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

觅食创新往往是随着周围摄食条件的变化而发展起来的，例如哪些猎物种类可用。近年来，在南极半岛西部地区觅食的座头鲸中，气泡网饲养已成为一种新的觅食创新。这样的策略可以通过社会学习在人群中传播，当个人向与他们共度时光的人学习时。这导致了不同人群在进食方式上的文化差异。这个项目将探索是什么推动了这一战略在这一人群中的传播。这些发现将告诉我们，座头鲸可能会如何应对气候变化导致的南极生态系统的变化。此外，该项目将使用座头鲸来探索有关动物物种养殖的关键科学问题，这一主题对保护工作正变得越来越重要。将开发推广和教育材料，以更好地让公众参与这项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)研究的长期多平台数据，以及来自动物携带的标签、行为观察、活组织检查、照片识别和无人机镜头的数据，以模拟座头鲸气泡网是如何出现和传播的。该战略将根据人口和环境变量进行建模。据推测，这种行为是它们在南极觅食条件下对环境变化的一种社会学习反应。最终，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。这一奖项反映了NSF的法定使命，并通过使用基金会的智力优势和更广泛的影响审查标准进行评估，被认为值得支持。

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.