Professor Stephanie King
PhD, MRes, BSc
Current positions
Professor of Animal Behaviour
School of Biological Sciences
Contact
Press and media
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Research interests
I'm a behavioural biologist with a primary focus on animal communication systems and how these systems have evolved to help mediate complex social behaviours.
To date, much of my research has focused on the temporal and social aspects of vocal interactions in bottlenose dolphins, and their use of individually distinctive signature whistles. I have over a decade's worth of experience studying marine mammal acoustic communication, as well as extensive experience in assessing the consequences of anthropogenic noise disturbance on marine mammal populations.
My current research interests lie with exploring the role vocal communication plays in mediating complex social behaviours, such as cooperation, in animal systems. I continue to use bottlenose dolphins as a model system, with the aim of understanding how dynamic social environments may influence and shape the communicative strategies that animals employ when making decisions of when and with whom to cooperate.
I am a PI of the Shark Bay Dolphin Research alongside Prof Richard Connor, Prof Michael Krützen and Dr Simon Allen. Please visit our website www.sharkbaydolphins.org to find out more about the research currently underway in Shark Bay.
Projects and supervisions
Research projects
IIPF2024-03 Aging and sociality in a wild dolphin population
Principal Investigator
Managing organisational unit
School of Biological SciencesDates
20/03/2024 to 29/06/2024
Male synchrony: individual variation, epigenetic drivers and the overall effect on reproductive success in multilevel alliances of wild dolphins
Principal Investigator
Managing organisational unit
School of Biological SciencesDates
01/04/2023 to 31/03/2025
Thesis supervisions
Social drivers of signature whistle complexity in bottlenose dolphins (Tursiops aduncus)
Supervisors
Bottlenose dolphin vocal communication: drivers of whistle variation and the utility of identity signals to inform conservation
Supervisors
Communication, cooperation, and coordination
Supervisors
Social complexity and communication in bottlenose dolphins
Supervisors
Publications
Recent publications
18/06/2024Juvenile social play predicts adult reproductive success in male bottlenose dolphins
Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences of the United States of America
An epigenetic DNA methylation clock for age estimates in Indo-Pacific bottlenose dolphins (Tursiops aduncus)
Evolutionary Applications
Anthropogenic noise impairs cooperation in bottlenose dolphins
Current Biology
Inter-group alliance dynamics in Indo-Pacific bottlenose dolphins (Tursiops aduncus)
Animal Cognition
Allied male dolphins use vocal exchanges to “bond at a distance”
Current Biology