Determining Source Levels Sound Fields and Body Sizes of Singing Humpback Whales (Megaptera novaeangliae) in the Hawaiian Winter Ground

Pack, Adam A.; Potter, John F.; Herman, Louis M.; Hoffmann‐Kuhnt, Matthias; Deakos, Mark H.

doi:10.21236/ada421803

Cited by 4 publications

(5 citation statements)

References 5 publications

(6 reference statements)

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“…Travelling while singing has been reported previously [ 67 , 98 , 99 , 109 , 114 , 133 – 135 ], but was considered rare compared with stationary singers [ 109 , 117 , 129 – 131 ]. We found that singers travel more frequently than previously suspected and that increasing distance to shore seems to promote travelling.…”

Section: Discussionmentioning

confidence: 99%

“…When singers remain stationary, they are usually found canted with their head facing downwards between −10 and −30 m from the surface [109,117,[129][130][131], which has been proposed to promote song transmission. Possibly, singers also seek out deeper waters and associated features such as ledges in an effort to enhance the transmission efficiency of their song [83,98,132], thereby increasing the probability of reaching the intended receivers of the display.…”

Section: Behaviour and Occurrence Of Individual Singersmentioning

confidence: 99%

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Diel spatio-temporal patterns of humpback whale singing on a high-density breeding ground

Kügler,

Lammers,

Pack

et al. 2024

R. Soc. Open Sci.

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Humpback whale song chorusing dominates the marine soundscape in Hawai‘i during winter months, yet little is known about spatio-temporal habitat use patterns of singers. We analysed passive acoustic monitoring data from five sites off Maui and found that ambient noise levels associated with song chorusing decreased during daytime hours nearshore but increased offshore. To resolve whether these changes reflect a diel offshore–onshore movement or a temporal difference in singing activity, data from 71 concurrently conducted land-based theodolite surveys were analysed. Non-calf pods ( n = 3082), presumably including the majority of singers, were found further offshore with increasing time of the day. Separately, we acoustically localized 217 nearshore singers using vector-sensors. During the day, distances to shore and minimum distances among singers increased, and singers switched more between being stationary and singing while travelling. Together, these findings suggest that the observed diel trends in humpback whale chorusing off Maui represent a pattern of active onshore–offshore movement of singers. We hypothesize that this may result from singers attempting to reduce intraspecific acoustic masking when densities are high nearshore and avoidance of a loud, non-humpback, biological evening chorus offshore, creating a dynamic of movement of singers aimed at increasing the efficiency of their acoustic display.

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Section: Discussionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Section: Behaviour and Occurrence Of Individual Singersmentioning

confidence: 99%

Diel spatio-temporal patterns of humpback whale singing on a high-density breeding ground

Kügler,

Lammers,

Pack

et al. 2024

R. Soc. Open Sci.

Self Cite

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“…, Pack et al . , Herman ), while also minimizing the amount of energy expended by drifting with the current during each dive. However, there is frequently a surface duct in Hawaiian waters during the winter which would actually improve sound propagation if calls were made within the layer rather than below the layer, and were detected by conspecifics also in the layer.…”

Section: Discussionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Identifying behavioral states and habitat use of acoustically tracked humpback whales in Hawaii

Henderson

Helble

Ierley

et al. 2018

Marine Mammal Science

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Although humpback whales have been well-studied on their Hawaiian breeding grounds, it is difficult to track individual animals over long distances without tags, particularly when they move offshore. Here, singing humpback whales were localized in three dimensions on the Pacific Missile Range Facility off Kauai, Hawaii, located between 20 km and 80 km offshore, from January 2011 through June 2014. Detailed behavioral analyses were conducted on the resulting tracks. One hundred and eight individual tracks were identified and metrics of these tracks were examined. Using these metrics, the tracks were classified into four behavior categories, described herein as Directed Travel, Repeated Stationary Dives, Mill, and tracks with Combinations of behavioral states. Some diel and seasonal patterns were identified, with Mill tracks occurring more at night than the other behaviors, Repeated Stationary Dive tracks occurring more during the day, and Directed Travel occurring only at the start and end of the breeding season. These results provide detailed insights into the movement of singing humpback whales, particularly in offshore waters where they may be migrating into or out of breeding grounds. This also contributes valuable information on the baseline behavior of humpback whales on a US Navy training range.

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“…In Hawaii, where there has been extensive close‐range underwater visual, photographic, and video observations of lone singers (e.g. Spitz et al ., ; Au et al ., , ; Pack et al ., ; Herman et al ., ; also see Payne, , p. 145) they are typically found stationary at perhaps 10–30 m depth with body canted head downward, a position accommodating song transmission in the horizontal plane (Au et al ., ; Pack et al ., ). This downward position has also been noted in lone humpback whale singers in Abrolhos Bank, Brazil (Arraut & Vielliard, ).…”

Section: Singers and Songmentioning

confidence: 99%

The multiple functions of male song within the humpback whale (Megaptera novaeangliae) mating system: review, evaluation, and synthesis

2016

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Humpback whales (Megaptera novaeangliae) are seasonal breeders, annually migrating from high-latitude summer feeding grounds to low-latitude winter breeding grounds. The social matrix on the winter grounds is a loose network of interacting individuals and groups and notably includes lone males that produce long bouts of complex song that collectively yield an asynchronous chorus. Occasionally, a male will sing while accompanying other whales. Despite a wealth of knowledge about the social matrix, the full characterization of the mating system remains unresolved, without any firm consensus, as does the function of song within that system. Here, I consider and critically analyse three proposed functions of song that have received the most attention in the literature: female attraction to individual singers, determining or facilitating male-male interactions, and attracting females to a male aggregation within the context of a lekking system. Female attraction suggests that humpback song is an advertisement and invitation to females, but field observations and song playback studies reveal that female visits to individual singers are virtually absent. Other observations suggest instead that females might convey their presence to singers (or to other males) through the percussive sounds of flipper or tail slapping or possibly through vocalizations. There is some evidence for male-male interactions, both dominance and affiliative: visits to singers are almost always other lone males not singing at that time. The joiner may be seeking a coalition with the singer to engage cooperatively in attempts to obtain females, or may be seeking to disrupt the song or to affirm his dominance. Some observations support one or the other intent. However, other observations, in part based on the brevity of most pairings, suggest that the joiner is prospecting, seeking to determine whether the singer is accompanying a female, and if not soon departs. In the lekking hypothesis, the aggregation of vocalizing males on a winter ground and the visits there by non-maternal females apparently for mating meet the fundamental definition of a lekking system and its role though communal display in attracting females to the aggregation, although not to an individual singer. Communal singing is viewed as a form of by-product mutualism in which individuals benefit one another as incidental consequences of their own selfish actions. Possibly, communal singing may also act to stimulate female receptivity. Thus, there are both limitations and merit in all three proposals. Full consideration of song as serving multiple functions is therefore necessary to understand its role in the mating system and the forces acting on the evolution of song. I suggest that song may be the prime vector recruiting colonists to new winter grounds pioneered by vagrant males as population pressures increase or as former winter grounds become unavailable or undesirable, with such instances documented relatively recently. Speculatively, song may have evolved historically as an ...

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Determining Source Levels Sound Fields and Body Sizes of Singing Humpback Whales (Megaptera novaeangliae) in the Hawaiian Winter Ground

Cited by 4 publications

References 5 publications

Diel spatio-temporal patterns of humpback whale singing on a high-density breeding ground

Diel spatio-temporal patterns of humpback whale singing on a high-density breeding ground

Identifying behavioral states and habitat use of acoustically tracked humpback whales in Hawaii

The multiple functions of male song within the humpback whale (Megaptera novaeangliae) mating system: review, evaluation, and synthesis

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