Bowhead and beluga whale acoustic detections in the western Beaufort Sea 2008–2018
The Distributed Biological Observatory (DBO) was established to detect environmental changes in the Pacific Arctic by regular monitoring of biophysical responses in each of 8 DBO regions. Here we examine the occurrence of bowhead and beluga whale vocalizations in the western Beaufort Sea acquired by...
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Online Access: | http://dx.doi.org/10.1371/journal.pone.0253929 https://dx.plos.org/10.1371/journal.pone.0253929 |
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crplos:10.1371/journal.pone.0253929 2024-09-30T14:30:26+00:00 Bowhead and beluga whale acoustic detections in the western Beaufort Sea 2008–2018 Stafford, Kathleen M. Citta, John J. Okkonen, Stephen R. Zhang, Jinlun Halliday, William David National Ocean Partnership Program National Science Foundation National Science Foundation National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration Bureau of Ocean Energy Management National Science Foundation National Science Foundation National Science Foundation 2021 http://dx.doi.org/10.1371/journal.pone.0253929 https://dx.plos.org/10.1371/journal.pone.0253929 en eng Public Library of Science (PLoS) http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/ PLOS ONE volume 16, issue 6, page e0253929 ISSN 1932-6203 journal-article 2021 crplos https://doi.org/10.1371/journal.pone.0253929 2024-09-03T04:14:01Z The Distributed Biological Observatory (DBO) was established to detect environmental changes in the Pacific Arctic by regular monitoring of biophysical responses in each of 8 DBO regions. Here we examine the occurrence of bowhead and beluga whale vocalizations in the western Beaufort Sea acquired by acoustic instruments deployed from September 2008-July 2014 and September 2016-October 2018 to examine inter-annual variability of these Arctic endemic species in DBO Region 6. Acoustic data were collected on an oceanographic mooring deployed in the Beaufort shelfbreak jet at ~71.4°N, 152.0°W. Spectrograms of acoustic data files were visually examined for the presence or absence of known signals of bowhead and beluga whales. Weekly averages of whale occurrence were compared with outputs of zooplankton, temperature and sea ice from the BIOMAS model to determine if any of these variables influenced whale occurrence. In addition, the dates of acoustic whale passage in the spring and fall were compared to annual sea ice melt-out and freeze-up dates to examine changes in phenology. Neither bowhead nor beluga whale migration times changed significantly in spring, but bowhead whales migrated significantly later in fall from 2008–2018. There were no clear relationships between bowhead whales and the environmental variables, suggesting that the DBO 6 region is a migratory corridor, but not a feeding hotspot, for this species. Surprisingly, beluga whale acoustic presence was related to zooplankton biomass near the mooring, but this is unlikely to be a direct relationship: there are likely interactions of environmental drivers that result in higher occurrence of both modeled zooplankton and belugas in the DBO 6 region. The environmental triggers that drive the migratory phenology of the two Arctic endemic cetacean species likely extend from Bering Sea transport of heat, nutrients and plankton through the Chukchi and into the Beaufort Sea. Article in Journal/Newspaper Arctic Beaufort Sea Beluga Beluga whale Beluga* Bering Sea Chukchi Pacific Arctic Sea ice Zooplankton PLOS Arctic Bering Sea Pacific PLOS ONE 16 6 e0253929 |
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English |
description |
The Distributed Biological Observatory (DBO) was established to detect environmental changes in the Pacific Arctic by regular monitoring of biophysical responses in each of 8 DBO regions. Here we examine the occurrence of bowhead and beluga whale vocalizations in the western Beaufort Sea acquired by acoustic instruments deployed from September 2008-July 2014 and September 2016-October 2018 to examine inter-annual variability of these Arctic endemic species in DBO Region 6. Acoustic data were collected on an oceanographic mooring deployed in the Beaufort shelfbreak jet at ~71.4°N, 152.0°W. Spectrograms of acoustic data files were visually examined for the presence or absence of known signals of bowhead and beluga whales. Weekly averages of whale occurrence were compared with outputs of zooplankton, temperature and sea ice from the BIOMAS model to determine if any of these variables influenced whale occurrence. In addition, the dates of acoustic whale passage in the spring and fall were compared to annual sea ice melt-out and freeze-up dates to examine changes in phenology. Neither bowhead nor beluga whale migration times changed significantly in spring, but bowhead whales migrated significantly later in fall from 2008–2018. There were no clear relationships between bowhead whales and the environmental variables, suggesting that the DBO 6 region is a migratory corridor, but not a feeding hotspot, for this species. Surprisingly, beluga whale acoustic presence was related to zooplankton biomass near the mooring, but this is unlikely to be a direct relationship: there are likely interactions of environmental drivers that result in higher occurrence of both modeled zooplankton and belugas in the DBO 6 region. The environmental triggers that drive the migratory phenology of the two Arctic endemic cetacean species likely extend from Bering Sea transport of heat, nutrients and plankton through the Chukchi and into the Beaufort Sea. |
author2 |
Halliday, William David National Ocean Partnership Program National Science Foundation National Science Foundation National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration Bureau of Ocean Energy Management National Science Foundation National Science Foundation National Science Foundation |
format |
Article in Journal/Newspaper |
author |
Stafford, Kathleen M. Citta, John J. Okkonen, Stephen R. Zhang, Jinlun |
spellingShingle |
Stafford, Kathleen M. Citta, John J. Okkonen, Stephen R. Zhang, Jinlun Bowhead and beluga whale acoustic detections in the western Beaufort Sea 2008–2018 |
author_facet |
Stafford, Kathleen M. Citta, John J. Okkonen, Stephen R. Zhang, Jinlun |
author_sort |
Stafford, Kathleen M. |
title |
Bowhead and beluga whale acoustic detections in the western Beaufort Sea 2008–2018 |
title_short |
Bowhead and beluga whale acoustic detections in the western Beaufort Sea 2008–2018 |
title_full |
Bowhead and beluga whale acoustic detections in the western Beaufort Sea 2008–2018 |
title_fullStr |
Bowhead and beluga whale acoustic detections in the western Beaufort Sea 2008–2018 |
title_full_unstemmed |
Bowhead and beluga whale acoustic detections in the western Beaufort Sea 2008–2018 |
title_sort |
bowhead and beluga whale acoustic detections in the western beaufort sea 2008–2018 |
publisher |
Public Library of Science (PLoS) |
publishDate |
2021 |
url |
http://dx.doi.org/10.1371/journal.pone.0253929 https://dx.plos.org/10.1371/journal.pone.0253929 |
geographic |
Arctic Bering Sea Pacific |
geographic_facet |
Arctic Bering Sea Pacific |
genre |
Arctic Beaufort Sea Beluga Beluga whale Beluga* Bering Sea Chukchi Pacific Arctic Sea ice Zooplankton |
genre_facet |
Arctic Beaufort Sea Beluga Beluga whale Beluga* Bering Sea Chukchi Pacific Arctic Sea ice Zooplankton |
op_source |
PLOS ONE volume 16, issue 6, page e0253929 ISSN 1932-6203 |
op_rights |
http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/ |
op_doi |
https://doi.org/10.1371/journal.pone.0253929 |
container_title |
PLOS ONE |
container_volume |
16 |
container_issue |
6 |
container_start_page |
e0253929 |
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1811635387893809152 |