Dear MARMAM community,
on behalf of my co-authors, I am excited to share our paper on diel
spatiotemporal trends of humpback whale singers in Hawai’i that was just
published in Royal Society Open Science. You can find this Open Access article
following this link: https://royalsocietypublishing.org/doi/10.1098/rsos.230279
<https://royalsocietypublishing.org/doi/10.1098/rsos.230279>
Kügler A, Lammers MO, Pack AA, Tenorio-Hallé L, Thode AM. 2024 Diel
spatio-temporal patterns of humpback whale singing on a high-density breeding
ground. R. Soc. Open Sci. 11: 230279. https://doi.org/10.1098/rsos.230279
Abstract:
Humpback whale song chorusing dominates the marine soundscape in Hawai‘i during
winter months, yet little is known about spatio-temporal habitat use patterns
of singers. We analysed passive acoustic monitoring data from five sites off
Maui and found that ambient noise levels associated with song chorusing
decreased during daytime hours nearshore but increased offshore. To resolve
whether these changes reflect a diel offshore–onshore movement or a temporal
difference in singing activity, data from 71 concurrently conducted land-based
theodolite surveys were analysed. Non-calf pods (n= 3082), presumably including
the majority of singers, were found further offshore with increasing time of
the day. Separately, we acoustically localized 217 nearshore singers using
vector-sensors. During the day, distances to shore and minimum distances among
singers increased, and singers switched more between being stationary and
singing while travelling. Together, these findings suggest that the observed
diel trends in humpback whale chorusing off Maui represent a pattern of active
onshore–offshore movement of singers. We hypothesize that this may result from
singers attempting to reduce intraspecific acoustic masking when densities are
high nearshore and avoidance of a loud, non-humpback, biological evening chorus
offshore, creating a dynamic of movement of singers aimed at increasing the
efficiency of their acoustic display.
Kind regards,
--
Anke Kügler PhD
Postdoctoral Researcher
Bioacoustics and Behavioral Ecology Lab
Syracuse University
_______________________________________________
MARMAM mailing list
MARMAM@lists.uvic.ca
https://lists.uvic.ca/mailman/listinfo/marmam
