Spatial and temporal patterns of sound production in East Greenland narwhals
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- Ditlevsen-et al
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Changes in climate are rapidly modifying the Arctic environment. As a result, human activities
Ðand the sounds they produceÐare predicted to increase in remote areas of Greenland,
such as those inhabited by the narwhals (Monodon monoceros) of East Greenland.
Meanwhile, nothing is known about these whales' acoustic behavior or their reactions to
anthropogenic sounds. This lack of knowledge was addressed by instrumenting six narwhals
in Scoresby Sound (Aug 2013±2016) with Acousonde™ acoustic tags and satellite
tags. Continuous recordings over up to seven days were used to describe the acoustic
behavior of the whales, in particular their use of three types of sounds serving two different
purposes: echolocation clicks and buzzes, which serve feeding, and calls, presumably used
for social communication. Logistic regression models were used to assess the effects of
location in time and space on buzzing and calling rates. Buzzes were mostly produced at
depths of 350±650 m and buzzing rates were higher in one particular fjord, likely a preferred
feeding area. Calls generally occurred at shallower depths (<100 m), with more than half of
these calls occurring near the surface (<7 m), where the whales also spent more than half of
their time. A period of silence following release, present in all subjects, was attributed to the
capture and tagging operations, emphasizing the importance of longer (multi-day) records.
This study provides basic life-history information on a poorly known speciesÐand therefore
control data in ongoing or future sound-effect studies.
Original language | English |
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Article number | e0198295 |
Journal | PLoS ONE |
Volume | 13 |
Issue number | 6 |
Number of pages | 23 |
ISSN | 1932-6203 |
DOIs | |
Publication status | Published - 2018 |
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