Blue Whales Respond to Anthropogenic Noise
Anthropogenic noise may significantly impact exposed marine mammals. This work studied the vocalization response of endangered blue whales to anthropogenic noise sources in the mid-frequency range using passive acoustic monitoring in the Southern California Bight. Blue whales were less likely to pro...
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2012
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ftcdlib:oai:escholarship.org:ark:/13030/qt4dr5g849 2023-09-05T13:18:33+02:00 Blue Whales Respond to Anthropogenic Noise Melcón, Mariana L Cummins, Amanda J Kerosky, Sara M Roche, Lauren K Wiggins, Sean M Hildebrand, John A Mathevon, Nicolas e32681 2012-01-01 application/pdf https://escholarship.org/uc/item/4dr5g849 unknown eScholarship, University of California qt4dr5g849 https://escholarship.org/uc/item/4dr5g849 public PLOS ONE, vol 7, iss 2 Behavioral and Social Science Life Below Water Life on Land Acoustics Animal Communication Animals Balaenoptera Behavior Animal California Noise Ships Sound Spectrography Time Factors Vocalization General Science & Technology article 2012 ftcdlib 2023-08-21T18:07:21Z Anthropogenic noise may significantly impact exposed marine mammals. This work studied the vocalization response of endangered blue whales to anthropogenic noise sources in the mid-frequency range using passive acoustic monitoring in the Southern California Bight. Blue whales were less likely to produce calls when mid-frequency active sonar was present. This reduction was more pronounced when the sonar source was closer to the animal, at higher sound levels. The animals were equally likely to stop calling at any time of day, showing no diel pattern in their sensitivity to sonar. Conversely, the likelihood of whales emitting calls increased when ship sounds were nearby. Whales did not show a differential response to ship noise as a function of the time of the day either. These results demonstrate that anthropogenic noise, even at frequencies well above the blue whales' sound production range, has a strong probability of eliciting changes in vocal behavior. The long-term implications of disruption in call production to blue whale foraging and other behaviors are currently not well understood. Article in Journal/Newspaper Blue whale University of California: eScholarship |
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Open Polar |
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University of California: eScholarship |
op_collection_id |
ftcdlib |
language |
unknown |
topic |
Behavioral and Social Science Life Below Water Life on Land Acoustics Animal Communication Animals Balaenoptera Behavior Animal California Noise Ships Sound Spectrography Time Factors Vocalization General Science & Technology |
spellingShingle |
Behavioral and Social Science Life Below Water Life on Land Acoustics Animal Communication Animals Balaenoptera Behavior Animal California Noise Ships Sound Spectrography Time Factors Vocalization General Science & Technology Melcón, Mariana L Cummins, Amanda J Kerosky, Sara M Roche, Lauren K Wiggins, Sean M Hildebrand, John A Blue Whales Respond to Anthropogenic Noise |
topic_facet |
Behavioral and Social Science Life Below Water Life on Land Acoustics Animal Communication Animals Balaenoptera Behavior Animal California Noise Ships Sound Spectrography Time Factors Vocalization General Science & Technology |
description |
Anthropogenic noise may significantly impact exposed marine mammals. This work studied the vocalization response of endangered blue whales to anthropogenic noise sources in the mid-frequency range using passive acoustic monitoring in the Southern California Bight. Blue whales were less likely to produce calls when mid-frequency active sonar was present. This reduction was more pronounced when the sonar source was closer to the animal, at higher sound levels. The animals were equally likely to stop calling at any time of day, showing no diel pattern in their sensitivity to sonar. Conversely, the likelihood of whales emitting calls increased when ship sounds were nearby. Whales did not show a differential response to ship noise as a function of the time of the day either. These results demonstrate that anthropogenic noise, even at frequencies well above the blue whales' sound production range, has a strong probability of eliciting changes in vocal behavior. The long-term implications of disruption in call production to blue whale foraging and other behaviors are currently not well understood. |
author2 |
Mathevon, Nicolas |
format |
Article in Journal/Newspaper |
author |
Melcón, Mariana L Cummins, Amanda J Kerosky, Sara M Roche, Lauren K Wiggins, Sean M Hildebrand, John A |
author_facet |
Melcón, Mariana L Cummins, Amanda J Kerosky, Sara M Roche, Lauren K Wiggins, Sean M Hildebrand, John A |
author_sort |
Melcón, Mariana L |
title |
Blue Whales Respond to Anthropogenic Noise |
title_short |
Blue Whales Respond to Anthropogenic Noise |
title_full |
Blue Whales Respond to Anthropogenic Noise |
title_fullStr |
Blue Whales Respond to Anthropogenic Noise |
title_full_unstemmed |
Blue Whales Respond to Anthropogenic Noise |
title_sort |
blue whales respond to anthropogenic noise |
publisher |
eScholarship, University of California |
publishDate |
2012 |
url |
https://escholarship.org/uc/item/4dr5g849 |
op_coverage |
e32681 |
genre |
Blue whale |
genre_facet |
Blue whale |
op_source |
PLOS ONE, vol 7, iss 2 |
op_relation |
qt4dr5g849 https://escholarship.org/uc/item/4dr5g849 |
op_rights |
public |
_version_ |
1776199491373760512 |