Song activity and structure of the Central American humpback whale breeding stock

• Main Author: O'Halloran, Riley
• Format: Text
• Language: unknown
• Published: UVM ScholarWorks 2021
• Subjects: Humpback Whale; Megaptera novaeangliae
• Online Access: https://scholarworks.uvm.edu/src/2020/marinebiology/19

Humpback whales, Megaptera novaeangliae, produce very complex songs that are variable over the years. Humpback whales share song components with each other through the process of horizontal transmission if they have come into acoustical contact. Understanding the change in the song over time provides information about the origin of the singer. Gradual change would suggest that the same individuals are returning while rapid change suggests a lack of site fidelity or high opportunities for song exchange in feeding grounds. This allows the connectivity between different humpback whale populations to be determined. Here I study the songs of population of the Central American humpback whale stock known to winter off the coast of Mexico and Central America. Passive Acoustic Monitoring (PAM) was used to obtain continuous recordings in 2017 in Guerrero, Mexico and in 2019 from Playa Viradores in the Culebra Bay, Costa Rica. This study provides the first detailed description of the Central American humpback whale breeding stock, providing a template for future monitoring of song changes in the region, which can help to access song cultural transmission.