Singing in a noisy ocean: vocal plasticity in male humpback whales

Girola, E.; Dunlop, Rebecca A.; Noad, Michael J.

doi:10.1080/09524622.2022.2122560

Cited by 6 publications

(21 citation statements)

References 83 publications

Supporting

Mentioning

Contrasting

Order By: Relevance

“…[ 50 ] and Dunlop [ 51 ] found that humpback whales in eastern Australia increase the source levels of their social sounds in response to increasing levels of wind noise. A similar response has been found for humpback whale songs in both Hawaii [ 52 ] and eastern Australia [ 53 ]. However, studies on the effect of vessel noise have produced mixed results.…”

Section: Introductionsupporting

confidence: 79%

“…In our study area, although the soundscape is dominated by the wind [ 22 , 50 , 53 , 59 , 60 ], other noise sources can also occur. These include recreational and fishing vessels, precipitation, invertebrates, fish choruses and background vocalizations from non-focal humpback whales.…”

Section: Methodsmentioning

confidence: 99%

“…Ambient noise is diffused, homogeneous over large areas and changes slowly with time. While broadband ambient noise includes traffic noise generated by distant shipping, the frequency range of this component falls below 50 Hz and rarely overlaps with humpback whale vocalizations [ 53 ]. At higher frequencies the main source of ambient noise is the wind [ 53 ].…”

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

“…While broadband ambient noise includes traffic noise generated by distant shipping, the frequency range of this component falls below 50 Hz and rarely overlaps with humpback whale vocalizations [ 53 ]. At higher frequencies the main source of ambient noise is the wind [ 53 ]. This shows a broad peak between 100 Hz and 1 kHz that matches the Knudsen curves [ 21 ] and overlaps with the frequency range of humpback whale songs [ 53 ].…”

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

“…At higher frequencies the main source of ambient noise is the wind [ 53 ]. This shows a broad peak between 100 Hz and 1 kHz that matches the Knudsen curves [ 21 ] and overlaps with the frequency range of humpback whale songs [ 53 ]. Therefore, in eastern Australia, ambient noise overlapping with the frequency range of humpback whale songs can be considered mainly wind noise.…”

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

See 4 more Smart Citations

Singing humpback whales respond to wind noise, but not to vessel noise

2023

View full text Add to dashboard Cite

Animal communication systems evolved in the presence of noise generated by natural sources. Many species can increase the source levels of their sounds to maintain effective communication in elevated noise conditions, i.e. they have a Lombard response. Human activities generate additional noise in the environment creating further challenges for these animals. Male humpback whales are known to adjust the source levels of their songs in response to wind noise, which although variable is always present in the ocean. Our study investigated whether this Lombard response increases when singing males are exposed to additional noise generated by motor vessels. Humpback whale singers were recorded off eastern Australia using a fixed hydrophone array. The source levels of the songs produced while the singers were exposed to varying levels of wind noise and vessel noise were measured. Our results show that, even when vessel noise is dominant, singing males still adjust the source levels of their songs to compensate for the underlying wind noise, and do not further increase their source levels to compensate for the additional noise produced by the vessel. Understanding humpback whales' response to noise is important for developing mitigation policies for anthropogenic activities at sea.

show abstract