OPP-PRF: Exploring the Role of a Humpback Whale Cultural Foraging Innovation within the Antarctic Ecosystem in the LTER Study Region

OPP-PRF：探索 LTER 研究区南极生态系统中座头鲸文化觅食创新的作用

• 批准号: 2218949
• 负责人: Jennifer Allen
• 金额: $ 23.28万
• 依托单位: University of California-Santa Cruz
• 依托单位国家: 美国
• 项目类别: Standard Grant
• 财政年份: 2022
• 资助国家: 美国
• 起止时间: 2022-10-01 至 2024-09-30
• 项目状态: 已结题
• 来源: https://www.nsf.gov/awardsearch/showAward?AWD_ID=2218949&HistoricalAwards=false
• 关键词: OPP; PRF; Exploring; Role; Humpback

Foraging innovations often develop in response to changes in the surrounding feeding conditions, such as which prey species are available. In recent years, bubble-net feeding has emerged as a new foraging innovation in the humpback whales that feed in the area of the Western Antarctic Peninsula. Such strategies can spread through a population by social learning, when individuals learn from those they spend time with. This has led to cultural differences in how distinct populations feed. This project will explore what is driving the spread of this strategy throughout this population. The findings will tell us how humpback whales may be responding to the shifts in the Antarctic ecosystem occurring due to climate change. Additionally, this project will use humpback whales to explore key scientific questions around culture in animal species, a topic that is becoming increasingly important to conservation efforts. Outreach and education materials will be developed to better engage the public with this unique Antarctic research and its important conservation implications.This project uses long term multi-platform data from the Long-Term Ecological Research (LTER) study on the western Antarctic Peninsula with data from animal borne tags, behavioral observations, biopsies, photo-identification, and drone footage to model how bubble-netting has emerged and spread in humpback whales. The strategy will be modelled relative to both demographic and environmental variables. It is hypothesized that the behavior is a socially learned response to environmental changes in their Antarctic foraging conditions. Ultimately the results will broaden our understanding of how species may use social learning and culture to adjust to the impacts of climate change.This award reflects NSF's statutory mission and has been deemed worthy of support through evaluation using the Foundation's intellectual merit and broader impacts review criteria.

觅食创新通常是为了应对周围觅食条件的变化而发展起来的，比如哪些猎物是可用的。近年来，泡泡网进食已经成为在南极半岛西部觅食的座头鲸的一种新的觅食创新。这样的策略可以通过社会学习在人群中传播，当个体向他们花时间相处的人学习时。这导致了不同种群在饮食方式上的文化差异。这个项目将探索是什么推动了这种策略在整个人群中的传播。这些发现将告诉我们座头鲸是如何应对气候变化导致的南极生态系统变化的。此外，该项目将利用座头鲸来探索有关动物物种文化的关键科学问题，这一主题对保护工作越来越重要。将编制宣传和教育材料，使公众更好地了解这一独特的南极研究及其重要的保护意义。该项目使用来自南极半岛西部长期生态研究（LTER）的长期多平台数据，包括动物携带的标签、行为观察、活组织检查、照片识别和无人机镜头等数据，来模拟泡沫网是如何在座头鲸中出现和传播的。该战略将根据人口和环境变量进行建模。据推测，这种行为是对南极觅食环境变化的社会学习反应。最终，这些结果将扩大我们对物种如何利用社会学习和文化来适应气候变化影响的理解。该奖项反映了美国国家科学基金会的法定使命，并通过使用基金会的知识价值和更广泛的影响审查标准进行评估，被认为值得支持。