Philosophical Transactions of the Royal Society B: Biological Sciences最新文献

Animal cultures have been recognized by researchers since the mid-twentieth century, with research interest growing over the past few decades. Recently, we have realized that animal cultures have important ecological consequences, shaping mating preferences, adaptation to urban environments and the persistence of migration routes. The study of culture therefore transcends traditional, curiosity-driven research; it has real-world conservation relevance. This review centres on culture in fishes and its intersection with conservation. Culture depends upon social learning, and a large literature establishes that fishes exhibit social learning in a diverse range of contexts. Moreover, laboratory experiments demonstrate a capacity for culture in fishes, while studies of wild populations provide evidence of natural cultures, specifically the maintenance of traditional migration routes in some reef fishes. Here, we argue that such cultures are likely more widespread but overlooked and should be the target of wider research interest and conservation effort. We also argue that there is greater scope to leverage findings from laboratory studies of fish cultural transmission to better equip reintroduced fish stocks with behaviours that might enhance post-release survival. Fish cultures warrant investigation in their own right and have the potential to inform how we understand and conserve animal cultures more widely.This article is part of the theme issue 'Animal culture: conservation in a changing world'.

Conservation translocations are increasingly used in species' recovery. Their success often depends upon maintaining or restoring survival-relevant behaviour, which is socially learned in many animals. A lack of species- or population-appropriate learning can lead to the loss of adaptive behaviour, increasing the likelihood of negative human interactions and compromising animals' ability to migrate, exploit resources, avoid predators, integrate into wild populations, reproduce and survive. When applied well, behavioural tools can address deficiencies in socially learned behaviours and boost survival. However, their use has been uneven between species and translocation programmes, and behaviour commonly contributes to translocation failure. Critically, current international guidance (e.g. the International Union for Conservation of Nature's translocation guidelines) does not directly discuss social learning or its facilitation. We argue that linking knowledge about social learning to appropriate translocation strategies will enhance guidance and direct future research. We offer a framework for incorporating animal social learning into translocation planning, implementation, monitoring and evaluation across wild and captive settings. Our recommendations consider barriers practitioners face in contending with logistics, time constraints and intervention cost. We emphasize that stronger links between researchers, translocation practitioners and wildlife agencies would increase support for social learning research, and improve the perceived relevance and feasibility of facilitating social learning.This article is part of the theme issue 'Animal culture: conservation in a changing world'.

Indigenous peoples in eastern North America domesticated a diverse group of annual crops. Several of these crops fell out of cultivation around the time of European colonization, and their domesticated forms are known only from the archaeological record. These crops have previously been characterized as lost, but in the context of a renaissance in Indigenous agriculture in this region, they are perhaps better understood as sleeping: this ancient agricultural system and its myriad ecosystem interactions could be reawakened. I briefly review the history of research on native eastern North American crops, and then synthesize recent research in terms of three themes: new models of domestication based on ecological, experimental and archaeological studies; new insights into the evolution of ancient agrobiodiversity; and an increasingly expansive understanding of the domesticated landscapes of ancient eastern North America. I conclude by suggesting some priorities for future research, and considering this sleeping agricultural system as a source of alternative crops and methods for the North American midcontinent in an era of rapid climate change.This article is part of the theme issue 'Unravelling domestication: multi-disciplinary perspectives on human and non-human relationships in the past, present and future'.

The domestication of crops, a transformative milestone in human history, has largely contributed to reshaping agricultural practices and plant characteristics. This study investigates the functional responses along the wild-cultivated continuum in olive trees in northern Morocco, focusing on leaf functional traits to elucidate domestication effects. We compared wild olive (Olea europaea subsp. europaea var. sylvestris) with traditional cultivated varieties (O. e. subsp. e. var. europaea). Our results reveal clear distinctions in leaf traits, including leaf area, specific leaf area and leaf dry matter content, indicating divergent resource-use strategies. Cultivated varieties displayed traits associated with thicker, denser leaves and higher stomatal density, suggesting adaptations to stress conditions such as water scarcity. Principal component analysis highlighted a leaf economic spectrum, which differentiated wild and cultivated forms and supported the functional trade-off between resource acquisition and conservation. Intraspecific trait variability was substantial, driven by both genetic factors and phenotypic plasticity in response to local environmental gradients. These findings underscore the significant impact of domestication on olive trees, providing insights into the adaptive mechanisms underlying crop resilience in traditional agroecosystems. Our research emphasizes the importance of conserving these traditional olive varieties, not only for their historical and cultural significance but also for the deep understanding they offer regarding the evolving relationship between humans and the plant world.This article is part of the theme issue 'Unravelling domestication: multi-disciplinary perspectives on human and non-human relationships in the past, present and future'.

Culture, defined as information or behaviours shared within a population and acquired from conspecifics through social learning, acts as a second inheritance system which has important implications for species' ecology and evolution. Understanding the influence of social learning and culture in animals' lives is essential to planning and predicting outcomes of conservation actions. Culture plays a key role in cetaceans' lives, and some of the best evidence for social learning has come from baleen whales (Mysticetes). The Convention on the Conservation of Migratory Species of Wild Animals (CMS), an international treaty operating under the United Nations Environment Programme (UNEP), has recently integrated animal culture into their conservation initiatives. An essential first step in such a conservation framework is to identify key indicators of social learning in well-studied species, which could be applied to other more elusive species. Here, as part of the UNEP CMS Expert Group on Animal Culture and Social Complexity, we first evaluate key evidence for social learning and culture in baleen whales through several case studies. We then suggest key indicators by behavioural context to assist in identifying potential cases of social learning in more elusive species generating a practical guide for future conservation assessment and management.This article is part of the theme issue 'Animal culture: conservation in a changing world'.

Social transmission of cultural variants in wildlife can cause population level effects with implications for conservation science, policy and practice. Social learning and animal culture can generate resilience in populations through the spread of adaptive behaviour but may also generate vulnerabilities. Distilling comprehensive management advice in this field remains challenging. Animal culture is important for defining 'units to conserve', managing human-wildlife interactions, reintroductions or translocations, and influences evolutionary change. However, the population level effects of cultural processes remain poorly understood. Given the breadth of issues for which cultural processes inform conservation, it is timely to consider the underlying processes in more detail. We consider the coupling of cultural processes and population dynamics to explore the conditions under which social learning can tip a declining population into growth. Simulations on a model system of two interacting cultural units are used to explore the tensions between the coupled dynamics of cultural and demographic processes. We show that even under a simple learning bias, the population level outcomes are complex. In concert with urgent targeted conservation action, we highlight the need to develop deeper process-based understanding in this field, to yield fundamental principles applicable to a broader range of encultured species.This article is part of the theme issue 'Animal culture: conservation in a changing world'.

Culture-socially transmitted behaviours shared within a community-can influence animal populations' structure, vulnerability and resilience. Clans of sperm whales in the Eastern Tropical Pacific (ETP) exemplify the profound influence of culture on these dynamics and highlight the challenges of accounting for culture in conservation efforts. Globally, sperm whales are classified as vulnerable, and the ETP sperm whale population has struggled to reach a positive growth rate. This stagnation is partly due to cumulative anthropogenic threats in the region, including fishing conflicts, vessel traffic, pollution, deep sea mining, oil and gas exploration, and anthropogenic climate change. The United Nations Convention on Migratory Species adopted a Concerted Action for ETP sperm whales in 2017, proposing collaborative efforts to address cultural dimensions in conservation. However, knowledge gaps and real-world implementation challenges persist. Here, we review the role of social transmission in shaping sperm whale behaviour and populations, outline current anthropogenic threats and environmental stressors they face in the ETP, and discuss the ongoing challenges of incorporating cultural dimensions into large-scale international conservation efforts. Strengthening transnational collaboration and capitalizing on new technologies for efficient analysis can help bridge these knowledge gaps and enhance future research on this iconic species.This article is part of the theme issue 'Animal culture: conservation in a changing world'.

Chimpanzees were among the first animals recognized to have culture, and our understanding of the breadth of their cultural repertoire has grown significantly since the 1960s. Throughout their range, chimpanzee populations have come under increasing pressure, with their endangered status necessitating immediate and long-term conservation interventions. Recognizing the importance of diverse behavioural repertoires for chimpanzees' survival, there has been a recent focus of conservation efforts on preserving their culturally transmitted behaviours and the environments in which they are exhibited. This article evaluates the practicality of developing conservation measures focused on chimpanzee culture. We highlight innovative conservation strategies aimed at integrating chimpanzee cultural behaviours into conservation policies. We review synergistic conservation initiatives led by the International Union for Conservation of Nature, the UN Convention on the Conservation of Migratory Species of Wild Animals and other international and local groups that share the goal of preserving chimpanzee populations and their cultural diversity. We underline how successful conservation implementation requires engagement and collaboration with a diverse group of interested or affected people. Finally, we provide recommendations aimed at guiding future efforts to incorporate animal cultures into conservation strategies.This article is part of the theme issue 'Animal culture: conservation in a changing world'.

Prevailing anthropocentric frameworks of animal husbandry in archaeological research are increasingly critiqued for their inability to capture the full spectrum of human-non-human systems. In west Siberia and northern Mongolia, reindeer herding communities practise an entwined multi-species lifeways with the subarctic boreal and forest ecosystems-but these practices lack secure archaeological chronologies and time depth in northeast Asia. Traces of reindeer herding and reindeer remains themselves are often under-represented in the depositional record, requiring alternative avenues for tracing the archaeology of reindeer herding. Here, we explore the potential of documenting these complex dynamics archaeologically through a proof-of-concept analysis of stable isotopic carbon and nitrogen in faunal bone collagen, which can represent a possible nexus of multi-species practices. In doing so, we seek to expand investigative potentials into both human and non-human community members, providing valuable, nuanced insights into past practices, hunter-herder interactions and domestication dynamics.This article is part of the theme issue 'Unravelling domestication: multi-disciplinary perspectives on human and non-human relationships in the past, present and future'.

Recent evidence indicates that green-wave surfing behaviour in ungulates and the migrations that stem from this behaviour are socially learned, culturally transmitted across generations and become more efficient via cumulative cultural evolution. But given a lack of corroborative evidence, whether ungulate migration is a cultural phenomenon remains a hypothesis deserving of further testing. In this opinion piece, we summarize the role memory and social learning play in the green-wave surfing that underlies ungulate migration, and when combined with the natural history of ungulates, we argue that the most likely mechanism for maintenance of ungulate migration is animal culture. We further our argument by providing a synopsis of processes that promote diversification of migratory behaviour and link these processes to their emergent ecological patterns, which are common in nature but have not historically been considered as potential cultural phenomena. The notion that diverse portfolios of migratory behaviour may buffer populations from environmental change emerges from this synthesis but requires empirical testing. Finally, we contend that, because the migratory behaviour of ungulates stems largely from cultural transmission as opposed to a genetic programme, the diversity of observed migratory strategies represents 'culturally significant units' deserving of the same conservation effort afforded to evolutionarily significant units.This article is part of the theme issue 'Animal culture: conservation in a changing world'.