Seasonal changes in the vocal behavior of bowhead whales (<i>Balaena mysticetus</i>) in Disko Bay, Western-Greenland

Tervo, Outi M.; Parks, Susan E.; Miller, Lee A.

doi:10.1121/1.3158941

Cited by 35 publications

(42 citation statements)

References 33 publications

(38 reference statements)

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“…Mating is believed to occur in March and April (Reese et al 2001). Intensive singing activity of bowhead whales, with up to 3 unique songs, was recorded in April 2007 (Stafford et al 2008, Tervo et al 2009). Singing is an activity that is usually attributed to male display in baleen whales, and given that most singing activity was recorded during spring, it is plausible that mating between the relatively few males and the large fraction of females occurs in Disko Bay.…”

Section: Resultsmentioning

confidence: 99%

Large-scale sexual segregation of bowhead whales

Heide‐Jørgensen¹,

Laidre²,

Wiig³

et al. 2010

Endang. Species. Res.

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Skin biopsy samples from 806 bowhead whales Balaena mysticetus collected between 1995 and 2010 at 4 locations in Nunavut, Canada, and at 1 locality in West Greenland were used for determination of sex and sexual segregation of bowhead whales in the Baffin Bay stock. There was a significant dominance of females in the Disko Bay samples (78%), whereas the sex ratio in aggregations in Nunavut was not significantly different from 50:50. Data on the body length of whales suggest that primarily large mature whales without calves occupy Disko Bay, whereas primarily mothercalf pairs are found in Foxe Basin. On a broader scale, Baffin Bay is more widely used by adult males and resting or pregnant females from Disko Bay, while Prince Regent, Gulf of Boothia, Foxe Basin, and northwestern Hudson Bay are also used by nursing females, calves, and sub-adults. The most parsimonious explanation for the large-scale spatial segregation of sexes in bowhead whales is that mature females without calves utilize Disko Bay as a foraging ground during certain parts of their reproductive cycle. Acoustic recordings of singing males indicate that Disko Bay may also be a mating ground, where some males may be following estrous females into the bay.

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Section: Resultsmentioning

confidence: 99%

Large-scale sexual segregation of bowhead whales

Heide‐Jørgensen¹,

Laidre²,

Wiig³

et al. 2010

Endang. Species. Res.

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“…They overwinter in Hudson Strait, Cumberland Sound, West Greenland, and the North Water polynya (Ferguson et al, 2010). In spring, they inhabit the west coast of Greenland (particularly Disko Bay, Tervo et al, 2009), Cumberland Sound, Foxe Basin, and Lancaster Sound in Canada (Ferguson et al, 2010). Their summer range includes the fjords and bays FIG.…”

Section: Discussionmentioning

confidence: 99%

“…Most of the West Greenland marine mammal acoustic data published to date are recordings from Disko Bay or central Baffin Bay in spring (Stafford et al, 2008;Tervo et al, 2009) and winter (Tervo et al, 2009(Tervo et al, , 2011Stafford et al, 2012a;Rasmussen et al, 2015) and from Inglefield Bay in summer (Miller et al, 1995). Here we present results of recordings of marine mammal calls at 11 locations in the Greenlandic waters of northern Baffin Bay: four locations from late July to September 2012 (including one recorder in Melville Bay), five locations in September 2013, and two locations from September 2013 to September 2014.…”

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Seasonal Trends in Acoustic Detection of Marine Mammals in Baffin Bay and Melville Bay, Northwest Greenland + Supplementary Appendix 1 (See Article Tools)

Frouin‐Mouy¹,

Kowarski²,

Martin³

et al. 2017

ARCTIC

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ABSTRACT. The expansion of hydrocarbon exploration in northwest Greenland has made it increasingly important to understand the occurrence of marine mammals in the region. We describe the seasonal occurrence of marine mammals and the spatial distribution of their calls in Baffin Bay and Melville Bay. Four Autonomous Multichannel Acoustic Recorders (AMARs) were deployed during summer 2012 (late July to early October), five recorders during September 2013, and two recorders from late September 2013 to early September 2014. The call presence of several species was analyzed using automatic call detection and manual verification analysis methods. A novel approach to discern narwhal (Monodon monoceros) clicks from beluga (Delphinapterus leucas) clicks was implemented during the verification process. Narwhal calls were detected in spring and fall, showing a south-to-north migration pattern in spring and a north-to-south migration pattern in fall. Few beluga whales were detected during fall 2013 and spring 2014. Bearded seal (Erignathus barbatus) calls were detected mainly during spring (mating period). A small number of bowhead whale calls (Balaena mysticetus) were detected during fall 2013 and spring and summer 2014. For the first time at this latitude in Baffin Bay, long-finned pilot whales (Globicephala melas) and sperm whales (Physeter macrocephalus) were detected during summer and fall. Our results suggest that the presence of marine mammals in Baffin Bay and Melville Bay is governed mainly by the annual cycle of sea ice formation and decay.

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“…Although very little is known about reproduction for this species, including breeding season and location, acoustic displays as reproductive advertisement are common in many baleen whale species, most notably humpback and bowhead whales (e.g. Payne & McVay 1971, McSweeney et al 1989, Stafford et al 2008, Delarue et al 2009, Tervo et al 2009). The gunshot's function as a reproductive advertisement is also in agreement with the theory that it is predominantly produced by males.…”

Section: Possible Function Of the Gunshotmentioning

confidence: 99%

Gunshot call production by the North Pacific right whale Eubalaena japonica in the southeastern Bering Sea

Crance¹,

Berchok²,

Keating³

2017

Endang. Species. Res.

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During dedicated surveys for the Critically Endangered eastern stock of North Pacific right whales Eubalaena japonica (NPRW) in the Bering Sea, focal follows (FFs) were combined with passive acoustic monitoring to correlate vocal activity with dive behavior. During FFs, impulsive gunshot calls (hereafter 'gunshots'), similar to those produced by other right whale populations, were localized to male and female NPRWs. The timing of gunshots correlated strongly with diving behavior observed during the FFs. Log survivorship analysis of inter-blow intervals showed a bout criterion interval of 40 s, separating the data into shorter surfacings and longer dives. For both, gunshots were skewed closer to the end of the sequence (modal gunshot to blow times: 5 s for dives, 7 s for surfacings) than the beginning (modal blow to gunshot times: 22 s for dives, 13 s for surfacings). Gunshots were more commonly produced during dives than surfacings. Mean gunshot calling rate during FFs was 133.0 calls h −1 (range: 38.9−425.0). Other NPRW calls, including upcalls, the predominant call used to identify right whales acoustically, were not detected during the FFs. To determine comparative call detection rates, an additional 180 h of non-FF recordings were analyzed. Gunshots were detected ~50 times more frequently than upcalls (mean: 228. . This is the first study to definitively attribute gunshots to NPRW, and demonstrates the importance of including gunshots in passive acoustic studies, which will greatly increase NPRW detectability while supporting more accurate determinations of their spatio-temporal distribution.

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Seasonal changes in the vocal behavior of bowhead whales (Balaena mysticetus) in Disko Bay, Western-Greenland

Cited by 35 publications

References 33 publications

Large-scale sexual segregation of bowhead whales

Large-scale sexual segregation of bowhead whales

Seasonal Trends in Acoustic Detection of Marine Mammals in Baffin Bay and Melville Bay, Northwest Greenland + Supplementary Appendix 1 (See Article Tools)

Gunshot call production by the North Pacific right whale Eubalaena japonica in the southeastern Bering Sea

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