Evidence map›Paper›PMID 25272019›Full record

ArticlePloS one2014

Using models of social transmission to examine the spread of longline depredation behavior among sperm whales in the Gulf of Alaska.

Zachary A Schakner, Chris Lunsford, Janice Straley, Tomoharu Eguchi, Sarah L Mesnick

Abstract read
In one paragraph

Article in PloS one, 2014. The graph could read no effect estimate from its abstract, so it casts no vote on the map. Cited by 15 papers.

0numbers the graph read from it
0cells of the map it votes in
15citing papers in PubMed
–field-weighted citation impact
1 · What the graph read from it

What it found

Each row is one number read from the abstract, on the scale the paper reported it, with its interval. Left of the dashed line favours the treatment, right favours the comparator. Under each row is the sentence it came from. New to these charts? A ten-minute tutorial.

The abstract states no effect estimate the extractor could read, or names no intervention and outcome on the map, so this paper lights no cell and moves no belief. It is still indexed, cited and linked below.

2 · The registry

The trial behind it

Trials whose registry record cites this paper, or whose number appears in the abstract. A trial that started after this paper was published is citing it as background, not reporting it.

Neither the registry nor the abstract names a trial number. If this is a trial report, that itself is worth knowing.

3 · Its place in the literature

Who cites it

15 citing papers in PubMed.

  1. Article
  2. Worlds that collide: conservation applications of behaviour and culture in human-wildlife interactions.Philosophical transactions of the Royal Society of London. Series B, Biological sciences · 2025
    Review
  3. Animal culture: conservation in a changing world.Philosophical transactions of the Royal Society of London. Series B, Biological sciences · 2025
    Article
  4. Cultural processes and demography: implications for conservation and beyond.Philosophical transactions of the Royal Society of London. Series B, Biological sciences · 2025
    Article
  5. Integrating cultural dimensions in sperm whale (Philosophical transactions of the Royal Society of London. Series B, Biological sciences · 2025
    Review
  6. Ecology and conservation of socially learned foraging tactics in odontocetes.Philosophical transactions of the Royal Society of London. Series B, Biological sciences · 2025
    Review
  7. Article
  8. Article
  9. Article
  10. Article
  11. Article
  12. Article
  13. Article
  14. Review
  15. Article
4 · The record

Corrections and comments

PubMed lists nothing against this paper. Absence here is not a guarantee, only a check that was made.

5 · Who and what money

Authors and funding

5 authors.

Zachary A SchaknerDepartment of Ecology and Evolutionary Biology, University of California Los Angeles, Los Angeles, CA, United States of America.
Chris LunsfordAlaska Fisheries Science Center, National Marine Fisheries Service, NOAA, Auke Bay Laboratories, Juneau, AK, United States of America.
Janice StraleyUniversity of Alaska Southeast, Sitka, AK, United States of America.
Tomoharu EguchiSouthwest Fisheries Science Center, National Marine Fisheries Service, NOAA, La Jolla, CA, United States of America.
Sarah L MesnickSouthwest Fisheries Science Center, National Marine Fisheries Service, NOAA, La Jolla, CA, United States of America.

Funding

No grant is acknowledged in the PubMed record.

6 · The paper itself

Abstract

Fishing, farming and ranching provide opportunities for predators to prey on resources concentrated by humans, a behavior termed depredation. In the Gulf of Alaska, observations of sperm whales depredating on fish caught on demersal longline gear dates back to the 1970s, with reported incidents increasing in the mid-1990s. Sperm whale depredation provides an opportunity to study the spread of a novel foraging behavior within a population. Data were collected during National Marine Fisheries Service longline surveys using demersal longline gear in waters off Alaska from 1998 to 2010. We evaluated whether observations of depredation fit predictions of social transmission by fitting the temporal and spatial spread of new observations of depredation to the Wave of Advance model. We found a significant, positive relationship between time and the distance of new observations from the diffusion center (r(2) = 0.55, p-value  = 0.003). The data provide circumstantial evidence for social transmission of depredation. We discuss how changes in human activities in the region (fishing methods and regulations) have created a situation in which there is spatial-temporal overlap with foraging sperm whales, likely influencing when and how the behavior spread among the population.

Indexed as

Behavior, AnimalModels, BiologicalSocial BehaviorAlaskaAnimalsWhales

Identifiers

PMID25272019
PMCPMC4182800

What OpenQuestion holds

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Registered trials

None linked

Read under generation 80e0d062 · epoch 390. Bibliography from PubMed, PubMed Central and OpenAlex; grants from NIH RePORTER; trial links from ClinicalTrials.gov; estimates, votes and beliefs from the OpenQuestion graph.