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William Cioffi
Duke University Marine Laboratory University Program in Ecology, Nicholas School of the Environment Beaufort North Carolina

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Article
Published: 15 March 2021 in Marine Mammal Science
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Studies of the social behavior of Cuvier's beaked whales (Ziphius cavirostris) are challenging because of their deep‐water habitat usually far from shore and the limited time they spend at the surface. The sociality of these deepest diving mammals is of interest, however, especially for our understanding of how social systems evolve in extreme habitats. High levels of scarring suggest that males compete agonistically for access to females and so we predicted that associations among adult males would be unstable due to competitive exclusion. We tested this prediction by evaluating the diving behavior of animals within social groups off Cape Hatteras, North Carolina, considering diving synchrony a proxy for group membership. Using data from satellite‐linked depth‐recording tags, we found that adult male–male pairs showed extended periods of synchrony in diving behavior, while all pairs that included an adult male with an individual of another age and/or sex dove synchronously for less than a day. We assessed three hypotheses to explain these surprising results: sexual segregation; extended bouts of male–male competition; and the presence of male alliances. Finally, we considered testable predictions to distinguish among these explanations.

ACS Style

William R. Cioffi; Nicola J. Quick; Heather J. Foley; Danielle M. Waples; Zachary T. Swaim; Jeanne M. Shearer; Daniel L. Webster; Ari S. Friedlaender; Brandon L. Southall; Robin W. Baird; Douglas P. Nowacek; Andrew J. Read. Adult male Cuvier's beaked whales ( Ziphius cavirostris ) engage in prolonged bouts of synchronous diving. Marine Mammal Science 2021, 1 .

AMA Style

William R. Cioffi, Nicola J. Quick, Heather J. Foley, Danielle M. Waples, Zachary T. Swaim, Jeanne M. Shearer, Daniel L. Webster, Ari S. Friedlaender, Brandon L. Southall, Robin W. Baird, Douglas P. Nowacek, Andrew J. Read. Adult male Cuvier's beaked whales ( Ziphius cavirostris ) engage in prolonged bouts of synchronous diving. Marine Mammal Science. 2021; ():1.

Chicago/Turabian Style

William R. Cioffi; Nicola J. Quick; Heather J. Foley; Danielle M. Waples; Zachary T. Swaim; Jeanne M. Shearer; Daniel L. Webster; Ari S. Friedlaender; Brandon L. Southall; Robin W. Baird; Douglas P. Nowacek; Andrew J. Read. 2021. "Adult male Cuvier's beaked whales ( Ziphius cavirostris ) engage in prolonged bouts of synchronous diving." Marine Mammal Science , no. : 1.

Journal article
Published: 15 September 2020 in Journal of Experimental Biology
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We analysed 3680 dives from 23 satellite-linked tags deployed on Cuvier's beaked whales to assess the relationship between long duration dives and inter-deep dive intervals and to estimate aerobic dive limit (ADL). The median duration of presumed foraging dives was 59 min and 5% of dives exceeded 77.7 min. We found no relationship between the longest 5% of dive durations and the following inter-deep dive interval nor any relationship with the ventilation period immediately prior to or following a long dive. We suggest that Cuvier's beaked whales have low metabolic rates, high oxygen storage capacities and a high acid-buffering capacity to deal with the by-products of both aerobic and anaerobic metabolism, which enables them to extend dive durations and exploit their bathypelagic foraging habitats.

ACS Style

Nicola J. Quick; William R. Cioffi; Jeanne M. Shearer; Andreas Fahlman; Andrew J. Read. Extreme diving in mammals: first estimates of behavioural aerobic dive limits in Cuvier's beaked whales. Journal of Experimental Biology 2020, 223, 1 .

AMA Style

Nicola J. Quick, William R. Cioffi, Jeanne M. Shearer, Andreas Fahlman, Andrew J. Read. Extreme diving in mammals: first estimates of behavioural aerobic dive limits in Cuvier's beaked whales. Journal of Experimental Biology. 2020; 223 (18):1.

Chicago/Turabian Style

Nicola J. Quick; William R. Cioffi; Jeanne M. Shearer; Andreas Fahlman; Andrew J. Read. 2020. "Extreme diving in mammals: first estimates of behavioural aerobic dive limits in Cuvier's beaked whales." Journal of Experimental Biology 223, no. 18: 1.

Research paper
Published: 16 March 2020 in Ethology
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ACS Style

Laura M. McCue; William R. Cioffi; Michael R. Heithaus; Lynne Barrè; Richard C. Connor. Synchrony, leadership, and association in male Indo‐pacific bottlenose dolphins ( Tursiops aduncus ). Ethology 2020, 126, 741 -750.

AMA Style

Laura M. McCue, William R. Cioffi, Michael R. Heithaus, Lynne Barrè, Richard C. Connor. Synchrony, leadership, and association in male Indo‐pacific bottlenose dolphins ( Tursiops aduncus ). Ethology. 2020; 126 (7):741-750.

Chicago/Turabian Style

Laura M. McCue; William R. Cioffi; Michael R. Heithaus; Lynne Barrè; Richard C. Connor. 2020. "Synchrony, leadership, and association in male Indo‐pacific bottlenose dolphins ( Tursiops aduncus )." Ethology 126, no. 7: 741-750.

Original article
Published: 25 October 2019 in Behavioral Ecology and Sociobiology
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Coalitions and alliances exemplify the core elements of conflict and cooperation in animal societies. Ecological influences on alliance formation are more readily attributed to within-species variation where phylogenetic signals are muted. Remarkably, male Indo-Pacific bottlenose dolphins in Shark Bay, Western Australia, exhibit systematic spatial variation in alliance behavior, not simply within a species or population, but within a single social network. Moving SE-NW along Peron Peninsula in Shark Bay, males ally more often in trios than pairs, consort females more often, and exhibit greater seasonal movements. Ecological models predict more male-male conflict in the north, but sufficient observations of aggression are lacking. However, dolphins often incur marks, in the form of tooth rakes, during conflicts. Here we report that the incidence of new tooth rake marks varies systematically in the predicted pattern, with greater marking in the north, where males form more trios and consort females at a higher rate. While our previous work demonstrated that alliance complexity has an ecological component, we can now infer that ecological variation impacts the level of alliance-related conflict in Shark Bay. To understand ecological influences on animal societies, researchers have focused on differences within species, where confounds due to evolutionary history are minimized. Such differences are usually found among geographically separated populations, but in Shark Bay, Western Australia, male dolphin alliance size and access to females increase along a spatial axis within a single social network. Here we report that aggression levels, evidenced by tooth rake marks, increase along the same axis. Alliances are of particular interest as they represent a complex kind of relationship, often implicated in the evolution of social intelligence. Our discovery of spatial variation in alliance behavior and aggression within a social network provides a unique opportunity to investigate the intersection of cognition, social structure, and ecology.

ACS Style

Rebecca A. Hamilton; Teresa Borcuch; Simon J. Allen; William Cioffi; Vanni Bucci; Michael Krützen; Richard C. Connor. Male aggression varies with consortship rate and habitat in a dolphin social network. Behavioral Ecology and Sociobiology 2019, 73, 141 .

AMA Style

Rebecca A. Hamilton, Teresa Borcuch, Simon J. Allen, William Cioffi, Vanni Bucci, Michael Krützen, Richard C. Connor. Male aggression varies with consortship rate and habitat in a dolphin social network. Behavioral Ecology and Sociobiology. 2019; 73 (10):141.

Chicago/Turabian Style

Rebecca A. Hamilton; Teresa Borcuch; Simon J. Allen; William Cioffi; Vanni Bucci; Michael Krützen; Richard C. Connor. 2019. "Male aggression varies with consortship rate and habitat in a dolphin social network." Behavioral Ecology and Sociobiology 73, no. 10: 141.

Short communication
Published: 15 March 2019 in Animal Biotelemetry
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Studies of deep-diving beaked whales using Argos satellite-linked location-depth tags frequently return data with large gaps in the diving record. We document the steps taken to eliminate these data gaps and collect weeks of continuous time series data for a behavioral response study that took place in 2017. We used baseline data collected from 2014 to 2016 to analyze message diagnostics, and assess our current programming schedule using a multiple criteria decision making matrix (MCDM), as a robust way to develop a new sampling regime. The MCDM approach suggested animal behavior and the quantity of data collected were the main causes of gaps in our baseline tag records. We implemented a new sampling regime to sample only long-duration, presumed foraging dives, simultaneously increasing temporal coverage of each individual message and reducing the number of messages by 50%. The reduction of gaps increased the data available for continuous time series analysis from an average of just over 2 days and 13.5 sequential presumed foraging dives in our baseline tags to just over 19 days and 118 sequential presumed foraging dives in tags deployed during the 2017 behavioral response study. We demonstrate that a critical approach, based on analysis of baseline data and question-driven weighted criteria, enabled the reduction and even elimination of gaps in the diving records of these tags. This approach enabled us to develop specific settings for our tags to ensure that our data collection was optimized for statistical analysis of the specific hypotheses we were testing.

ACS Style

Nicola J. Quick; William R. Cioffi; Jeanne Shearer; Andrew J. Read. Mind the gap—optimizing satellite tag settings for time series analysis of foraging dives in Cuvier’s beaked whales (Ziphius cavirostris). Animal Biotelemetry 2019, 7, 5 .

AMA Style

Nicola J. Quick, William R. Cioffi, Jeanne Shearer, Andrew J. Read. Mind the gap—optimizing satellite tag settings for time series analysis of foraging dives in Cuvier’s beaked whales (Ziphius cavirostris). Animal Biotelemetry. 2019; 7 (1):5.

Chicago/Turabian Style

Nicola J. Quick; William R. Cioffi; Jeanne Shearer; Andrew J. Read. 2019. "Mind the gap—optimizing satellite tag settings for time series analysis of foraging dives in Cuvier’s beaked whales (Ziphius cavirostris)." Animal Biotelemetry 7, no. 1: 5.

Journal article
Published: 06 February 2019 in Royal Society Open Science
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Cuvier's beaked whales exhibit exceptionally long and deep foraging dives. The species is little studied due to their deep-water, offshore distribution and limited time spent at the surface. We used LIMPET satellite tags to study the diving behaviour of Cuvier's beaked whales off Cape Hatteras, North Carolina from 2014 to 2016. We deployed 11 tags, recording 3242 h of behaviour data, encompassing 5926 dives. Dive types were highly bimodal; deep dives (greater than 800 m, n = 1408) had a median depth of 1456 m and median duration of 58.9 min; shallow dives (50–800 m, n = 4518) were to median depths of 280 m with a median duration of 18.7 min. Most surface intervals were very short (median 2.2 min), but all animals occasionally performed extended surface intervals. We found no diel differences in dive depth or the percentage of time spent deep diving, but whales spent significantly more time near the surface at night. Other populations of this species exhibit similar dive patterns, but with regional differences in depth, duration and inter-dive intervals. Satellite-linked tags allow for the collection of long periods of dive records, including the occurrence of anomalous behaviours, bringing new insights into the lives of these deep divers.

ACS Style

Jeanne M. Shearer; Nicola J. Quick; William R. Cioffi; Robin Baird; Daniel L. Webster; Heather J. Foley; Zachary T. Swaim; Danielle M. Waples; Joel T. Bell; Andrew J. Read. Diving behaviour of Cuvier's beaked whales ( Ziphius cavirostris ) off Cape Hatteras, North Carolina. Royal Society Open Science 2019, 6, 181728 .

AMA Style

Jeanne M. Shearer, Nicola J. Quick, William R. Cioffi, Robin Baird, Daniel L. Webster, Heather J. Foley, Zachary T. Swaim, Danielle M. Waples, Joel T. Bell, Andrew J. Read. Diving behaviour of Cuvier's beaked whales ( Ziphius cavirostris ) off Cape Hatteras, North Carolina. Royal Society Open Science. 2019; 6 (2):181728.

Chicago/Turabian Style

Jeanne M. Shearer; Nicola J. Quick; William R. Cioffi; Robin Baird; Daniel L. Webster; Heather J. Foley; Zachary T. Swaim; Danielle M. Waples; Joel T. Bell; Andrew J. Read. 2019. "Diving behaviour of Cuvier's beaked whales ( Ziphius cavirostris ) off Cape Hatteras, North Carolina." Royal Society Open Science 6, no. 2: 181728.

Journal article
Published: 01 April 2018 in Sustainability
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Coastal ecosystems have drastically declined in coverage and condition across the globe. To combat these losses, marine conservation has recently employed habitat restoration as a strategy to enhance depleted coastal ecosystems. For restoration to be a successful enterprise, however, it is necessary to identify and address potential knowledge gaps and review whether the field has tracked scientific advances regarding best practices. This enables managers, researchers, and practitioners alike to more readily establish restoration priorities and goals. We synthesized the peer-reviewed, published literature on habitat restoration research in salt marshes, oyster reefs, and seagrasses to address three questions related to restoration efforts: (i) How frequent is cross-sector authorship in coastal restoration research? (ii) What is the geographic distribution of coastal restoration research? and (iii) Are abiotic and biotic factors equally emphasized in the literature, and how does this vary with time? Our vote-count survey indicated that one-third of the journal-published studies listed authors from at least two sectors, and 6% listed authors from all three sectors. Across all habitat types, there was a dearth of studies from Africa, Asia, and South America. Finally, despite many experimental studies demonstrating that species interactions can greatly affect the recovery and persistence of coastal foundation species, only one-fourth of the studies we examined discussed their effects on restoration. Combined, our results reveal gaps and discrepancies in restoration research that should be addressed in order to further propel coastal restoration science.

ACS Style

Y. Zhang; William Cioffi; Rebecca Cope; Pedro Daleo; Eleanor Heywood; Carmen Hoyt; Carter Smith; Brian. Silliman. A Global Synthesis Reveals Gaps in Coastal Habitat Restoration Research. Sustainability 2018, 10, 1040 .

AMA Style

Y. Zhang, William Cioffi, Rebecca Cope, Pedro Daleo, Eleanor Heywood, Carmen Hoyt, Carter Smith, Brian. Silliman. A Global Synthesis Reveals Gaps in Coastal Habitat Restoration Research. Sustainability. 2018; 10 (4):1040.

Chicago/Turabian Style

Y. Zhang; William Cioffi; Rebecca Cope; Pedro Daleo; Eleanor Heywood; Carmen Hoyt; Carter Smith; Brian. Silliman. 2018. "A Global Synthesis Reveals Gaps in Coastal Habitat Restoration Research." Sustainability 10, no. 4: 1040.

Journal article
Published: 13 April 2017 in Scientific Reports
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Within-species variation in social structure has attracted interest recently because of the potential to explore phenotypic plasticity and, specifically, how demographic and ecological variation influence social structure. Populations of bottlenose dolphins (Tursiops spp.) vary in male alliance formation, from no alliances to simple pairs to, in Shark Bay, Western Australia, the most complex nested alliances known outside of humans. Examination of ecological contributions to this variation is complicated by differences among populations in other potentially explanatory traits, such as phylogenetic distance, as well as female reproductive schedules, sexual size dimorphism, and body size. Here, we report our discovery of systematic spatial variation in alliance structure, seasonal movements and access to mates within a single continuous social network in the Shark Bay population. Participation in male trios (versus pairs), the sizes of seasonal range shifts and consortship rates all decrease from north to south along the 50 km length of the study area. The southern habitat, characterised by shallow banks and channels, may be marginal relative to the open northern habitat. The discovery of variation in alliance behaviour along a spatial axis within a single population is unprecedented and demonstrates that alliance complexity has an ecological component.

ACS Style

Richard C. Connor; William R. Cioffi; Srđan Randić; Simon J. Allen; Jana Watson-Capps; Michael Krützen. Male alliance behaviour and mating access varies with habitat in a dolphin social network. Scientific Reports 2017, 7, 46354 .

AMA Style

Richard C. Connor, William R. Cioffi, Srđan Randić, Simon J. Allen, Jana Watson-Capps, Michael Krützen. Male alliance behaviour and mating access varies with habitat in a dolphin social network. Scientific Reports. 2017; 7 (1):46354.

Chicago/Turabian Style

Richard C. Connor; William R. Cioffi; Srđan Randić; Simon J. Allen; Jana Watson-Capps; Michael Krützen. 2017. "Male alliance behaviour and mating access varies with habitat in a dolphin social network." Scientific Reports 7, no. 1: 46354.