Natural and anthropogenic events influence the soundscapes of four bays on Hawaii Island

Heenehan, Heather L.; Parijs, Sofie M. Van; Bejder, Lars; Tyne, Julian A.; Southall, Brandon L.; Southall, H.L.; Johnston, David W.

doi:10.1016/j.marpolbul.2017.06.065

Cited by 10 publications

(6 citation statements)

References 56 publications

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“…Concurrently, the most recent spinner dolphin abundance estimates 631 (95% CI 524 -761) [31] and 668 (95% CI 556-801) [32] are lower than all previous estimates 960 [35], 2334 [69], 1001 and 855 [70], indicating a possible long-term impact. Furthermore, the anthropogenic underwater sound was not considered during this study, but clearly affects the soundscape of the four bays and animals that rely on acoustics as their main sensory input [71]. As such, our estimates of spinner dolphin exposure to human activities is conservative as it does not account for engine noise which can propagate many kilometres [72], further highlighting the need for management actions that aim to reduce the exposure of spinner dolphins to human activities within these important resting habitats.…”

Section: Discussionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Chronic exposure of Hawaii Island spinner dolphins (Stenella longirostris) to human activities

et al. 2018

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Habitat selection is strongly influenced by spatial variations in habitat quality and predation risk. Repeated exposure of wildlife to anthropogenic activities in important habitats may affect habitat selection, leading to negative biological consequences. We quantified the cumulative human exposure of a small, genetically isolated and behaviourally constrained spinner dolphin (Stenella longirostris) population, off Hawaii Island, and exposure effects on their daytime cumulative activity budget. Dolphins were exposed to human activities within 100 m for 82.7% of the daytime, with a median duration of 10 min between exposure events. Individual dolphins spent on average 61.7% (s.d. = 6.5) of their daytime resting. Of their total rest time, greater than 90% occurred inside sheltered bays. Despite high levels of human exposure, we did not observe an effect on dolphin resting behaviour. The short intervals between exposure events probably prevent dolphins from returning to a natural resting state before the next event. Consequently, ‘control’ observations may represent a resting behaviour of a more vigilant nature. Chronic levels of exposure to human activities could lead to rest deprivation, displacement from preferred resting habitats and ultimately negative population level effects. These results have implications for new proposed legislation aiming to reduce dolphin exposure to human activities.

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Section: Discussionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Chronic exposure of Hawaii Island spinner dolphins (Stenella longirostris) to human activities

et al. 2018

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“…Even fewer studies focused on time scales longer than 1 year (number of studies: ∼6). While an increasing number of researchers are collecting data at sampling rates above 2 kHz (e.g., Buscaino et al, 2016;Heenehan et al, 2017;Hermannsen et al, 2019;Magnier and Gervaise, 2020), none have yet been able to monitor these higher frequencies in deep water over long time periods. Given these gaps in understanding, we sought to address the question "what are the characteristics of the soundscape in deep waters across the frequency range of animal hearing over a long time scale?…”

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Characterizing the Long-Term, Wide-Band and Deep-Water Soundscape Off Hawai’i

Merkens¹,

Baumann‐Pickering

Ziegenhorn

et al. 2021

Front. Mar. Sci.

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Many animals use sound for communication, navigation, and foraging, particularly in deep water or at night when light is limited, so describing the soundscape is essential for understanding, protecting, and managing these species and their environments. The nearshore deep-water acoustic environment off the coast of Kona, Hawai’i, is not well documented but is expected to be strongly influenced by anthropogenic activities such as fishing, tourism, and other vessel activity. To characterize the deep-water soundscape in this area we used High-frequency Acoustic Recording Packages (HARPs) to record acoustic data year-round at a 200 or 320 kHz sampling rate. We analyzed data spanning more than 10 years (2007-2018) by producing measurements of frequency-specific energy and using a suite of detectors and classifiers for general and specific sound sources. This provided a time series for sounds coming from biological, anthropogenic and physical sources. The soundscape in this location is dominated by signals generated by humans and odontocete cetaceans (mostly delphinids), generally alternating on a diel cycle. During daylight hours the dominant sound sources are vessels and echosounders, with strong signals ranging from 10 Hz to 80 kHz and above, while during the night the clicks from odontocetes dominate the soundscape in mid-to-high frequencies, generally between 10 and 90 kHz. Winter-resident humpback whales are present seasonally and produce calls in lower frequencies (200-2,000 Hz). Overall, seasonal variability is relatively subtle, which is unsurprising given the tropical latitude and deep-water environment. These results, and particularly the inclusion of sounds from frequencies above 2 kHz, represent the first long-term analysis of a marine soundscape in the North Pacific, and the first assessment of the intense, daily presence of manmade noise at this site. The decadal time series allows us to characterize the dynamic nature of this location, and to begin to identify changes in the soundscape over time. This type of analysis facilitates protection of natural resources and effective management of human activities in an ecologically important area.

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“…The types of sounds that comprise a soundscape vary between sites and vary on multiple timescales (for examples see McWilliam and Hawkins, 2013;Erbe et al, 2015;Haver et al, 2017;Heenehan et al, 2017) but usually include a combination of sounds from three broad categories: (1) sounds from geological or physical processes (e.g., from earthquakes, wind, and rain), sometimes referred to as the geophony; (2) sounds from non-human living things (e.g., sounds from marine mammals and fish), sometimes referred to as the biophony;…”

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Caribbean Sea Soundscapes: Monitoring Humpback Whales, Biological Sounds, Geological Events, and Anthropogenic Impacts of Vessel Noise

et al. 2019

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Natural and anthropogenic events influence the soundscapes of four bays on Hawaii Island

Cited by 10 publications

References 56 publications

Chronic exposure of Hawaii Island spinner dolphins (Stenella longirostris) to human activities

Chronic exposure of Hawaii Island spinner dolphins (Stenella longirostris) to human activities

Characterizing the Long-Term, Wide-Band and Deep-Water Soundscape Off Hawai’i

Caribbean Sea Soundscapes: Monitoring Humpback Whales, Biological Sounds, Geological Events, and Anthropogenic Impacts of Vessel Noise

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