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Social and Behavioral Responses to Environmental Stressors in Bottlenose Dolphins in Shark Bay, Australia

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Social and Behavioral Responses to Environmental Stressors in Bottlenose Dolphins in Shark Bay, Australia SOCIAL AND BEHAVIORAL RESPONSES TO ENVIRONMENTAL STRESSORS IN BOTTLENOSE DOLPHINS IN SHARK BAY, AUSTRALIA A Dissertation submitted to the Faculty of the Graduate School of Arts and Sciences of Georgetown University in partial fulfillment of the requirements for the degree of Doctor of Philosophy in Biology By Madison Layne Miketa, Sc.B. Washington, DC August 10, 2018 Copyright 2018 by Madison Layne Miketa All Rights Reserved ii SOCIAL AND BEHAVIORAL RESPONSES TO ENVIRONMENTAL STRESSORS IN BOTTLENOSE DOLPHINS IN SHARK BAY, AUSTRALIA Madison Layne Miketa, Sc.B. Thesis Advisor: Janet Mann, Ph.D. ABSTRACT Animals experience a variety of natural and anthropogenic environmental stressors, and responses to such stressors can impact fitness. Bottlenose dolphins are long-lived, socially complex, and behaviorally flexible. I examined how individuals behaviorally adjust in response to such stressors and whether long-term bonds might be a mitigating factor. One such stressor for dolphins and whales is maternal care, where the mother must dive to find food, leaving her less able calf at the surface. Chapter 1 investigates mother-calf diving behavior in wild bottlenose dolphins, showing that while calves increased their dive durations with age, mothers modified their behavior according to calf sex and distance from their calves in a way that favored female calves. This is consistent with sex-specific socio-ecological strategies, where vertical learning is more important for female than male calves. Mothers are affording daughters more direct experience of her foraging behavior than sons. Another stressor is human impacts, especially fishing gear entanglement. In a rare observation, Chapter 2 shows how a dolphin behaved before, during entanglement and after she was free from the fishing line. During entanglement, the dolphin decreased association and social behavior with others, decreased foraging and increased in traveling and erratic behavior. Chapter 3 quantifies the paradoxical impact of a major seagrass die-off on dolphin behavior, where dolphins increased their use of seagrass habitat following the die-off. Seagrass specialists shifted habitat use and foraging from their preferred seagrass species to the less iii preferred, but less damaged species. Calf survival and birthrate did not decrease post-die-off, but there may longer-term impacts if prey abundance decreases. In the first detailed examination of female-female bonds, Chapter 4 explores the temporal dynamics and factors driving such bonds. Most females maintained strong long-term bonds for 4-18 years, and was associated with calving success. Partner similarity, degree of alter, and bond strength were important for the maintenance of ties, while friends-of-friends and age difference were important for the creation of ties. Long-term datasets on long-lived, socially complex mammals are rare, but invaluable for understanding how individuals respond to a changing environment and stressful events. iv My dissertation is dedicated to my friends and family for all of their love and support. And specifically, this dissertation is in loving memory of my Papa. My sincere gratitude, Madison v ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS I have been extremely fortunate to work with so many amazing people and animals and in such a beautiful part of the world over the last 5 years. It’s hard to put into words what a special experience this has been. There are many people who have supported me along the way and helped me get to this point. I am forever grateful for all of them. I would like to thank my thesis committee. Dr. Gina Wimp, Dr. Shweta Bansal, and Dr. Lisa Singh were incredibly helpful throughout my PhD and this work would not have been possible without them. All of you made my chapters better by asking thoughtful and challenging questions. You also helped me put my work into perspective and see the bigger picture. I cannot tell you how much I appreciate all of your support and positivity during this process. This would work not have been possible without all of the hard work and dedication from present and past members of the Shark Bay Dolphin Research Project. Not only are all of you my colleagues that helped push me to be better, but you are also great friends and my life in DC would not be the same without you. Dr. Ewa Krzyszczyk, you hosted me on my very first visit to Georgetown and introduced me to the project. You taught me so much about cetaceans, photo- ID, fieldwork, and you were always keen to have thoughtful discussions when I was stuck on problem. You’re such a loving and thoughtful friend; you always bring the lab together and celebrate all of our little victories (and of course, birthdays). I’m so glad that we finally got to share a boat this last field season! Dr. Eric Patterson, your enthusiasm and open door policy made you my sounding board for all things science (especially statistics). You taught me how to use R and QGIS, you taught me about statistics, and you trained me in the field – I always viewed you as my secondary advisor. I cannot thank you enough for your kindness, your support, vi and everything you taught me during my time at Georgetown. Dr. Maggie Stanton, you’re a social networking whiz and I thank you so much for your assistance with my social bonds chapter. You were always so patient during our conversations and would fix up my code at lightening speeds. You also provide fantastic insights and draft edits, I’m so grateful that you agreed to be part of my project. That chapter would not have been possible without all of your assistance. Dr. Meg Wallen, it was so fun to watch you grow as a person and a scientist and I’m so glad we developed such a strong friendship. I appreciate all of the times that you were willing to stop what you were doing and talk things through with me (which was often towards the end!). Thank you for all of your advice and sharing your experiences with me throughout the process. Caitlin Karniski, we started in the lab at nearly the same time (although in different roles) and it’s been a lifesaver to have you by my side these last 5 years. I know that I can always come to you with anything and that we can always have a good laugh. You’ve been such a great friend during this process and I’m so excited to watch you defend next year. Vivienne Foroughirad, you’re such a badass and an inspiration. Your coding skills and knowledge of basically everything are insanely impressive. Thank you for always being open to have work conversations and provide coding assistance over the last five years – and of course all of the laughs. You’re going to be amazing at your defense and I hope I get to welcome you into the family one day ;). Anni Jacoby, you’ve been so supportive and fun during this process. You’ve grown so much and it’s been awesome to see you thrive on the Potomac Project. Jillian Wisse, I remember the days that we were recording lemur copulations together…and I’d like to think that I brought you into the marine mammal world. It’s been so fun to watch you blossom and forge your own path. Lex Levengood, we only had one field season together, but it was a fun one! I’m glad we had that time together and I hope we get to work together again in the future. Taylor vii Evans, it’s been so fun having you in the lab and I love that you encourage more lab gatherings. I think your project is really fascinating and I’ve had so much fun learning about your work since you joined the lab. Molly McEntee, I’m glad we got some time together in the field this past season and bonded over iced beverages. I’m excited to see where your PhD takes you! Desirae Cambrelen, you make me laugh harder than almost anyone I know. You are such a joy to have around and I can’t wait to see you kick ass in your Masters program. I sincerely hope we get to work together on animal welfare issues one day. Margaret Stebbins and Lena Bichell, you were the best field assistants I could have asked for, especially for my first solo field season. Thank you both so much for your unwavering support and all of the amazing memories. Thank you also to the entire Georgetown Biology Department for all of your support these last 5 years. It’s been a wonderful environment to work in and I appreciate all of your friendly faces. I would like to especially thank Zach Batz for his friendship – you were always there to commiserate and provide endless laughs. I would also like to thank the Bansal Lab for their support and friendship. I’d like to thank everyone in Monkey Mia who has befriended us and helped us without hesitation. That includes, but is not limited to, the DBCA rangers, Harvey and the Shotover crew, Grant Brown, and Monkey Mia Resort staff. I would like to especially thank Emily Ward for her love and friendship. You are so loving and kind and we all love you so much. There are also a number of people from my undergraduate career who I need to thank. First, Dr. Ruth Colwill, you really cemented this path for me in your Animal Minds seminar during my first semester at Brown. I was absolutely enthralled by the research on animal cognition and behavior and I knew that was what I wanted to study.
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