Vocalization characteristics of North Atlantic right whale surface active groups in the calving habitat, southeastern United States.

Passive acoustic surveys were conducted to assess the vocal behavior of North Atlantic right whales (Eubalaena glacialis) in the designated critical calving habitat along the shallow coastal waters of southeastern United States. Underwater vocalizations were recorded using autonomous buoys deployed in close proximity to surface active groups (SAGs). Nine main vocalization types were identified with manual inspection of spectrograms, and standard acoustic descriptors were extracted. Classification trees were used to examine the distinguishing characteristics of calls and quantify their variability within the SAG vocal repertoire. The results show that descriptors of frequency, bandwidth, and spectral disorder are the most important parameters for partitioning the SAG repertoire, contrary to duration-related measures. The reported source levels and vocalization statistics provide sound production data vital to inform regional passive acoustic monitoring and conservation for this endangered species.

[1]  Peter L Tyack,et al.  Sound production by North Atlantic right whales (Eubalaena glacialis) in surface active groups. , 2005, The Journal of the Acoustical Society of America.

[2]  P. Tyack,et al.  THE GUNSHOT SOUND PRODUCED BY MALE NORTH ATLANTIC RIGHT WHALES (EUBALAENA GLACIALIS) AND ITS POTENTIAL FUNCTION IN REPRODUCTIVE ADVERTISEMENT , 2005 .

[3]  J. Corbett,et al.  Probability and mitigation of vessel encounters with North Atlantic right whales , 2009 .

[4]  Jay Barlow,et al.  ACOUSTIC IDENTIFICATION OF NINE DELPHINID SPECIES IN THE EASTERN TROPICAL PACIFIC OCEAN , 2000 .

[5]  Christopher W. Clark,et al.  Vocalizations of male bearded seals, Erignathus barbatus: classification and geographical variation , 2007, Animal Behaviour.

[6]  D K Mellinger,et al.  Recognizing transient low-frequency whale sounds by spectrogram correlation. , 2000, The Journal of the Acoustical Society of America.

[7]  Mark F Baumgartner,et al.  A generalized baleen whale call detection and classification system. , 2011, The Journal of the Acoustical Society of America.

[8]  Susan E. Parks,et al.  OCCURRENCE, COMPOSITION, AND POTENTIAL FUNCTIONS OF NORTH ATLANTIC RIGHT WHALE (EUBALAENA GLACIALIS) SURFACE ACTIVE GROUPS , 2007 .

[9]  P. Hamilton,et al.  Changes in North Atlantic right whale (Eubalaena glacialis) cow–calf association times and use of the calving ground: 1993–2005 , 2010 .

[10]  R. Sibly,et al.  Splitting behaviour into bouts , 1990, Animal Behaviour.

[11]  Christopher W. Clark,et al.  The acoustic repertoire of the Southern right whale, a quantitative analysis , 1982, Animal Behaviour.

[12]  C.W. Clark,et al.  Detection and Recognition of North Atlantic Right Whale Contact Calls in the Presence of Ambient Noise , 2008, IEEE Journal of Oceanic Engineering.

[13]  C. Clark,et al.  Long-term mating tactics in an aquatic-mating pinniped, the bearded seal, Erignathus barbatus , 2006, Animal Behaviour.

[14]  R. Baumstark,et al.  Characterization of Ship Traffic in Right Whale Critical Habitat , 2005 .

[15]  O. Boisseau,et al.  Quantifying the acoustic repertoire of a population: the vocalizations of free-ranging bottlenose dolphins in Fiordland, New Zealand. , 2005, The Journal of the Acoustical Society of America.

[16]  E. Briefer.  Vocal Expression of Emotions in Mammals: Mechanisms of Production and Evidence , 2012 .

[17]  Christopher W. Clark,et al.  North Atlantic Right Whale acoustic signal processing: Part I. comparison of machine learning recognition algorithms , 2010, 2010 IEEE Long Island Systems, Applications and Technology Conference.

[18]  Haru Matsumoto,et al.  Seasonal occurrence of north atlantic right whale (Eubalaena Glacialis) vocalizations at two sites on the scotian shelf , 2007 .

[19]  Susan E. Parks,et al.  Sound production behavior of individual North Atlantic right whales: implications for passive acoustic monitoring , 2011 .

[20]  David N. Wiley,et al.  Seasonal and diel variation in North Atlantic right whale up-calls: implications for management and conservation in the northwestern Atlantic Ocean , 2012 .

[21]  Julien Delarue,et al.  Geographic variation in Northwest Atlantic fin whale (Balaenoptera physalus) song: implications for stock structure assessment. , 2008, The Journal of the Acoustical Society of America.

[22]  Christopher W. Clark,et al.  Visual and acoustic surveys for North Atlantic right whales, Eubalaena glacialis, in Cape Cod Bay, Massachusetts, 2001–2005: Management implications , 2010 .

[23]  Christopher W. Clark,et al.  The Physical Acoustics of Underwater Sound Communication , 2003 .

[24]  Alex E. Hay,et al.  Characterization of North Atlantic right-whale (Eubalaena glacialis) sounds in the Bay of Fundy , 2003 .

[25]  C. Clark,et al.  Short- and long-term changes in right whale calling behavior: the potential effects of noise on acoustic communication. , 2007, The Journal of the Acoustical Society of America.

[26]  Ilse van Opzeeland,et al.  Management and research applications of real-time and archival passive acoustic sensors over varying temporal and spatial scales , 2009 .

[27]  B Efron,et al.  Statistical Data Analysis in the Computer Age , 1991, Science.

[28]  W. Loh,et al.  Tree-Structured Classification via Generalized Discriminant Analysis. , 1988 .

[29]  Christopher W. Clark,et al.  Methods for automatic detection of mysticete sounds , 1997 .

[30]  Haru Matsumoto,et al.  An Overview of Fixed Passive Acoustic Observation Methods for Cetaceans , 2007 .

[31]  Harry A. DeFerrari,et al.  Focused arrivals in shallow water propagation in the Straits of Florida , 2003 .

[32]  M. Baumgartner,et al.  Evidence of a North Atlantic right whale calf (Eubalaena glacialis) born in northeastern U.S. waters , 2009 .

[33]  W. Loh,et al.  Improving the precision of classification trees , 2010, 1011.0608.