Dear Marmam,
Please post this.
Best and thanks
Peter

Dear All,
On behalf of Line Kyhn and coauthors, I hereby wish to draw the attention of 
interested readers to this recent paper in Plos One on echolocation of 
porpoises in a killer whale habitat:

Clicking in a Killer Whale Habitat: Narrow-Band, High-Frequency Biosonar Clicks 
of Harbour Porpoise(Phocoena phocoena) and Dall's Porpoise (Phocoenoides dalli)

Line A. Kyhn1*, Jakob Tougaard1, Kristian Beedholm2, Frants H. Jensen2, Erin 
Ashe3, Rob Williams3,
Peter T. Madsen2
1 Department of Bioscience, Aarhus University, Aarhus, Denmark, 2 
Zoophysiology, Department of Bioscience, Aarhus University, Aarhus, Denmark, 3 
Sea Mammal Research Unit, Scottish Oceans Institute, University of St Andrews, 
St Andrews, United Kingdom

Abstract
Odontocetes produce a range of different echolocation clicks but four groups in 
different families have converged on
producing the same stereotyped narrow band high frequency (NBHF) click. In 
microchiropteran bats, sympatric species have evolved the use of different 
acoustic niches and subtly different echolocation signals to avoid competition 
among species. In this study, we examined whether similar adaptations are at 
play among sympatric porpoise species that use NBHF echolocation clicks. We 
used a six-element hydrophone array to record harbour and Dall's porpoises in 
British Columbia (BC), Canada, and harbour porpoises in Denmark. The click 
source properties of all porpoise groups were remarkably similar and had an 
average directivity index of 25 dB. Yet there was a small, but consistent and 
significant 4 kHz difference in centroid frequency between sympatric Dall's 
(13763 kHz) and Canadian harbour porpoises (14162 kHz). Danish harbor porpoise 
clicks (13663 kHz) were more similar to Dall's porpoise than to their 
conspecifics in Canada. We suggest that the spectral differences in 
echolocation clicks between the sympatric porpoises are consistent with 
evolution of a prezygotic isolating barrier (i.e., character displacement) to 
avoid hybridization of sympatric species. In practical terms, these spectral 
differences have immediate application to passive acoustic monitoring.

A popular account can be found here:
http://www.mysciencework.com/en/MyScienceNews/10193/killer-whales-porpoise-clicks

A pdf copy can be found here:
http://www.plosone.org/article/info%3Adoi%2F10.1371%2Fjournal.pone.0063763


Or by emailing me: peter.mad...@biology.au.dk<mailto:peter.mad...@biology.au.dk>

On behalf of the authors
Peter


Peter T. Madsen
Zoophysiology, Department of Bioscience
Aarhus University, Build. 1131, CF Mollers Alle
8000 Aarhus C, Denmark

Phone: 0045 8715 6501
email: peter.mad...@biology.au.dk<mailto:peter.mad...@biology.au.dk>
Web: www.marinebioacoustics.com<http://www.marinebioacoustics.com>

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