Masking of beluga whale (delphinapterus leucas) vocalizations by icebreaker noise ...

• Main Author: Erbe, Christine
• Format: Text
• Language: English
• Published: University of British Columbia 2009
• Subjects: Arctic; Beluga; Beluga whale; Beluga*; Delphinapterus leucas
• Online Access: https://dx.doi.org/10.14288/1.0088708; https://doi.library.ubc.ca/10.14288/1.0088708

This thesis examines the masking effect of underwater noise on beluga whale communication. As ocean water is greatly opaque for light but well conducting for sound, marine mammals rely primarily on their hearing for orientation and communication. Man-made underwater noise has the potential of interfering with sounds used by marine mammals. Masking to the point of incomprehensibility can have fatal results-for the individual, but ultimately for the entire species. As part of our understanding of whether marine mammals can cope with human impact on nature, this thesis is the first to study the interference of real ocean noises with complex animal vocalizations. At the Vancouver Aquarium, a beluga whale was trained for acoustic experiments, during which masked hearing thresholds were measured. Focus lay on noise created by icebreaking ships in the Arctic. As experiments with trained animals are time and cost expensive, various techniques were examined for their ability to model the whale's response. These were ...