Evidence map›Paper›PMID 31311483›Full record

ArticleBiology letters2019

Multi-network-based diffusion analysis reveals vertical cultural transmission of sponge tool use within dolphin matrilines.

Sonja Wild, Simon J Allen, Michael Krützen, Stephanie L King, Livia Gerber, William J E Hoppitt

Abstract read
In one paragraph

Article in Biology letters, 2019. The graph could read no effect estimate from its abstract, so it casts no vote on the map. Cited by 23 papers.

0numbers the graph read from it
0cells of the map it votes in
23citing 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

23 citing papers in PubMed.

  1. Article
  2. The effect of habitat health and environmental change on cultural diversity and richness in animals.Philosophical transactions of the Royal Society of London. Series B, Biological sciences · 2025
    Review
  3. Ecology and conservation of socially learned foraging tactics in odontocetes.Philosophical transactions of the Royal Society of London. Series B, Biological sciences · 2025
    Review
  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. Article
  6. Article
  7. Social ageing and higher-order interactions: social selectiveness can enhance older individuals' capacity to transmit knowledge.Philosophical transactions of the Royal Society of London. Series B, Biological sciences · 2024
    Article
  8. In pop pursuit: social bond strength predicts vocal synchrony during cooperative mate guarding in bottlenose dolphins.Philosophical transactions of the Royal Society of London. Series B, Biological sciences · 2024
    Article
  9. Article
  10. Article
  11. Strategic intergroup alliances increase access to a contested resource in male bottlenose dolphins.Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences of the United States of America · 2022
    Article
  12. Article
  13. Social Disruption Impairs Predatory Threat Assessment in African Elephants.Animals : an open access journal from MDPI · 2022
    Article
  14. Article
  15. Complex foraging behaviours in wild birds emerge from social learning and recombination of components.Philosophical transactions of the Royal Society of London. Series B, Biological sciences · 2022
    Article
  16. Article
  17. Article
  18. Article
  19. Article
  20. 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

6 authors.

Sonja WildSchool of Biology, University of Leeds, Leeds, UK.
Simon J AllenEvolutionary Genetics Group, Department of Anthropology, University of Zurich, Zurich, Switzerland.
Michael KrützenEvolutionary Genetics Group, Department of Anthropology, University of Zurich, Zurich, Switzerland.
Stephanie L KingSchool of Biological Sciences, University of Bristol, Bristol, UK.
Livia GerberEvolutionary Genetics Group, Department of Anthropology, University of Zurich, Zurich, Switzerland.
William J E HoppittSchool of Biology, University of Leeds, Leeds, UK.

Funding

No grant is acknowledged in the PubMed record.

6 · The paper itself

Abstract

Behavioural differences among social groups can arise from differing ecological conditions, genetic predispositions and/or social learning. In the past, social learning has typically been inferred as responsible for the spread of behaviour by the exclusion of ecological and genetic factors. This 'method of exclusion' was used to infer that 'sponging', a foraging behaviour involving tool use in the bottlenose dolphin (Tursiops aduncus) population in Shark Bay, Western Australia, was socially transmitted. However, previous studies were limited in that they never fully accounted for alternative factors, and that social learning, ecology and genetics are not mutually exclusive in causing behavioural variation. Here, we quantified the importance of social learning on the diffusion of sponging, for the first time explicitly accounting for ecological and genetic factors, using a multi-network version of 'network-based diffusion analysis'. Our results provide compelling support for previous findings that sponging is vertically socially transmitted from mother to (primarily female) offspring. This research illustrates the utility of social network analysis in elucidating the explanatory mechanisms behind the transmission of behaviour in wild animal populations.

Indexed as

Bottle-Nosed DolphinSocial LearningAnimalsEcologyFemaleInfectious Disease Transmission, VerticalWestern Australiaculturedolphinsnetwork-based diffusion analysissocial learningspongingtool use

Identifiers

PMID31311483
PMCPMC6685002

What OpenQuestion holds

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Registered trials

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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.