Supplementary material from "Behavioural responses of fin whales to military mid-frequency active sonar" ...

• Main Authors: Southall, Brandon L., Allen, Ann N., Calambokidis, John, Casey, Caroline, DeRuiter, Stacy L., Fregosi, Selene, Friedlaender, Ari S., Goldbogen, Jeremy A., Harris, Catriona M., Hazen, Elliott L., Popov, Valentin, Stimpert, Alison K.
• Format: Article in Journal/Newspaper
• Language: unknown
• Published: The Royal Society 2023
• Subjects: Animal behaviour; Balaenoptera musculus; Balaenoptera physalus
• Online Access: https://dx.doi.org/10.6084/m9.figshare.c.6960990; https://rs.figshare.com/collections/Supplementary_material_from_Behavioural_responses_of_fin_whales_to_military_mid-frequency_active_sonar_/6960990

The effect of active sonars on marine mammal behaviour is a topic of considerable interest and scientific investigation. Some whales, including the largest species (blue whales, Balaenoptera musculus ), can be impacted by mid-frequency (1–10 kHz) military sonars. Here we apply complementary experimental methods to provide the first experimentally controlled measurements of behavioural responses to military sonar and similar stimuli for a related endangered species, fin whales ( Balaenoptera physalus ). Analytical methods include: (i) Principal Component Analysis paired with Generalized Additive Mixed Models; (ii) Hidden Markov Models; and (iii) structured expert elicitation using response severity metrics. These approaches provide complementary perspectives on the nature of potential changes within and across individuals. Behavioural changes were detected in five of 15 whales during controlled exposure experiments using mid-frequency active sonar or pseudorandom noise of similar frequency, duration and ...