The Ecology and Acoustic Behavior of Minke Whales in the Hawaiian and Pacific Islands

• Main Author: Norris, Thomas F
• Other Authors: BIO-WAVES INC ENCINITAS CA
• Format: Text
• Language: English
• Published: 2011
• Subjects: Biology; Ecology; Acoustic Detection and Detectors; Acoustics; *ACOUSTIC COMMUNICATIONS; *ACOUSTIC DETECTION; *ANIMAL COMMUNICATION; *HAWAII; *PACIFIC OCEAN ISLANDS; *PASSIVE SYSTEMS; *WHALES; ACOUSTIC ARRAYS; ACOUSTIC RECORDING SYSTEMS; BEHAVIOR; BREEDING; DENSITY; HABITATS; HYDROPHONES; SHIP NOISE; TOWED ARRAYS; *PASSIVE ACOUSTIC SYSTEMS; *MINKE WHALES; *WHALE VOCALIZATIONS; TOWED HYDROPHONE ARRAYS; WHALE DENSITY ESTIMATES; Midway Island; Pacific; Balaenoptera acutorostrata; minke whale
• Online Access: http://www.dtic.mil/docs/citations/ADA598363; http://oai.dtic.mil/oai/oai?&verb=getRecord&metadataPrefix=html&identifier=ADA598363

The long-term goals of this research are to develop and use methods to collect passive acoustic data that will improve our understanding of the ecology and behavior of minke whales (Balaenoptera acutorostrata) in their presumed breeding habitats around the Hawaiian Islands and other subtropical Pacific areas. The overall objectives were to use passive acoustic methods to investigate minke whale acoustic ecology and behavior in sub-tropical North Pacific Island areas by monitoring a unique vocalization that they produce known as a boing. Our main field research objectives were to collect data simultaneously from two different passive acoustic systems: (1) a quiet research vessel towing a hydrophone array, and (2) a U.S. Navy fixed hydrophone array located along the seafloor in the study site. In addition, we used towed hydrophone array data and autonomous recorder data collected by us and collaborators in other island areas of the North Pacific to compare with. Secondary goals were to develop and use new methods to review and analyze acoustic data collected from towed hydrophone arrays and autonomous recorder data. Our specific objectives were as follows: use vessel-based passive acoustic methods to collect data that could be used to estimate the density and abundance of minke whales at our study site; investigate minke whale acoustic behaviors (including the effects of noise from our survey vessel on the acoustic behavior of minke whales) so that biases in the analysis results could be assessed; and investigate the population structure of minke whales by measuring and comparing acoustic characteristics of boings recorded at our main study area in the Hawaiian Islands to other regions such as the Mariana Islands, Wake Island, and Midway Island.