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Cited by 149Language and cultural evolutionMarine animal studies overviewPrimate Behavior and Ecology

The interplay between social networks and culture: theoretically and among whales and dolphins

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Cantor, Mauricio, Whitehead, Hal·2013·Philosophical Transactions of the Royal Society B: Biological Sciences
DOI 10.1098/rstb.2012.0340PMC PMC3638443
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Abstract

Culture is increasingly being understood as a driver of mammalian phenotypes. Defined as group-specific behaviour transmitted by social learning, culture is shaped by social structure. However, culture can itself affect social structure if individuals preferentially interact with others whose behaviour is similar, or cultural symbols are used to mark groups. Using network formalism, this interplay can be depicted by the coevolution of nodes and edges together with the coevolution of network topology and transmission patterns. We review attempts to model the links between the spread, persistence and diversity of culture and the network topology of non-human societies. We illustrate these processes using cetaceans. The spread of socially learned begging behaviour within a population of bottlenose dolphins followed the topology of the social network, as did the evolution of the song of the humpback whale between breeding areas. In three bottlenose dolphin populations, individuals preferentially associated with animals using the same socially learned foraging behaviour. Homogeneous behaviour within the tight, nearly permanent social structures of the large matrilineal whales seems to result from transmission bias, with cultural symbols marking social structures. We recommend the integration of studies of culture and society in species for which social learning is an important determinant of behaviour.

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  • Spatial heterogeneity enforces isolation and therefore diversity within a population, while adaptability ensures that environmental barriers can be crossed and solutions spread, causing an intensification of NC.

    “spatial heterogeneity enforces isolation and, therefore, diversity within a population, while adaptability ensures that environmental barriers can be crossed and solutions spread, causing an intensification of NC (Cantor and Whitehead, 2013;Derex and Boyd, 2016;Nisioti et al., 2022).”

    From Dynamics of niche construction in adaptable populations evolving in diverse environments (2023) · cites this paper as Cantor and Whitehead, 2013

    Section 2, “How social structure affects culture” (page not provided), says that increasingly separate social modules develop independent behavioural trajectories, increasing diversity within a population. It describes social separation, not spatial heterogeneity, and does not say that adaptability crosses environmental barriers or that the spread of solutions intensifies NC. (LLM, conf=0.85)

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2 of the 112 references couldn’t be matched to a known paper.

Research works printed but not linked: 2

  1. [51]Newman MEJ. 2010. Networks: an introduction. Oxford, UK: Oxford University Press [Google Scholar]
  2. [83]Ford JKB, Ellis GM, Balcomb KC. 2000. Killer whales. Vancouver, Canada: UBC Press [Google Scholar]

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Authors
Cantor, M., & Whitehead, H.
Affiliations
  • Department of Biology, Dalhousie University, Halifax, Nova Scotia, Canada B3H 4J1
  • Dalhousie University (CA)
ORCID
Whitehead, Hal
Venue
Philosophical Transactions of the Royal Society B: Biological Sciences
Publisher
The Royal Society
Published
2013-05-19
Volume
368
Issue
1618
Pages
20120340
ISSN
  • 0962-8436 (ISSN-L)
  • 1471-2970
DOI
10.1098/rstb.2012.0340
PMC
PMC3638443
OpenAlex
W2104363363
Cited by
149
References
112
Citations by year
2026: 12 · 2025: 11 · 2024: 9 · 2023: 12 · 2022: 9 · 2021: 17 · 2020: 8 · 2019: 12 · 2018: 10 · 2017: 17 · 2016: 8 · 2015: 9 · 2014: 12 · 2013: 3
FWCI
12.65
Type
journal article
Language
en
Open access
Licence
royalsociety.org/journals/ethics-policies/data-sharing-mining/ (tdm)
Locations
  • Philosophical Transactions of the Royal Society B Biological Sciences (publishedVersion)
  • Europe PMC (PubMed Central) (publishedVersion)
  • PubMed Central (publishedVersion)
  • PubMed (publishedVersion)
  • MPG.PuRe (Max Planck Society) (submittedVersion)
Topics
  • Social Sciences › Cultural Studies › Language and cultural evolution
  • Physical Sciences › Environmental Science › Ecology › Marine animal studies overview
  • Social Sciences › Psychology › Social Psychology › Primate Behavior and Ecology
Keywords
animal culture, social learning, social networks, network topology, cetaceans, Tursiops truncatus, humpback whale song, begging behavior, foraging behavior, transmission bias, cultural symbols, matrilineal social structure, cultural transmission, cultural diversity
MeSH terms
Adaptation, Physiological, Animals, Behavior, Animal, Breeding, Dolphins, Biological Evolution, Learning, Social Behavior, Social Environment, Whales, Animal Migration, Singing

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