The significance of non-human culture for the conservation of cetaceans and other vertebrates

Abstract

The central proposition of this thesis is that non-human cultural transmission can interface with population dynamics to generate patterns and processes which can cause population level effects and thus inform conservation science, policy and practice. Culture can provide insights for both how conservation is conducted and what managers should be aiming to conserve (the ‘unit to conserve’). In this research, available evidence was gathered and a wide collaboration with experts in this field was established. This enabled the development of a conceptual framework to help guide researchers and practitioners towards ‘future-proofing’ populations by conserving both cultural variation and the capacity for innovation and social learning to maximize the resilience of vulnerable populations.

To illuminate some of the underlying processes, theoretical models were then constructed to investigate the dual dynamics of cultural transmission and population dynamics. Here it is shown that social learning can generate transient dynamics which may inform the timing of some conservation interventions. It is also demonstrated that under certain parameter regimes social learning can bring about cultural bistability, cultural hysteresis, or cultural exclusion. Further, it is shown how in a density dependent system, cultural transmission could generate chaos. These findings are considered within the context of conservation and policy. It is concluded that given the complexity of the coupled processes of population dynamics and cultural transmission - and the practical challenges associated with collecting fine scale data on how culture may influence vital rates - that conservation policy makers and practitioners should aim to conserve cultural diversity, within and between populations, as an essential source of adaptive behaviour.