Acoustic Behavior of North Atlantic Right Whale (Eubalaena glacialis) Mother-Calf Pairs

• Main Authors: Parks, Susan E., Van Parijs, Sofie
• Other Authors: NATIONAL OCEANIC AND ATMOSPHERIC ADMINISTRATION WOODS HOLE MA NATIONAL MARINE FISHERIES SERVICE
• Format: Text
• Language: English
• Published: 2010
• Subjects: Biological Oceanography; Acoustic Detection and Detectors; Acoustics; *ACOUSTIC SIGNALS; *ACOUSTIC DETECTION; *WHALES; BEHAVIOR; HYDROPHONES; BOATS; HABITATS; NORTH ATLANTIC OCEAN; FLORIDA; COLLISIONS; MASSACHUSETTS; GROWTH(PHYSIOLOGY); FUNDY BAY; DATA ACQUISITION; ONTOGENY; OBSERVATION; CANADA; RIGHT WHALES; EUBALAENA GLACIALIS; VISUAL DETECTABILITY; MOTHER CALF PAIRS; CAPE COD BAY; Canada; Eubalaena glacialis; North Atlantic; North Atlantic right whale
• Online Access: http://www.dtic.mil/docs/citations/ADA541426; http://oai.dtic.mil/oai/oai?&verb=getRecord&metadataPrefix=html&identifier=ADA541426

The long-term goal of this project is to quantify the behavior of mother-calf pairs from the North Atlantic right whale (Eubalaena glacialis) to determine (a) why mothers and calves are more susceptible to collisions with vessels and, (b) determine the vocal behavior of this critical life stage to assess the effectiveness of passive acoustic monitoring to detect mother-calf pairs in important habitat areas. The primary objectives of this project are to: (1) determine the visual detectability of right whale mother-calf pairs from surface observations, (2) determine the acoustic detectability of right whale mother-calf pairs, (3) determine the acoustic detection ranges of mother-calf calls through propagation modeling, (4) assess the ontogeny or changes in behavior with calf development, and (5) assess the individual distinctiveness of right whale vocalizations. Prepared in collaboration with the Pennsylvania State University.