corry-Crowe, Greg Suydam, Robert Quakenbush, Lori Smith, Thomas G. Lydersen, Christian Kovacs, Kit M. Orr, Jack Harwood, Lois Litovka, Dennis Ferrer, Tatiana |
author_sort |
O’Corry-Crowe, Greg |
title |
Group structure and kinship in beluga whale societies |
title_short |
Group structure and kinship in beluga whale societies |
title_full |
Group structure and kinship in beluga whale societies |
title_fullStr |
Group structure and kinship in beluga whale societies |
title_full_unstemmed |
Group structure and kinship in beluga whale societies |
title_sort |
group structure and kinship in beluga whale societies |
publisher |
Nature Publishing Group UK |
publishDate |
2020 |
url |
http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC7351962/ http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/32651398 https://doi.org/10.1038/s41598-020-67314-w |
genre |
Beluga Beluga whale Beluga* |
genre_facet |
Beluga Beluga whale Beluga* |
op_source |
Sci Rep |
op_relation |
http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC7351962/ http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/32651398 http://dx.doi.org/10.1038/s41598-020-67314-w |
op_rights |
© The Author(s) 2020 Open Access This article is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 International License, which permits use, sharing, adaptation, distribution and reproduction in any medium or format, as long as you give appropriate credit to the original author(s) and the source, provide a link to the Creative Commons license, and indicate if changes were made. The images or other third party material in this article are included in the article’s Creative Commons license, unless indicated otherwise in a credit line to the material. If material is not included in the article’s Creative Commons license and your intended use is not permitted by statutory regulation or exceeds the permitted use, you will need to obtain permission directly from the copyright holder. To view a copy of this license, visit http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/. |
op_rightsnorm |
CC-BY |
op_doi |
https://doi.org/10.1038/s41598-020-67314-w |
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Scientific Reports |
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10 |
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1 |
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