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How to define a dolphin “group”? Need for consistency and justification based on objective criteria

Group living is a critical component of the ecology of social animals such as delphinids. In many studies on these animals, groups represent sampling units that form the basis of the collection and analysis of data on their abundance, behavior, and social structure. Nevertheless, defining what const...

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Autores principales: Syme, Jonathan, Kiszka, Jeremy J., Parra, Guido J.
Formato: Online Artículo Texto
Lenguaje:English
Publicado: John Wiley and Sons Inc. 2022
Materias:
Acceso en línea:https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC9674468/
https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/36415876
http://dx.doi.org/10.1002/ece3.9513
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author Syme, Jonathan
Kiszka, Jeremy J.
Parra, Guido J.
author_facet Syme, Jonathan
Kiszka, Jeremy J.
Parra, Guido J.
author_sort Syme, Jonathan
collection PubMed
description Group living is a critical component of the ecology of social animals such as delphinids. In many studies on these animals, groups represent sampling units that form the basis of the collection and analysis of data on their abundance, behavior, and social structure. Nevertheless, defining what constitutes a group has proven problematic. There is inconsistency in the terms and criteria used and many definitions lack biological justification. We conducted a literature review and an online expert survey to assess various terms (group, school, party, and pod), and their definitions as applied to delphinids to identify issues to ultimately make recommendations. Of 707 studies analyzed, 325 explicitly defined one or more terms, providing 344 definitions. Additionally, 192 definitions were obtained from the survey. Among these definitions, group was the most common term used (review: 286 definitions, 83.1%; survey: 69 definitions, 35.9%) and the most familiar to the survey respondents (73 respondents, 100.0%). In definitions of group, spatial proximity was the most used criterion (review: 200 definitions, 71.2%; survey: 53 definitions, 81.5%) followed by behavior (review: 176 definitions, 62.6%; survey: 38 definitions, 58.5%). The terms and criteria used to define delphinid groups vary considerably. Rather than proposing a single formal definition, we instead recommend that the term group and spatial proximity criteria be used to define sampling units of individuals observed in the field. Furthermore, we propose a process for formulating definitions that involves analyzing interindividual distances to determine naturally occurring patterns that are indicative of group membership. Although this process is based principally on the spatial proximity of individuals, it could also incorporate the behavior of group members by evaluating the influence of behavior on interindividual distances. Such a process produces definitions that are biologically meaningful and compatible across studies and populations, thus increasing our ability to draw strong conclusions about group living in delphinids.
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spelling pubmed-96744682022-11-21 How to define a dolphin “group”? Need for consistency and justification based on objective criteria Syme, Jonathan Kiszka, Jeremy J. Parra, Guido J. Ecol Evol Research Articles Group living is a critical component of the ecology of social animals such as delphinids. In many studies on these animals, groups represent sampling units that form the basis of the collection and analysis of data on their abundance, behavior, and social structure. Nevertheless, defining what constitutes a group has proven problematic. There is inconsistency in the terms and criteria used and many definitions lack biological justification. We conducted a literature review and an online expert survey to assess various terms (group, school, party, and pod), and their definitions as applied to delphinids to identify issues to ultimately make recommendations. Of 707 studies analyzed, 325 explicitly defined one or more terms, providing 344 definitions. Additionally, 192 definitions were obtained from the survey. Among these definitions, group was the most common term used (review: 286 definitions, 83.1%; survey: 69 definitions, 35.9%) and the most familiar to the survey respondents (73 respondents, 100.0%). In definitions of group, spatial proximity was the most used criterion (review: 200 definitions, 71.2%; survey: 53 definitions, 81.5%) followed by behavior (review: 176 definitions, 62.6%; survey: 38 definitions, 58.5%). The terms and criteria used to define delphinid groups vary considerably. Rather than proposing a single formal definition, we instead recommend that the term group and spatial proximity criteria be used to define sampling units of individuals observed in the field. Furthermore, we propose a process for formulating definitions that involves analyzing interindividual distances to determine naturally occurring patterns that are indicative of group membership. Although this process is based principally on the spatial proximity of individuals, it could also incorporate the behavior of group members by evaluating the influence of behavior on interindividual distances. Such a process produces definitions that are biologically meaningful and compatible across studies and populations, thus increasing our ability to draw strong conclusions about group living in delphinids. John Wiley and Sons Inc. 2022-11-18 /pmc/articles/PMC9674468/ /pubmed/36415876 http://dx.doi.org/10.1002/ece3.9513 Text en © 2022 The Authors. Ecology and Evolution published by John Wiley & Sons Ltd. https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/This is an open access article under the terms of the http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/ (https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/) License, which permits use, distribution and reproduction in any medium, provided the original work is properly cited.
spellingShingle Research Articles
Syme, Jonathan
Kiszka, Jeremy J.
Parra, Guido J.
How to define a dolphin “group”? Need for consistency and justification based on objective criteria
title How to define a dolphin “group”? Need for consistency and justification based on objective criteria
title_full How to define a dolphin “group”? Need for consistency and justification based on objective criteria
title_fullStr How to define a dolphin “group”? Need for consistency and justification based on objective criteria
title_full_unstemmed How to define a dolphin “group”? Need for consistency and justification based on objective criteria
title_short How to define a dolphin “group”? Need for consistency and justification based on objective criteria
title_sort how to define a dolphin “group”? need for consistency and justification based on objective criteria
topic Research Articles
url https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC9674468/
https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/36415876
http://dx.doi.org/10.1002/ece3.9513
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