Dear colleagues,
My co-authors and I would like to share with you a recent publication on
the behavioral response by coastal dolphins to naval mine neutralization
exercises:
Lammers, M.O., Howe, M., Zang, E., McElligott, M., Engelhaupt, A. and
Munger, L. (2017) “Acoustic monitoring of coastal dolphins and their
response to naval mine neutralization exercises.” Royal Society Open
Science. DOI: 10.1098/rsos.170558
To investigate the potential impacts of naval mine neutralization
exercises (MINEX) on odontocete cetaceans, a long-term passive acoustic
monitoring study was conducted at a US Navy training range near Virginia
Beach, USA. Bottom-moored acoustic recorders were deployed in 2012–2016
near the epicentre of MINEX training activity and were refurbished every
2–4 months. Recordings were analysed for the daily presence/absence of
dolphins, and dolphin acoustic activity was quantified in detail for the
hours and days before and after 31 MINEX training events. Dolphins
occurred in the area year-round, but there was clear seasonal
variability, with lower presence during winter months. Dolphins
exhibited a behavioural response to underwater detonations. Dolphin
acoustic activity near the training location was lower during the hours
and days following detonations, suggesting that animals left the area
and/or reduced their signalling. Concurrent acoustic monitoring farther
away from the training area suggested that the radius of response was
between 3 and 6 km. A generalized additive model indicated that the
predictors that explained the greatest amount of deviance in the data
were the day relative to the training event, the hour of the day and
circumstances specific to each training event.
You can access the paper free of charge here:
HTML Full Text:
http://rsos.royalsocietypublishing.org/cgi/content/full/rsos.170558?ijkey=peaGbNYxbz52WeT&keytype=ref
PDF:
http://rsos.royalsocietypublishing.org/cgi/reprint/rsos.170558?ijkey=peaGbNYxbz52WeT&keytype=ref
Aloha,
Marc
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