Caller identification and characterization of individual humpback whale acoustic behavior ...

• Main Authors: Zeh, Julia, Perez-Marrufo, Valeria, Adcock, Dana, Knapp, Kaitlyn, Jensen, Frants, Robbins, Jooke, Tackaberry, Jennifer, Weinrich, Mason, Friedlaender, Ari, Wiley, David, Parks, Susan
• Format: Article in Journal/Newspaper
• Language: unknown
• Published: Zenodo 2024
• Subjects: biologging; bouts; call rate; caller ID; DTAG; Humpback whales; tags; vocal exchange; Humpback Whale; North Atlantic
• Online Access: https://dx.doi.org/10.5281/zenodo.10070071; https://zenodo.org/doi/10.5281/zenodo.10070071

Acoustic recording tags provide fine scale data linking acoustic signaling with individual behavior; however, when an animal is in a group, it is challenging to tease apart calls of conspecifics and identify which individuals produce each call. This, in turn, prohibits robust assessment of individual acoustic behavior including call rates and silent periods, call bout production within and between individuals, and caller location. To overcome this challenge, we simultaneously instrumented small groups of humpback whales on a western North Atlantic feeding ground with sound and movement recording tags. This approach enabled comparison of relative amplitude of each call across individuals to infer caller identity for 97% of calls. We found that humpback whale individual call rates are highly variable across individuals and groups (0-89 calls/h), with calls produced throughout dives and in bouts with short inter-call intervals (ICI = 2.2s). Most calls received a likely response from a conspecific within 100s. ... : Funding provided by: United States Department of DefenseCrossref Funder Registry ID: https://ror.org/0447fe631Award Number: Funding provided by: Stellwagen Bank National Marine SanctuaryCrossref Funder Registry ID: https://ror.org/012q9wx84Award Number: Funding provided by: National Oceanic and Atmospheric AdministrationCrossref Funder Registry ID: https://ror.org/02z5nhe81Award Number: Funding provided by: NOAA Office of National Marine SanctuariesCrossref Funder Registry ID: https://ror.org/04bgwn153Award Number: Funding provided by: Office of Naval ResearchCrossref Funder Registry ID: https://ror.org/00rk2pe57Award Number: N00014-08-1-0630 Funding provided by: United States Department of the NavyCrossref Funder Registry ID: https://ror.org/03ar0mv07Award Number: N3943019C2176 Funding provided by: United States Department of the NavyCrossref Funder Registry ID: https://ror.org/03ar0mv07Award Number: N3943023C2502 ...