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Indications of fitness differences among vocal clans of sperm whales

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Abstract

Cultural variation can affect the genetic evolution of a species if there are consistent cultural differences that contribute to fitness variation between groups of individuals. In this study, measures of the reproductive success of groups of sperm whales from different cultural clans are used as proxies for fitness. We measure reproductive success using population length distributions from acoustic and photographic measurements and visual observations of the presence of calves. The results obtained are generally consistent between methods; there are large and significant differences between the clans in the measures of reproductive success. The results from this study strengthen the case for cultural hitchhiking in sperm whales by indicating that differences in culture between clans correlate with differences in fitness.

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Acknowledgement

We are grateful to Sandra Walde, Colleen Barber and Jonathan Gordon for their valuable comments on the manuscript. The National Geographic Society and the Natural Sciences and Engineering Research Council of Canada provided funding for fieldwork; M.M. was supported by Le Fonds Québécois de la Recherche sur la Nature et les Technologies and L.R. by an NERC Post-Doctoral Fellowship (NER/I/S/2002/00632).

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Author notes

  1. Marianne Marcoux

    Present address: Natural Resource Sciences, McGill University, MacDonald Campus, 21 111 Lakeshore Blvd., H9X 3V9, Ste-Anne-de-Bellevue, Québec, Canada

Authors and Affiliations

  1. Department of Biology, Dalhousie University, B3H 4J1, Halifax, Nova Scotia, Canada

    Marianne Marcoux & Hal Whitehead

  2. Sea Mammal Research Unit, Gatty Marine Laboratory, School of Biology, University of St. Andrews, St. Andrews, Fife, KY16 8LB, UK

    Luke Rendell

Authors
  1. Marianne Marcoux
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  2. Luke Rendell
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  3. Hal Whitehead
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Correspondence to Marianne Marcoux.

Additional information

Communicated by F. Trillmich

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Marcoux, M., Rendell, L. & Whitehead, H. Indications of fitness differences among vocal clans of sperm whales. Behav Ecol Sociobiol 61, 1093–1098 (2007). https://doi.org/10.1007/s00265-006-0342-6

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  • DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/s00265-006-0342-6

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