Integrating cultural dimensions in sperm whale ( <i>Physeter macrocephalus</i> ) conservation: threats, challenges and solutions
Bibliographic record
Abstract
Culture-socially transmitted behaviours shared within a community-can influence animal populations' structure, vulnerability and resilience. Clans of sperm whales in the Eastern Tropical Pacific (ETP) exemplify the profound influence of culture on these dynamics and highlight the challenges of accounting for culture in conservation efforts. Globally, sperm whales are classified as vulnerable, and the ETP sperm whale population has struggled to reach a positive growth rate. This stagnation is partly due to cumulative anthropogenic threats in the region, including fishing conflicts, vessel traffic, pollution, deep sea mining, oil and gas exploration, and anthropogenic climate change. The United Nations Convention on Migratory Species adopted a Concerted Action for ETP sperm whales in 2017, proposing collaborative efforts to address cultural dimensions in conservation. However, knowledge gaps and real-world implementation challenges persist. Here, we review the role of social transmission in shaping sperm whale behaviour and populations, outline current anthropogenic threats and environmental stressors they face in the ETP, and discuss the ongoing challenges of incorporating cultural dimensions into large-scale international conservation efforts. Strengthening transnational collaboration and capitalizing on new technologies for efficient analysis can help bridge these knowledge gaps and enhance future research on this iconic species.This article is part of the theme issue 'Animal culture: conservation in a changing world'.
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How this classification was reachedexpand
Full frame machine prediction
Teacher imitationNot calibrated prevalence, not ground truth. Human validation pending. The Gemma side is a direct model label for every work in the frame, read from the title-only record. The Codex side is a classifier learned from the 10,348 direct Codex labels and calibrated to design-weighted sample rates; fields without enough sample support carry no Codex call. Candidate is the union of the two sides; consensus is their intersection. These outputs are machine_predicted_unvalidated and are not human labels.
Distilled classifier scores by category (both heads)
| Category | Codex | Gemma |
|---|---|---|
| Metaresearch | 0.001 | 0.002 |
| Meta-epidemiology (narrow) | 0.001 | 0.000 |
| Meta-epidemiology (broad) | 0.001 | 0.001 |
| Bibliometrics | 0.003 | 0.003 |
| Science and technology studies | 0.001 | 0.001 |
| Scholarly communication | 0.002 | 0.003 |
| Open science | 0.001 | 0.001 |
| Research integrity | 0.002 | 0.002 |
| Insufficient payload (model declined to judge) | 0.003 | 0.001 |
Machine scores (provisional)
The two teacher heads of the student model, read on this work. A score orders the frame for review; it never asserts a category, and the validation status ships verbatim with every row.
Baseline scores from an immature model (maturity gate not passed, 7 training rounds). Scores rank; they never assert a category.
score_only:v0-immature-baseline · verbatim from the scoring run: score_only means the number may rank works, and no category label ships from itClassification
machine, unvalidatedMachine predicted; a candidate call from one source (direct Gemma or distilled Codex), not a consensus.
How this classification was reached, model by model and score by score, is at the end of the page under "How this classification was reached".