Beyond counting calls : estimating detection probability for Antarctic blue whales reveals biological trends in seasonal calling

• Published in: Frontiers in Marine Science
• Main Authors: de Castro, Franciele R., Harris, Danielle V., Buchan, Susannah J., Balcazar, Naysa, Miller, Brian S.
• Other Authors: University of St Andrews.Sea Mammal Research Unit, University of St Andrews.School of Mathematics and Statistics, University of St Andrews.Centre for Research into Ecological & Environmental Modelling, University of St Andrews.Arctic Research Centre
• Format: Article in Journal/Newspaper
• Language: English
• Published: 2024
• Subjects: Southern Ocean; Acoustic trends; Acoustic propagation modelling; Antarctic; Antarctic blue whale; Call density; Single hydrophone; QH301 Biology; RR-NDAS; QH301; The Antarctic; Indian; Antarc*; Australian Antarctic Division; Balaenoptera musculus; baleen whales; Blue whale
• Online Access: https://hdl.handle.net/10023/30621; https://doi.org/10.3389/fmars.2024.1406678

Funding: This research was funded by International Whaling Commission Southern Ocean Research Partnership (IWC-SORP) to SB (IWC SORP Research Fund Project 17). This research was also made possible by Australian Antarctic Division (AAD) AAS projects 4102 & 4600. We explore the utility of estimating the density of calls of baleen whales for better understanding acoustic trends over time. We consider as a case study stereotyped ‘song’ calls of Antarctic blue whales (Balaenoptera musculus intermedia) on their Antarctic feeding grounds over the course of a year-long, continuous recording from 2014. The recording was made in the Southern Ocean from a deep-water autonomous hydrophone moored near the seafloor in the Eastern Indian sector of the Antarctic. We estimated call density seasonally via a Monte-Carlo simulation based on the passive sonar equation, and compared our estimates to seasonal estimates of detection rate, which are commonly reported in acoustic studies of Antarctic blue whales. The resulting seasonal call densities at our Antarctic site were strongly influenced by seasonally varying noise levels, which in turn yielded seasonal differences in detection range. Incorporating the seasonal estimates of detection area into our analysis revealed a pattern of call densities in accord with historic (non-acoustic) knowledge of Antarctic blue whale seasonal distribution and migrations, a pattern that differed from seasonal detection rates. Furthermore, our methods for estimating call densities produced results that were more statistically robust for comparison across sites and time and more meaningful for interpretation of biological trends compared to detection rates alone. These advantages came at the cost of a more complex analysis that accounts for the large variability in detection range of different sounds that occur in Antarctic waters, and also accounts for the performance and biases introduced by automated algorithms to detect sounds. Despite the additional analytical complexities, broader usage of ...