Mortality risk and social network position in resident killer whales: sex differences and the importance of resource abundance.
Mortality risk and social network position in resident killer whales: sex differences and the importance of resource abundance.
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DOI：
10.1098/rspb.2017.1313
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发表时间：
2017-10-25
期刊：
影响因子：
--
通讯作者：
Croft DP
中科院分区：
文献类型：
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作者：
Ellis S;Franks DW;Nattrass S;Cant MA;Weiss MN;Giles D;Balcomb KC;Croft DP
一个人的生态环境影响其死亡风险，这反过来又对生命史进化产生根本影响。在许多物种中，社会关系可能是个体环境的重要组成部分，因此也是其死亡风险的重要组成部分。在这里，我们使用超过三十年的社会和人口数据来研究居住虎鲸（Orcinus orca）的社会地位和死亡风险之间的关系。我们发现，男性，而不是女性，虎鲸在其社会单位的社会地位预测他们的死亡风险。更多的社会融合的男性有一个显着较低的死亡风险比社会外围的男性，特别是在低猎物丰度的年份，这表明社会地位介导的资源。雄性虎鲸比雌性虎鲸更大，需要更多的资源，在鲑鱼数量少的年份，它们更容易饿死。更多的社会融合的男性可能有更好的机会获得社会信息和食物分享的机会，这可能会提高他们的生存在鲑鱼丰度低的年份。我们的研究结果表明，社会环境中可观察到的变化与死亡风险的变化有关，并强调了社会对生存影响的性别差异可能与生活史进化中的性别差异有关。
An individual's ecological environment affects their mortality risk, which in turn has fundamental consequences for life-history evolution. In many species, social relationships are likely to be an important component of an individual's environment, and therefore their mortality risk. Here, we examine the relationship between social position and mortality risk in resident killer whales (Orcinus orca) using over three decades of social and demographic data. We find that the social position of male, but not female, killer whales in their social unit predicts their mortality risk. More socially integrated males have a significantly lower risk of mortality than socially peripheral males, particularly in years of low prey abundance, suggesting that social position mediates access to resources. Male killer whales are larger and require more resources than females, increasing their vulnerability to starvation in years of low salmon abundance. More socially integrated males are likely to have better access to social information and food-sharing opportunities which may enhance their survival in years of low salmon abundance. Our results show that observable variation in the social environment is linked to variation in mortality risk, and highlight how sex differences in social effects on survival may be linked to sex differences in life-history evolution.