Heather Thacker Bio Lab 1615 Observing a community of animals helps you gather information on how they live

and interact with one another. Throughout the bottlenose dolphin studies, scientists found that the type of societies they live in are fission-fusion, which means individuals associate in small groups where the composition changes multiple times a day. They gathered this information mainly from 3 studies that were done in relatively shallow estuaries and bays, located in Sarasota Bay, FL. (Wells 1991), Shark Bay, Western Australia (Smolker et al. 1992) and Moray Firth, Scotland (Wilson 1995). Here they saw many different associations between males and females both segregated and intermixed. Fluid relationships and fission-fusion societies were dually noted. Groups were also open to other dolphins, as many from outside pods would be seen regularly. Scientists wanted to test an extreme environment where the waters are much deeper, isolated, and not many resources are available. They chose to watch a community off of the second biggest fjord in Fjordland, NZ, Doubtful Sound. Knowing that the society highly depends on location, predators and resources available, this was the perfect place to test this theory. This was the first time such an unusual pod was studied under these conditions. These studies were conducted from November 1994-2001 (1998 was not sampled) with the same constant route, covering the entire span of Doubtful Sound. Dolphins that swam consistently together were considered a school, which was easy to spot because each school kept a 10m distance between them. Scientists spent 594 days of spotting, resulting in 2,301 hours of focal school photos being examined. Once they were identified as a school they were then photographed and dorsal fin markings identified each dolphin. The only schools that were

included in this study were ones where every individual was identified. Half weight index was used to calculate when new associations would begin. However, they did not create new schools when a member would leave or a new one would join, but kept track of relationships of individual dolphins. Data was placed into SOCPROG a system that analyzed the organization of the society. It looked at preferred/non-preferred relationships, how many companions they had at any one time, and whether or not they stayed with them for life or if their relationship withered away in time before death. Over the last 7 years more than 12 studies have been done on large groups on bottlenose dolphins particularly in Doubtful Sound, a fjord in the southern extremes of where dolphins are located. Due to the geographically challenging location of Doubtful Sound, research shows these dolphins have had to form long lasting associations, companionships, and strong cooperation from one another in order to survive. The hypotheses that the research concluded was the belief that ecological constraints are important factors shaping social interactions with cetacean societies. The Doubtful Sound studies show that its bottlenose dolphin community has a unique social structure. Their society is completely different than others studied. Bottlenose dolphins had long lasting relationships, that were large intermixed sex groups, and individuals that spend more time together than with any other dolphins. Even though Doubtful Sound had extraordinarily longer lasting relationships between individuals and groups, they still had cases of shorter 2 day acquaintances, a lot found during mating season. This information shows that they still had a fission-fusion society. Females had both similar and different associations found in other studies, varying from short to long relationships. Most kept their same associations even after child birth and they did not join bigger groups to protect their young. The intermixed sex

groups were associated at all times during the study, showing their association had nothing to do with breeding. The community is closed to outside dolphins, which strengthens the associations of the groups in Doubtful Sound. Due to the information that the groups gather on their surroundings over several years of living, benefits them in finding where the food and resources are. Bottlenose dolphins are extremely adaptable to many different environments. These circumstances either make their communities very versatile or keep them tight together. In a fjord, keeping a tight knit society is crucial for survival.

REFERENCES: ARTICLE: The Bottlenose Dolphin Community of Doubtful Sound features a large proportion of long-lasting associations. David Lusseu, Karsten Schneider, Oliver J. Bolsseu, Patti Hoarse, Elizabeth Slooten, Steve M. Dawsen. Allichin D (1992) Stimulations and analysis of information-center foraging. Behavior. 122.288305 Barta Z Giraldeau L.A. (1992-2001) breeding colonies as information centers. A rappraisal of information-based hypothesis using producer-scrounger game. Behav Ecol 12-121-127 Caires JS. Schwagger SJ, 1987a comparison of association indices. Anim Behav. 35:1454-1469. Other references included in the article attached.