Mortality risk and social network position in resident killer whales: sex differences and the importance of resource abundance

Proceedings. Biological Sciences
S EllisDarren P Croft

Abstract

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, an...Continue Reading

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Citations

Mar 10, 2018·International Journal of Environmental Research and Public Health·Jos F BrosschotJulian F Thayer
Dec 12, 2019·Proceedings. Biological Sciences·Samuel EllisLauren J N Brent
May 23, 2020·Science·Noah Snyder-MacklerJenny Tung
May 22, 2019·Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences of the United States of America·Marine BussonChristophe Guinet
Sep 22, 2020·Philosophical Transactions of the Royal Society of London. Series B, Biological Sciences·Fernando A CamposSusan C Alberts
May 31, 2018·Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences of the United States of America·Julie M Kern, Andrew N Radford
Apr 4, 2021·Trends in Ecology & Evolution·Matthew J Silk, David J Hodgson
Jun 21, 2021·Behavioural Processes·Xareni P Pacheco, Joah R Madden
Jul 15, 2021·Ecology and Evolution·Mia Lybkær Kronborg NielsenDarren P Croft
Jul 4, 2021·Biological Reviews of the Cambridge Philosophical Society·Elizabeth A HobsonNoa Pinter-Wollman
Jan 11, 2022·Philosophical Transactions of the Royal Society of London. Series B, Biological Sciences·Jordan A AndersonJenny Tung
Feb 3, 2022·Proceedings. Biological Sciences·Sam K PattersonJoan B Silk

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Software Mentioned

R
ggplot2
igraph
lme4

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