Mortality risk and social network position in resident killer whales: sex differences and the importance of resource abundance.

ABSTRACT: An individual's ecological environment affects their mortality risk, which in turn has fundamental consequences for life-history evolution. In many species, social relationships are likely to be an important component of an individual's environment, and therefore their mortality risk. Here, we examine the relationship between social position and mortality risk in resident killer whales (Orcinus orca) using over three decades of social and demographic data. We find that the social position of male, but not female, killer whales in their social unit predicts their mortality risk. More socially integrated males have a significantly lower risk of mortality than socially peripheral males, particularly in years of low prey abundance, suggesting that social position mediates access to reso

SUBMITTER: Ellis S 

PROVIDER: S-EPMC5666093 | biostudies-literature | 2017 Oct

REPOSITORIES: biostudies-literature