Ecological Knowledge, Leadership, and the Evolution of Menopause in Killer Whales
This is the final version of the article. Available from Elsevier via the DOI in this record. There is another ORE record for this publication: http://hdl.handle.net/10871/32919 Classic life-history theory predicts that menopause should not occur because there should be no selection for survival aft...
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ftunivexeter:oai:ore.exeter.ac.uk:10871/16488 2023-05-15T17:53:58+02:00 Ecological Knowledge, Leadership, and the Evolution of Menopause in Killer Whales Brent, LJN Franks, DW Foster, EA Balcomb, KC Cant, Michael A. Croft, Darren P 2015 http://hdl.handle.net/10871/16488 https://doi.org/10.1016/j.cub.2015.01.037 en eng Elsevier http://hdl.handle.net/10871/32919 10871/32919 Volume 25 (6), pp.746–750 doi:10.1016/j.cub.2015.01.037 NE/K01286X/1 http://hdl.handle.net/10871/16488 0960-9822 Current Biology Copyright © 2015 The Authors. Published by Elsevier Ltd. Open Access funded by Natural Environment Research Council. Under a Creative Commons license: https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/ CC-BY Article 2015 ftunivexeter https://doi.org/10.1016/j.cub.2015.01.037 2022-11-20T21:30:59Z This is the final version of the article. Available from Elsevier via the DOI in this record. There is another ORE record for this publication: http://hdl.handle.net/10871/32919 Classic life-history theory predicts that menopause should not occur because there should be no selection for survival after the cessation of reproduction [1]. Yet, human females routinely live 30 years after they have stopped reproducing [2]. Only two other species—killer whales (Orcinus orca) and short-finned pilot whales (Globicephala macrorhynchus) [ 3 and 4]—have comparable postreproductive lifespans. In theory, menopause can evolve via inclusive fitness benefits [ 5 and 6], but the mechanisms by which postreproductive females help their kin remain enigmatic. One hypothesis is that postreproductive females act as repositories of ecological knowledge and thereby buffer kin against environmental hardships [ 7 and 8]. We provide the first test of this hypothesis using a unique long-term dataset on wild resident killer whales. We show three key results. First, postreproductively aged females lead groups during collective movement in salmon foraging grounds. Second, leadership by postreproductively aged females is especially prominent in difficult years when salmon abundance is low. This finding is critical because salmon abundance drives both mortality and reproductive success in resident killer whales [ 9 and 10]. Third, females are more likely to lead their sons than they are to lead their daughters, supporting predictions of recent models [ 5] of the evolution of menopause based on kinship dynamics. Our results show that postreproductive females may boost the fitness of kin through the transfer of ecological knowledge. The value gained from the wisdom of elders can help explain why female resident killer whales and humans continue to live long after they have stopped reproducing. NERC Article in Journal/Newspaper Orca Orcinus orca University of Exeter: Open Research Exeter (ORE) Current Biology 25 6 746 750 |
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Open Polar |
collection |
University of Exeter: Open Research Exeter (ORE) |
op_collection_id |
ftunivexeter |
language |
English |
description |
This is the final version of the article. Available from Elsevier via the DOI in this record. There is another ORE record for this publication: http://hdl.handle.net/10871/32919 Classic life-history theory predicts that menopause should not occur because there should be no selection for survival after the cessation of reproduction [1]. Yet, human females routinely live 30 years after they have stopped reproducing [2]. Only two other species—killer whales (Orcinus orca) and short-finned pilot whales (Globicephala macrorhynchus) [ 3 and 4]—have comparable postreproductive lifespans. In theory, menopause can evolve via inclusive fitness benefits [ 5 and 6], but the mechanisms by which postreproductive females help their kin remain enigmatic. One hypothesis is that postreproductive females act as repositories of ecological knowledge and thereby buffer kin against environmental hardships [ 7 and 8]. We provide the first test of this hypothesis using a unique long-term dataset on wild resident killer whales. We show three key results. First, postreproductively aged females lead groups during collective movement in salmon foraging grounds. Second, leadership by postreproductively aged females is especially prominent in difficult years when salmon abundance is low. This finding is critical because salmon abundance drives both mortality and reproductive success in resident killer whales [ 9 and 10]. Third, females are more likely to lead their sons than they are to lead their daughters, supporting predictions of recent models [ 5] of the evolution of menopause based on kinship dynamics. Our results show that postreproductive females may boost the fitness of kin through the transfer of ecological knowledge. The value gained from the wisdom of elders can help explain why female resident killer whales and humans continue to live long after they have stopped reproducing. NERC |
format |
Article in Journal/Newspaper |
author |
Brent, LJN Franks, DW Foster, EA Balcomb, KC Cant, Michael A. Croft, Darren P |
spellingShingle |
Brent, LJN Franks, DW Foster, EA Balcomb, KC Cant, Michael A. Croft, Darren P Ecological Knowledge, Leadership, and the Evolution of Menopause in Killer Whales |
author_facet |
Brent, LJN Franks, DW Foster, EA Balcomb, KC Cant, Michael A. Croft, Darren P |
author_sort |
Brent, LJN |
title |
Ecological Knowledge, Leadership, and the Evolution of Menopause in Killer Whales |
title_short |
Ecological Knowledge, Leadership, and the Evolution of Menopause in Killer Whales |
title_full |
Ecological Knowledge, Leadership, and the Evolution of Menopause in Killer Whales |
title_fullStr |
Ecological Knowledge, Leadership, and the Evolution of Menopause in Killer Whales |
title_full_unstemmed |
Ecological Knowledge, Leadership, and the Evolution of Menopause in Killer Whales |
title_sort |
ecological knowledge, leadership, and the evolution of menopause in killer whales |
publisher |
Elsevier |
publishDate |
2015 |
url |
http://hdl.handle.net/10871/16488 https://doi.org/10.1016/j.cub.2015.01.037 |
genre |
Orca Orcinus orca |
genre_facet |
Orca Orcinus orca |
op_relation |
http://hdl.handle.net/10871/32919 10871/32919 Volume 25 (6), pp.746–750 doi:10.1016/j.cub.2015.01.037 NE/K01286X/1 http://hdl.handle.net/10871/16488 0960-9822 Current Biology |
op_rights |
Copyright © 2015 The Authors. Published by Elsevier Ltd. Open Access funded by Natural Environment Research Council. Under a Creative Commons license: https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/ |
op_rightsnorm |
CC-BY |
op_doi |
https://doi.org/10.1016/j.cub.2015.01.037 |
container_title |
Current Biology |
container_volume |
25 |
container_issue |
6 |
container_start_page |
746 |
op_container_end_page |
750 |
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1766161688043716608 |