Animal culture and social bonds are relevant to wildlife conservation because they influence patterns of geography, behavior, and strategies of survival. Numerous examples of socially-driven habitat partitioning and ecological-niche specialization can be found among vertebrates, including toothed whales. But such social-ecological dynamics, described here as ‘social niche partitioning’, are not known among baleen whales, whose societies -- particularly on foraging grounds -- are largely perceived as unstructured and incidental to matters of habitat use and conservation. However, through 16 years of behavioral and photo-identification observations of humpback whales ( Megaptera novaeangliae ) feeding within a fjord system in British Columbia, Canada, we have documented long-term pair bonds (lasting up to 12 years) as well as a complex societal structure, which corresponds closely to persistent patterns in feeding strategy, long-term site fidelity (extended seasonal occupancy and annual rate of return up to 75%), specific geographic preferences within the fjord system, and other forms of habitat use. Randomization tests of network congruency and clustering algorithms were used to test for overlap in patterns of social structure and habitat use, which confirmed the occurrence of social niche partitioning on the feeding grounds of this baleen whale. In addition, we document the extensive practice of group bubble net feeding in Pacific Canada. This coordinated feeding behavior was found to strongly mediate the social structure and habitat use within this humpback whale society. Additionally, during our 2004 – 2019 study, we observed a shift in social network structure in 2010 – 2012, which corresponded with environmental and demographic shifts including a sudden decline in the population’s calving rate. Our findings indicate that the social lives of humpback whales, and perhaps baleen whales generally, are more complex than previously supposed and should be a primary consideration in the assessment of potential impacts to important habitat.

中文翻译：

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社会生存：座头鲸（Megaptera novaeangliae）利用社会结构在拟议的关键栖息地内划分生态位

动物文化和社会纽带与野生动植物保护有关，因为它们会影响地理模式，行为和生存策略。在包括齿鲸在内的脊椎动物中，可以找到许多社会驱动的栖息地分区和生态位专门化的例子。但是这样的社会生态动力学在这里被称为“社会生态位划分”，在鲸鱼中并不为人所知，鲸鱼的社会-特别是在觅食的基础上-在很大程度上被认为是无组织的，并且与生境的使用和保护有关。但是，通过16年的行为和照片识别观察，发现加拿大不列颠哥伦比亚省在峡湾系统内喂养的座头鲸（Megaptera novaeangliae），我们已经记录了长期配对（长达12年）以及复杂的社会结构，这与持续的进食策略，长期的站点保真度（扩展的季节占用和年收益率高达75）相对应％），峡湾系统内的特定地理偏好以及其他形式的栖息地使用方式。使用网络一致性和聚类算法的随机测试来测试社会结构和栖息地使用方式的重叠，这证实了这只鲸鱼的觅食地上发生了社会生态位分配。此外，我们记录了加拿大太平洋地区团体泡泡网饲养的广泛实践。人们发现这种协调的进食行为强烈地介导了座头鲸社会中的社会结构和栖息地的使用。另外，在2004年至2019年的研究中，我们观察到2010年至2012年的社交网络结构发生了变化，这与环境和人口结构的变化相对应，包括人口产犊率的突然下降。我们的发现表明，座头鲸，甚至一般的鲸鱼的社会生活比以前想象的要复杂，应该作为评估对重要栖息地的潜在影响的主要考虑因素。