Publication Date:
2022-05-25
Description:
© The Author(s), 2012. This article is distributed under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution License. The definitive version was published in PLoS ONE 7 (2012): e42535, doi:10.1371/journal.pone.0042535.
Description:
Some beaked whale species are susceptible to the detrimental effects of anthropogenic noise. Most studies have
concentrated on the effects of military sonar, but other forms of acoustic disturbance (e.g. shipping noise) may disrupt
behavior. An experiment involving the exposure of target whale groups to intense vessel-generated noise tested how these
exposures influenced the foraging behavior of Blainville’s beaked whales (Mesoplodon densirostris) in the Tongue of the
Ocean (Bahamas). A military array of bottom-mounted hydrophones was used to measure the response based upon
changes in the spatial and temporal pattern of vocalizations. The archived acoustic data were used to compute metrics of
the echolocation-based foraging behavior for 16 targeted groups, 10 groups further away on the range, and 26 nonexposed
groups. The duration of foraging bouts was not significantly affected by the exposure. Changes in the hydrophone
over which the group was most frequently detected occurred as the animals moved around within a foraging bout, and
their number was significantly less the closer the whales were to the sound source. Non-exposed groups also had
significantly more changes in the primary hydrophone than exposed groups irrespective of distance. Our results suggested
that broadband ship noise caused a significant change in beaked whale behavior up to at least 5.2 kilometers away from
the vessel. The observed change could potentially correspond to a restriction in the movement of groups, a period of more
directional travel, a reduction in the number of individuals clicking within the group, or a response to changes in prey
movement.
Description:
The research reported here was financially supported by the United States (U.S.) Office of Naval Research (www.onr.navy.mil) grants N00014-07-10988,
N00014-07-11023, N00014-08-10990; the U.S. Strategic Environmental Research and Development Program (www.serdp.org) grant SI-1539, the Environmental
Readiness Division of the U.S. Navy (http://www.navy.mil/local/n45/), the U.S. Chief of Naval Operations Submarine Warfare Division (Undersea Surveillance), the
U.S. National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration (National Marine Fisheries Service, Office of Science and Technology) (http://www.st.nmfs.noaa.gov/), U.S.
National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration Ocean Acoustics Program (http://www.nmfs.noaa.gov/pr/acoustics/), and the Joint Industry Program on Sound
and Marine Life of the International Association of Oil and Gas Producers (www.soundandmarinelife.org).
Repository Name:
Woods Hole Open Access Server
Type:
Article
Format:
application/pdf
