Demonstration of adaptation in beluga whale echolocation signals

Au, Whitlow W. L.; Carder, Donald A.; Penner, Ralph H.; Scronce, Billy L.

doi:10.1121/1.392341

Cited by 170 publications

(139 citation statements)

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“…Beluga whales could be identified when bird-like whistles were paired with high-frequency clicks, peaking at up to 100 -120 kHz (Au et al, 1985). However, in many instances during the ice-covered winter months, recordings contained only clicks centered at 30 -60 kHz, a click type consistently observed in both narwhals and beluga whales (Au et al, 1985;Miller et al, 1995;Roy et al, 2010;Stafford et al, 2012a;Rasmussen et al, 2015).…”

Section: Marine Mammal Acoustic Detectionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Seasonal Trends in Acoustic Detection of Marine Mammals in Baffin Bay and Melville Bay, Northwest Greenland + Supplementary Appendix 1 (See Article Tools)

Frouin‐Mouy¹,

Kowarski²,

Martin³

et al. 2017

ARCTIC

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ABSTRACT. The expansion of hydrocarbon exploration in northwest Greenland has made it increasingly important to understand the occurrence of marine mammals in the region. We describe the seasonal occurrence of marine mammals and the spatial distribution of their calls in Baffin Bay and Melville Bay. Four Autonomous Multichannel Acoustic Recorders (AMARs) were deployed during summer 2012 (late July to early October), five recorders during September 2013, and two recorders from late September 2013 to early September 2014. The call presence of several species was analyzed using automatic call detection and manual verification analysis methods. A novel approach to discern narwhal (Monodon monoceros) clicks from beluga (Delphinapterus leucas) clicks was implemented during the verification process. Narwhal calls were detected in spring and fall, showing a south-to-north migration pattern in spring and a north-to-south migration pattern in fall. Few beluga whales were detected during fall 2013 and spring 2014. Bearded seal (Erignathus barbatus) calls were detected mainly during spring (mating period). A small number of bowhead whale calls (Balaena mysticetus) were detected during fall 2013 and spring and summer 2014. For the first time at this latitude in Baffin Bay, long-finned pilot whales (Globicephala melas) and sperm whales (Physeter macrocephalus) were detected during summer and fall. Our results suggest that the presence of marine mammals in Baffin Bay and Melville Bay is governed mainly by the annual cycle of sea ice formation and decay.

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Section: Marine Mammal Acoustic Detectionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Seasonal Trends in Acoustic Detection of Marine Mammals in Baffin Bay and Melville Bay, Northwest Greenland + Supplementary Appendix 1 (See Article Tools)

Frouin‐Mouy¹,

Kowarski²,

Martin³

et al. 2017

ARCTIC

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“…They change the frequency and intensity of their signals as a result of environmental or hearing changes (Au et al, 1985;Ibsen et al, 2007;Kloepper et al, 2010a), and can change the shape or direction of their echolocation beam (Au et al, 1987;Moore et al, 2008). Changes in beam width have previously been thought to be frequency driven; that is, beam size is determined primarily by the laws of linear acoustics in which, for a directional source, higher frequencies create narrower beam patterns (Au et al, 1995).…”

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Active echolocation beam focusing in the false killer whale, Pseudorca crassidens

Kloepper

Nachtigall

Donahue

et al. 2012

Journal of Experimental Biology

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SUMMARYThe odontocete sound production system is highly complex and produces intense, directional signals that are thought to be focused by the melon and the air sacs. Because odontocete echolocation signals are variable and the emitted click frequency greatly affects the echolocation beam shape, investigations of beam focusing must account for frequency-related beam changes. In this study we tested whether the echolocation beam of a false killer whale changed depending on target difficulty and distance while also accounting for frequency-related changes in the echolocation beam. The data indicate that the false killer whale changes its beam size according to target distance and difficulty, which may be a strategy of maximizing the energy of the target echo. We propose that the animal is using a strategy of changing the focal region according to target distance and that this strategy is under active control.

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“…changes in their vocalization behaviour, e.g. frogs (Feng et al, 2006), birds (Lengagne et al, 1999;Slabbekoorn and Peet, 2003;Brumm, 2004;Slabbekoorn and den Boer-Visser, 2006), monkeys (Egnor et al, 2007) and whales (Au et al, 1985;Miller et al, 2000;Foote et al, 2004). Bats, in addition, are generally very adept in adjusting their echolocation calls to changed acoustic conditions (Kalko and Schnitzler, 1993;Gillam et al, 2007).…”

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Comparing passive and active hearing: spectral analysis of transient sounds in bats

Goerlitz

Hübner

Wiegrebe

2008

Journal of Experimental Biology

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SUMMARYIn vision, colour constancy allows the evaluation of the colour of objects independent of the spectral composition of a light source. In the auditory system, comparable mechanisms have been described that allows the evaluation of the spectral shape of sounds independent of the spectral composition of ambient background sounds. For echolocating bats, the evaluation of spectral shape is vitally important both for the analysis of external sounds and the analysis of the echoes of self-generated sonar emissions. Here, we investigated how the echolocating bat Phyllostomus discolor evaluates the spectral shape of transient sounds both in passive hearing and in echolocation as a specialized mode of active hearing. Bats were trained to classify transients of different spectral shape as low-or highpass. We then assessed how the spectral shape of an ambient background noise influenced the spontaneous classification of the transients. In the passive-hearing condition, the bats spontaneously changed their classification boundary depending on the spectral shape of the background. In the echo-acoustic condition, the classification boundary did not change although the background-and spectral-shape manipulations were identical in the two conditions. These data show that auditory processing differs between passive and active hearing: echolocation represents an independent mode of active hearing with its own rules of auditory spectral analysis.

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Demonstration of adaptation in beluga whale echolocation signals

Cited by 170 publications

References 0 publications

Seasonal Trends in Acoustic Detection of Marine Mammals in Baffin Bay and Melville Bay, Northwest Greenland + Supplementary Appendix 1 (See Article Tools)

Seasonal Trends in Acoustic Detection of Marine Mammals in Baffin Bay and Melville Bay, Northwest Greenland + Supplementary Appendix 1 (See Article Tools)

Active echolocation beam focusing in the false killer whale, Pseudorca crassidens

Comparing passive and active hearing: spectral analysis of transient sounds in bats

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