Scale-dependent feedback between sociality and space use in a long-lived marine predator

Abstract Spatial and social behaviours in animals are intertwined, yet the causal direction of this feedback—and how it varies across scales—remains largely unresolved. Using long-term data from false killer whales (Pseudorca crassidens) in the main Hawaiian Islands, we developed and applied a scale-explicit analytical framework to test how social reliance and resource ephemerality govern top-down versus bottom-up processes linking movement and sociality. Movements, association networks, genetic relatedness, and isotopic niches reveal that strong social bonds drive bottom-up emergence of short-term intra-group movements, while ephemeral and likely island-associated prey landscapes impose top-down constraints on inter-group dynamics across scales. These complementary processes generate persistent, fine-scale fidelity within some groups and relatively well-differentiated feeding niches among them. Our findings highlight a general mechanism by which life-history strategies and environmental stochasticity jointly determine the scale and direction of feedback between space use and sociality—shaping population structure and connectivity in mobile social predators. Competing Interest Statement The authors have declared no competing interest. Footnotes Email addresses: RWB (rwbaird{at}cascadiaresearch.org); DSJ (devin.johnson{at}noaa.gov); CJC (colincornforth{at}yahoo.com); SDM (Mahaffys{at}cascadiaresearch.org); M. Caputo (mcaputo{at}une.edu); JJK (jkiszka{at}fiu.edu); KKM (karen.martien{at}noaa.gov); M. Cantor (mauricio.cantor{at}oregonstate.edu) Statement of authorship: MAK, RWB, and MCantor conceptualized the ideas. DSJ helped design the tag-based analytical framework. CJC deployed satellite tags and collected biopsy samples. SDM matched individuals and processed association data, MCaputo and JJK processed biopsy samples for stable isotopes and assisted with associated data analysis, and KKM processed biopsy samples for genetic relatedness. RWB acquired funding and conducted fieldwork. MAK conducted all statistical analyses with the supervision of MCantor and DSJ. MAK wrote the first draft of the manuscript and all authors reviewed and edited subsequent drafts. Data accessibility statement: Data and code used to produce the results and figures are available to the editor and reviewers and will be made publicly accessible upon publication.