Can singing be used to predict critical habitats

• Main Authors: Tracey Rogers, Michaela Ciaglia, Holger Klinck, Colin Southwell
• Other Authors: The Pennsylvania State University CiteSeerX Archives
• Format: Text
• Language: English
• Subjects: Davis Sea; Antarc*; Antarctica
• Online Access: http://citeseerx.ist.psu.edu/viewdoc/summary?doi=10.1.1.1083.5941; http://www.acoustics.asn.au/conference_proceedings/AAS2012/papers/p71.pdf

ABSTRACT Climate-induced changes may be more substantial within the marine environment, where following ecological change is logistically difficult, and typically expensive. As marine animals tend to produce stereotyped, long-range signals, they are ideal for repeatable surveying. In this study we illustrate the potential for calling rates to be used as a tool for determining habitat quality. With a good understanding of the vocal behaviour of the species, their seasonal and diurnal patterns, sex and age-related differences, an underwater passive-acoustic survey conducted alongside a visual survey in an arc of 4,225 km across the Davis Sea, Eastern Antarctica, showed that while acoustic and visual surveys identified similar regions as having high densities, the acoustic surveys surprisingly identified the opposite regions as being 'critical' habitats. We propose that density surveys of species that cannot be differentiated into population classes can be misleading because overall density can be a negative indicator of habitat 'quality' for some species where dominant individuals secure space in prime habitats. Recent climatic change has affected a broad range of organisms with diverse geographical distributions. These include changes in phenology, the timing of seasonal activities of animals and plants, range shifts and changes in the distribution patterns of species, changes in the composition of and interactions within communities, and the structure and dynamics of ecosystems