Family Dynamics in Killer Whales: Consequences for Behaviour and Life History

虎鲸的家庭动态：行为和生活史的后果

• 批准号: 2241595
• 金额: --
• 依托单位: UNIVERSITY OF EXETER
• 依托单位国家: 英国
• 项目类别: Studentship
• 财政年份: 2019
• 资助国家: 英国
• 起止时间: 2019 至 无数据
• 项目状态: 已结题
• 来源: https://gtr.ukri.org/projects?ref=studentship-2241595
• 关键词: Family; Dynamics; Killer; Whales; Consequences

In social species related individuals (kin) often live together in close knit family groups and individuals can influence the survival and reproductive success of their relatives both by their behaviour and reproductive decisions. Such interactions between kin are a strong evolutionary force, with individuals gaining indirect benefits (through the genes they share with relatives) by increasing the survival and reproductive success of their kin. The opportunity for evolution to be shaped by kin selection is dependent on how and when related individuals interact. For many natural populations patterns of interactions among kin (kinship networks) are likely to be variable both over time and among individuals. This variation is likely to have a profound impact on the evolution of both behaviour and life history. Currently however, for many wild animal populations, very little is known about variation in kinship networks (both among individuals and within individuals over time) and their evolutionary consequences. This project will examine variation in kinship networks both among individuals and within individuals over time and determine the consequences of this variation for the evolution of both behaviour and life history. The project will focus on killer whales that live in the coastal waters of Washington State and British Columbia. The killer whales in this region have been studied for over four decades by the Center for Whale research who have collected detailed data on hundreds of known individuals documenting their birth, death, and patterns of social behaviour. This project will use both historical data and new data collected over the duration of the project to construct social networks to quantify variation in kinship networks and determine how an individual's social environment changes over time. Survival analysis will be used to examine the link between social structure and survival. Depending on the interests and background of the student there may also be the opportunity to examine these questions theoretically using computer simulations. The outputs of this work will establish the consequences of kin structure for patterns of survival and reproduction in killer whales and determine how these effects differ among individuals and change over time.

在社会物种中，有亲缘关系的个体（亲属）通常生活在紧密的家庭群体中，个体可以通过其行为和生殖决定来影响其亲属的生存和生殖成功。亲属之间的这种互动是一种强大的进化力量，个体通过增加亲属的生存和繁殖成功率而获得间接利益（通过与亲属共享的基因）。亲缘选择塑造进化的机会取决于相关个体如何以及何时相互作用。对于许多自然种群来说，亲属（亲属网络）之间的相互作用模式可能会随着时间的推移和个体之间的变化而变化。这种变化可能对行为和生活史的演变产生深远的影响。然而，目前对于许多野生动物种群，人们对亲属关系网络（包括个体之间和个体内部）的变化及其进化后果知之甚少。该项目将研究随着时间的推移，个体之间和个体内部的亲属关系网络的变化，并确定这种变化对行为和生活史演变的影响。该项目将重点关注生活在华盛顿州和不列颠哥伦比亚省沿海沃茨的虎鲸。该地区的虎鲸已经被鲸鱼研究中心研究了四十多年，他们收集了数百个已知个体的详细数据，记录了它们的出生，死亡和社会行为模式。本项目将利用项目期间收集的历史数据和新数据来构建社交网络，以量化亲属网络的变化，并确定个人的社会环境如何随时间变化。生存分析将用于研究社会结构和生存之间的联系。根据学生的兴趣和背景，也可能有机会使用计算机模拟从理论上研究这些问题。这项工作的成果将确定虎鲸生存和繁殖模式的亲属结构的后果，并确定这些影响在个体之间的差异和随时间的变化。