The communication space of humpback whale social sounds in wind-dominated noise
In animal social networks, a large acoustic communication space tends to involve complex networks. Signal masking may reduce this space, leading to detrimental effects on the animal's ability to obtain important social information. Humpback whales use acoustic social sounds (vocal sounds and su...
| Published in: | The Journal of the Acoustical Society of America |
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| Main Author: | |
| Format: | Article in Journal/Newspaper |
| Language: | English |
| Published: |
Acoustical Society of America
2018
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| Subjects: | |
| Online Access: | https://espace.library.uq.edu.au/view/UQ:d8b2755/UQd8b2755_OA.pdf https://espace.library.uq.edu.au/view/UQ:d8b2755 |
| Summary: | In animal social networks, a large acoustic communication space tends to involve complex networks. Signal masking may reduce this space, leading to detrimental effects on the animal's ability to obtain important social information. Humpback whales use acoustic social sounds (vocal sounds and surface-generated sounds from breaching or fin slapping) for within- and between-group communication. In this study, changes in various sound parameters (e.g., signal-above-noise and frequency content) of received humpback whale social sounds were statistically modeled against the combined effect of increasing wind-dominated noise and distance from the source (whale) to produce masking models. Behavioral data on vocalizing groups were also used to inform these models. The acoustic communication space, in this shallow water ( |
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