ORCID Profile
0000-0003-0592-4926
Current Organisations
University of Melbourne
,
University of St Andrews
Does something not look right? The information on this page has been harvested from data sources that may not be up to date. We continue to work with information providers to improve coverage and quality. To report an issue, use the Feedback Form.
Publisher: Elsevier BV
Date: 2019
Publisher: Elsevier BV
Date: 12-2015
Publisher: Wiley
Date: 30-04-2018
DOI: 10.1111/PPL.12676
Abstract: The impact of elevated [CO
Publisher: Elsevier BV
Date: 05-2016
Publisher: CSIRO Publishing
Date: 2023
DOI: 10.1071/CP22344
Publisher: Elsevier BV
Date: 07-2021
Publisher: Wiley
Date: 16-05-2020
DOI: 10.1111/GCB.15105
Publisher: Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences
Date: 08-09-2022
Abstract: Culture, a pillar of the remarkable ecological success of humans, is increasingly recognized as a powerful force structuring nonhuman animal populations. A key gap between these two types of culture is quantitative evidence of symbolic markers—seemingly arbitrary traits that function as reliable indicators of cultural group membership to conspecifics. Using acoustic data collected from 23 Pacific Ocean locations, we provide quantitative evidence that certain sperm whale acoustic signals exhibit spatial patterns consistent with a symbolic marker function. Culture segments sperm whale populations into behaviorally distinct clans, which are defined based on dialects of stereotyped click patterns (codas). We classified 23,429 codas into types using contaminated mixture models and hierarchically clustered coda repertoires into seven clans based on similarities in coda usage then we evaluated whether coda usage varied with geographic distance within clans or with spatial overlap between clans. Similarities in within-clan usage of both “identity codas” (coda types diagnostic of clan identity) and “nonidentity codas” (coda types used by multiple clans) decrease as space between repertoire recording locations increases. However, between-clan similarity in identity, but not nonidentity, coda usage decreases as clan spatial overlap increases. This matches expectations if sympatry is related to a measurable pressure to ersify to make cultural isions sharper, thereby providing evidence that identity codas function as symbolic markers of clan identity. Our study provides quantitative evidence of arbitrary traits, resembling human ethnic markers, conveying cultural identity outside of humans, and highlights remarkable similarities in the distributions of human ethnolinguistic groups and sperm whale clans.
Publisher: Elsevier BV
Date: 04-2020
Publisher: Elsevier BV
Date: 09-2019
Publisher: The Royal Society
Date: 21-04-2021
Abstract: A key goal of conservation is to protect bio ersity by supporting the long-term persistence of viable, natural populations of wild species. Conservation practice has long been guided by genetic, ecological and demographic indicators of risk. Emerging evidence of animal culture across erse taxa and its role as a driver of evolutionary ersification, population structure and demographic processes may be essential for augmenting these conventional conservation approaches and decision-making. Animal culture was the focus of a ground-breaking resolution under the Convention on the Conservation of Migratory Species of Wild Animals (CMS), an international treaty operating under the UN Environment Programme. Here, we synthesize existing evidence to demonstrate how social learning and animal culture interact with processes important to conservation management. Specifically, we explore how social learning might influence population viability and be an important resource in response to anthropogenic change, and provide ex les of how it can result in phenotypically distinct units with different, socially learnt behavioural strategies. While identifying culture and social learning can be challenging, indirect identification and parsimonious inferences may be informative. Finally, we identify relevant methodologies and provide a framework for viewing behavioural data through a cultural lens which might provide new insights for conservation management.
Publisher: Elsevier BV
Date: 11-2018
Publisher: Elsevier BV
Date: 02-2015
DOI: 10.1016/J.JPLPH.2014.10.008
Abstract: The impact of elevated atmospheric [CO2] (e[CO2]) on plants often includes a decrease in their nutrient status, including Ca and Mg, but the reasons for this decline have not been clearly identified. One of the proposed hypotheses is a decrease in transpiration-driven mass flow of nutrients due to decreased stomatal conductance. We used glasshouse and Free Air CO2 Enrichment (FACE) experiments with wheat to show that, in addition to decrease in transpiration rate, e[CO2] decreased the concentrations of Ca and Mg in the xylem sap. This result suggests that uptake of nutrients is not only decreased by reduced transpiration-driven mass flow, but also by as yet unidentified mechanisms that lead to reduced concentrations in the xylem sap.
Location: United Kingdom of Great Britain and Northern Ireland
No related grants have been discovered for Dr Alireza Houshmandfar.