Avoidance, confusion or solitude? Modelling how noise pollution affects whale migration

Abstract

Many baleen whales are renowned for their acoustic communication. Under pristine conditions, this communication can plausibly occur across hundreds of kilometres. Frequent vocalisations may allow a dispersed migrating group to maintain contact, and therefore benefit from improved navigation via the “wisdom of the crowd”. Human activities have considerably inflated ocean noise levels. Here we develop a data-driven mathematical model to investigate how ambient noise levels may inhibit whale migration. Mathematical models allow us to simultaneously simulate collective whale migration behaviour, auditory cue detection, and noise propagation. Rising ambient noise levels are hypothesised to influence navigation through three mechanisms: (i) diminished communication space; (ii) reduced ability to hear external sound cues and; (iii) triggering noise avoidance behaviour. Comparing pristine and current soundscapes, we observe navigation impairment that ranges from mild (increased journey time) to extreme (failed navigation). Notably, the three mechanisms induce qualitatively different impacts on migration behaviour. We demonstrate the model’s potential predictive power, exploring the extent to which migration may be altered under future shipping and construction scenarios.