Greetings MARMAM community! Join us on Thursday, December 14th at 1 pm PST / 5 pm AST / 9 pm GMT for the next SMM Editors' Select Series Webinar: Narwhal calling rate changes in association with passing ships in Milne Inlet, Nunavut, Canada with Crystal Radtke
This event is free to attend and presented online via Zoom, but registration is required. Register here: https://us06web.zoom.us/webinar/register/WN_s1vcgSAxT3StXpE-NB417g Space on Zoom is limited to the first 500 attendees. The talk will also be streamed live on the SMM Facebook page. About the talk: Concerns were raised about possible behavioural disturbance to narwhals (Monodon monoceros) when exposed to shipping noise in Milne Inlet, Baffin Island, Nunavut, Canada. It is known that marine mammals often change their behaviours especially their vocalizations, around ships. With the use of underwater recordings operating continuously over two months (in 2018 and 2019), narwhal vocalizations in Milne Inlet were analyzed. Narwhals produce three social call types, whistles, buzzes and knocks. The calling rates of each call type were determined when no ships were present and during ship transits in a before-during-after analysis. Narwhal call counts were generally lower when bulk carriers were within line-of-sight (5 km), including when ship noise levels were barely above background noise levels. Call counts varied both “before” and “after” individual bulk carriers passed by the recorders. There was no evidence of habituation or sensitization to the bulk carrier noise within or between years. Continued monitoring in this area is recommended, especially if shipping levels increase. About the presenter: Crystal studied at the University of New Brunswick, in Saint John, NB, Canada for undergraduate and graduate studies. Her honours project was on the underwater soundscape of Mawson Station, Antarctica and the impacts this could have on the masking of Weddell seal calls. Her masters thesis was on the classification of narwhal calls and the changes in calling rates in association with passing ships. She has also volunteered with various organizations (Bimini Biological Field Station, Dolphin Communication Project and Operation Wallacea) for marine mammal, fish and marine invertebrate studies. Open access to this article is made temporarily available in the weeks around the presentation and can be found here: https://onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/full/10.1111/mms.13028 Current SMM members have access to all Marine Mammal Science papers. Missed a presentation or want to share this series with a friend? All previous Editors' Select presentations are recorded and archived on our YouTube channel here: https://www.youtube.com/playlist?list=PLUc78IynQlubS2DVS1VZoplf_t42-yZOO We hope to see you there! -- Ayça Eleman, Ph.D. Candidate Theresa-Anne Tatom-Naecker, Ph.D. Candidate Sophia Volzke, Ph.D. Candidate Student Members-at-Large (SMaLs) The Society for Marine Mammalogy 
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