Annual changes in the song of the bowhead whale Balaena mysticetus in Disko Bay, Western Greenland

• Main Author: Miller, Lee
• Format: Conference Object
• Language: English
• Published: 2008
• Subjects: Arctic; Balaena mysticetus; Barrow; Bering Sea; bowhead whale; Davis Strait; Disko Bay; Greenland; Point Barrow; Qeqertarsuaq; Alaska
• Online Access: https://portal.findresearcher.sdu.dk/da/publications/72e1bfd0-cb5c-11dd-9906-000ea68e967b

presented by Outi at: Acoustic Communication by Animals, 2nd International Conference, August 12-15, 2008, Oregon State University, Corvallis, Oregon, USAAnnual changes in the song of the bowhead whale Balaena mysticetusin Disko Bay, Western GreenlandOuti Tervo and Mads F. Christoffersen, Arctic Station, University of Copenhagen, Qeqertarsuaq, Greenland, [e-mail] E. Parks, Applied Research Laboratory, Pennsylvania State University, State College, PA, USAReinhardt M. Kristensen, Zoological Museum, Natural History Museum, University of Copenhagen, DenmarkLee A. Miller, Institute of Biology, University of Southern Denmark, Odense, DenmarkBowhead whale Balaena mysticetus acoustic behaviour has been a target of several investigations, primarily from recordings of the Bering Sea population near Alaska (Ljungblad et al 1980, Clark and Johnson 1984, Cummings and Holliday 1987) with a few studies recording sound from the Davis Strait population (Richardson et al 1995, Richardson and Finley 1989). Songs have been recorded from bowhead whales during their spring migration off Point Barrow when the whales were returning from their breeding grounds and swimming towards their feeding areas (Ljungblad et al 1982, Clark and Johnson 1984, Cummings and Holliday 1987). Winter vocal behaviour of the species has been poorly documented although it has been suggested that bowhead whales produce a large variety of sounds during this time (Würsig and Clark 1993).Consequently, the goals of this study were to record the sounds of bowhead whale in Disko Bay, Western Greenland, to describe the vocal repertoire of the Davis Strait stock during winter and spring, and to study the annual changes in the song they produce. The acoustic data were collected in three subsequent years: February - May 2005, April 2006 and February -May 2007. Recordings were made using two hydrophones deployed through holes in the ice or from a small dinghy in an area where bowhead whales were seen.The vocal signals recorded in this study were ...