Social and spatial boundaries can shape behavioral transmission of mud-ring feeding among bottlenose dolphins

Abstract Specialized foraging tactics can shape population dynamics by fostering habitat-specific behaviors and preferential social associations among foragers. Understanding how ecological and social factors influence the transmission of these tactics is key to evaluating their evolutionary significance and ecological stability. Yet the interplay between these factors in shaping behavioral transmission in natural populations remains poorly understood. Here, we analyze how the interplay between spatial, population and social factors influences the potential for social transmission of a specialized foraging tactic—mud-ring feeding (MRF)—among bottlenose dolphins in Florida Bay, United States. We found that dolphin social networks were clustered into distinct social communities with preferential associations structured around this tactic. Both limited movement and brief presence by non-users into the MRF core area may further constrain their opportunities to acquire this behavior. Non-users were highly connected socially, whereas mud-ring specialists showed reduced social connectivity to the broader population, reflecting their social and behavioral differentiation. This alignment between spatial and social structure suggests that spatial fidelity reinforces social segregation, creating conditions that can both facilitate within-community transmission of the specialized foraging and limit its diffusion across the population. Nevertheless, individuals with high betweenness centrality—often non-users that occupy key bridging positions between network clusters with different levels of MRF specialization—potentially act as conduits for behavioral transmission across otherwise socially disconnected communities. These findings illustrate how social and spatial processes can reinforce one another and shape the transmission of specialized foraging in wild populations, with potential implications for the persistence of such adaptive behaviors in changing environments.