Undergraduate Research: An Archive - 2021 Program

Taylor Machette ’21
ECOLOGY AND EVOLUTIONARY BIOLOGY
Certificate in Environmental Studies
BIODIVERSITY AND
CONSERVATION
THESIS TITLE
The Determinants and
Potential Functions of
Synchronous Diving in
Short-Finned Pilot
Whales
ADVISER
Daniel Rubenstein,
Class of 1877 Professor
of Zoology, Professor of
Ecology and
Evolutionary Biology
Short-finned pilot whales are deep-diving marine
mammals that display synchronized movements
in various behavioral contexts at the surface.
However, little is known about how frequently
pilot whales temporally coordinate their foraging
dives and the potential functions of dive
synchrony have yet to be explored. I worked on a
team that analyzed synchronous diving among
14 pairs of pilot whales off of Cape Hatteras,
North Carolina, and the Hawaiian Islands.
We found that pairs of stronger associates
synchronized their dives more often than pairs of
weaker associates, and pairs of two adult males
were more synchronous than dyads of an adult
male with an individual of a different age or sex.
Additionally, we tested two hypotheses for the
function of synchronous diving — anti-predator
defense and cooperative foraging. We found
support for the first hypothesis by demonstrating
that individuals synchronized returns to the
surface more frequently than they descended
together then split apart at depth. This study
provided the first baseline characterization
of pilot whale dive synchrony patterns. These
findings could be used in future research seeking
to assess how these animals’ unique social
behaviors may be altered by anthropogenic
threats, such as naval sonar.
17