Social survival : humpback whales (Megaptera novaeangliae) use social structure to partition ecological niches within proposed critical habitat
Funding: JW received a grant from the following: Save Our Seas Foundation Grant No. 217-2010- 2020 https://saveourseas.com, Willow Grove Foundation Grant No. 001-2010-2020, Fisheries and Oceans Canada Grant CA No.: 2016-2019- HSP-PAC-8287-A, https://www.dfo-mpo.gc.ca/species-especes/sara-lep/hsp-pih...
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Online Access: | http://hdl.handle.net/10023/23485 https://doi.org/10.1371/journal.pone.0245409 |
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ftstandrewserep:oai:research-repository.st-andrews.ac.uk:10023/23485 2023-07-02T03:31:46+02:00 Social survival : humpback whales (Megaptera novaeangliae) use social structure to partition ecological niches within proposed critical habitat Wray, Janie Keen, Eric O’Mahony, Éadin N. University of St Andrews. School of Biology 2021-07-07T15:30:09Z 34 application/pdf http://hdl.handle.net/10023/23485 https://doi.org/10.1371/journal.pone.0245409 eng eng PLoS ONE Wray , J , Keen , E & O’Mahony , É N 2021 , ' Social survival : humpback whales ( Megaptera novaeangliae ) use social structure to partition ecological niches within proposed critical habitat ' , PLoS ONE , vol. 16 , no. 6 , e0245409 . https://doi.org/10.1371/journal.pone.0245409 1932-6203 PURE: 274800378 PURE UUID: 36011cbf-b20d-43c8-b7ae-f7b41eeb48d5 RIS: urn:826A425B70A96A75BA6A78C125451156 WOS: 000671691900026 Scopus: 85108515517 ORCID: /0000-0002-0755-1329/work/128568192 http://hdl.handle.net/10023/23485 https://doi.org/10.1371/journal.pone.0245409 Copyright: © 2021 Wray et al. This is an open access article distributed under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution License, which permits unrestricted use, distribution, and reproduction in any medium, provided the original author and source are credited. QL Zoology GC Oceanography DAS NIS MCC QL GC Journal article 2021 ftstandrewserep https://doi.org/10.1371/journal.pone.0245409 2023-06-13T18:31:01Z Funding: JW received a grant from the following: Save Our Seas Foundation Grant No. 217-2010- 2020 https://saveourseas.com, Willow Grove Foundation Grant No. 001-2010-2020, Fisheries and Oceans Canada Grant CA No.: 2016-2019- HSP-PAC-8287-A, https://www.dfo-mpo.gc.ca/species-especes/sara-lep/hsp-pih/index-eng.html, Donner Canadian Foundation Grant No. E-50-20,E50-19, E-50-18 https://www.donnerfoundation.org, Tides Canada Grant No. GF04712. https://makeway.org. Animal culture and social bonds are relevant to wildlife conservation because they influence patterns of geography, behavior, and strategies of survival. Numerous examples of socially-driven habitat partitioning and ecological-niche specialization can be found among vertebrates, including toothed whales. But such social-ecological dynamics, described here as ‘social niche partitioning’, are not known among baleen whales, whose societies—particularly on foraging grounds—are largely perceived as unstructured and incidental to matters of habitat use and conservation. However, through 16 years of behavioral observations and photo-identifications of humpback whales (Megaptera novaeangliae) feeding within a fjord system in the Canadian Pacific (primarily within Gitga’at First Nation waters), we have documented long-term pair bonds (up to 12 years) as well as a complex societal structure, which corresponds closely to persistent patterns in feeding strategy, long-term site fidelity (extended occupancy and annual rate of return up to 75%), specific geographic preferences within the fjord system, and other forms of habitat use. Randomization tests of network congruency and clustering algorithms were used to test for overlap in patterns of social structure and habitat use, which confirmed the occurrence of social niche partitioning on the feeding grounds of this baleen whale species. In addition, we document the extensive practice of group bubble net feeding in Pacific Canada. This coordinated feeding behavior was found to strongly mediate the social structure and ... Article in Journal/Newspaper baleen whale baleen whales Megaptera novaeangliae toothed whales University of St Andrews: Digital Research Repository Canada Pacific PLOS ONE 16 6 e0245409 |
institution |
Open Polar |
collection |
University of St Andrews: Digital Research Repository |
op_collection_id |
ftstandrewserep |
language |
English |
topic |
QL Zoology GC Oceanography DAS NIS MCC QL GC |
spellingShingle |
QL Zoology GC Oceanography DAS NIS MCC QL GC Wray, Janie Keen, Eric O’Mahony, Éadin N. Social survival : humpback whales (Megaptera novaeangliae) use social structure to partition ecological niches within proposed critical habitat |
topic_facet |
QL Zoology GC Oceanography DAS NIS MCC QL GC |
description |
Funding: JW received a grant from the following: Save Our Seas Foundation Grant No. 217-2010- 2020 https://saveourseas.com, Willow Grove Foundation Grant No. 001-2010-2020, Fisheries and Oceans Canada Grant CA No.: 2016-2019- HSP-PAC-8287-A, https://www.dfo-mpo.gc.ca/species-especes/sara-lep/hsp-pih/index-eng.html, Donner Canadian Foundation Grant No. E-50-20,E50-19, E-50-18 https://www.donnerfoundation.org, Tides Canada Grant No. GF04712. https://makeway.org. Animal culture and social bonds are relevant to wildlife conservation because they influence patterns of geography, behavior, and strategies of survival. Numerous examples of socially-driven habitat partitioning and ecological-niche specialization can be found among vertebrates, including toothed whales. But such social-ecological dynamics, described here as ‘social niche partitioning’, are not known among baleen whales, whose societies—particularly on foraging grounds—are largely perceived as unstructured and incidental to matters of habitat use and conservation. However, through 16 years of behavioral observations and photo-identifications of humpback whales (Megaptera novaeangliae) feeding within a fjord system in the Canadian Pacific (primarily within Gitga’at First Nation waters), we have documented long-term pair bonds (up to 12 years) as well as a complex societal structure, which corresponds closely to persistent patterns in feeding strategy, long-term site fidelity (extended occupancy and annual rate of return up to 75%), specific geographic preferences within the fjord system, and other forms of habitat use. Randomization tests of network congruency and clustering algorithms were used to test for overlap in patterns of social structure and habitat use, which confirmed the occurrence of social niche partitioning on the feeding grounds of this baleen whale species. In addition, we document the extensive practice of group bubble net feeding in Pacific Canada. This coordinated feeding behavior was found to strongly mediate the social structure and ... |
author2 |
University of St Andrews. School of Biology |
format |
Article in Journal/Newspaper |
author |
Wray, Janie Keen, Eric O’Mahony, Éadin N. |
author_facet |
Wray, Janie Keen, Eric O’Mahony, Éadin N. |
author_sort |
Wray, Janie |
title |
Social survival : humpback whales (Megaptera novaeangliae) use social structure to partition ecological niches within proposed critical habitat |
title_short |
Social survival : humpback whales (Megaptera novaeangliae) use social structure to partition ecological niches within proposed critical habitat |
title_full |
Social survival : humpback whales (Megaptera novaeangliae) use social structure to partition ecological niches within proposed critical habitat |
title_fullStr |
Social survival : humpback whales (Megaptera novaeangliae) use social structure to partition ecological niches within proposed critical habitat |
title_full_unstemmed |
Social survival : humpback whales (Megaptera novaeangliae) use social structure to partition ecological niches within proposed critical habitat |
title_sort |
social survival : humpback whales (megaptera novaeangliae) use social structure to partition ecological niches within proposed critical habitat |
publishDate |
2021 |
url |
http://hdl.handle.net/10023/23485 https://doi.org/10.1371/journal.pone.0245409 |
geographic |
Canada Pacific |
geographic_facet |
Canada Pacific |
genre |
baleen whale baleen whales Megaptera novaeangliae toothed whales |
genre_facet |
baleen whale baleen whales Megaptera novaeangliae toothed whales |
op_relation |
PLoS ONE Wray , J , Keen , E & O’Mahony , É N 2021 , ' Social survival : humpback whales ( Megaptera novaeangliae ) use social structure to partition ecological niches within proposed critical habitat ' , PLoS ONE , vol. 16 , no. 6 , e0245409 . https://doi.org/10.1371/journal.pone.0245409 1932-6203 PURE: 274800378 PURE UUID: 36011cbf-b20d-43c8-b7ae-f7b41eeb48d5 RIS: urn:826A425B70A96A75BA6A78C125451156 WOS: 000671691900026 Scopus: 85108515517 ORCID: /0000-0002-0755-1329/work/128568192 http://hdl.handle.net/10023/23485 https://doi.org/10.1371/journal.pone.0245409 |
op_rights |
Copyright: © 2021 Wray et al. This is an open access article distributed under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution License, which permits unrestricted use, distribution, and reproduction in any medium, provided the original author and source are credited. |
op_doi |
https://doi.org/10.1371/journal.pone.0245409 |
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