Underwater noise in an impacted environment can affect Guiana dolphin communication

Bittencourt, Lis; Lima, Isabela Maria Seabra de; Andrade, Luciana Guimarães de; Carvalho, Rafael R.; Bisi, Tatiana L.; Lailson‐Brito, José; Azevedo, Alexandre F.

doi:10.1016/j.marpolbul.2016.10.037

Cited by 27 publications

(17 citation statements)

References 44 publications

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“…, ; Bittencourt et al . ). Concerns about the health of Sotalia guianensis populations in Brazil are on the rise since there is quantitative evidence of a decline in the size of the Guanabara Bay population (Azevedo et al .…”

Section: Discussionmentioning

confidence: 97%

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Whistle variability of Guiana dolphins in South America: Latitudinal variation or acoustic adaptation?

Moron

Lopes

Reis

et al. 2018

Marine Mammal Science

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A previous comparison of whistles using data sampled at 48 kHz suggested that certain frequency parameters vary along a latitudinal gradient. This geographical pattern may be biased because whistles sampled at higher frequencies could potentially have very different frequency contents. The current study compared the acoustic parameters of Guiana dolphin (Sotalia guianensis) whistles recorded at a higher sampling rate (96 kHz) and from groups occupying two never before sampled sites, Benevente Bay, Espírito Santo, Brazil, and Formosa Bay, Rio Grande do Norte, Brazil, with recordings of other populations in South America. By only considering data sampled at a rate of at least 96 kHz, we aimed to detect differences in whistles across locations. Contrary to previous findings, our analyses do not indicate any clear separation between northern and southern populations based on whistles, and do not corroborate the hypothesis of latitudinal acoustic variation in this species. The variation in Guiana dolphin whistle parameters found here appears to be influenced by latitude to some extent, but several other factors, including sampling method, environmental fluctuations, and social influence on vocal learning, may be confounding the detection of a geographic pattern in these whistle samples.

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Section: Discussionmentioning

confidence: 97%

“…This scenario may have occurred at Cananéia/Guaraqueçaba and Guanabara, where the individuals at these locations may exhibit increased, as opposed to decreased, frequency parameters because the intensity of vessel traffic ( e.g ., Bittencourt et al . , Andrade et al . ).…”

Section: Discussionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Whistle variability of Guiana dolphins in South America: Latitudinal variation or acoustic adaptation?

Moron

Lopes

Reis

et al. 2018

Marine Mammal Science

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“…Multiple studies have found that vessel engine noise can mask marine mammal acoustic communication [136][137][138], and it is likely that vessels operating within 5 m of Burrunan dolphins (Fig 3) at least partially interrupted Burrunan dolphin acoustics. 'Leaps' and 'tail slaps' have been considered as forms of percussive communication used to communicate in noisy environments [93].…”

Section: Plos Onementioning

confidence: 99%

Assessment on the effectiveness of vessel-approach regulations to protect cetaceans in Australia: A review on behavioral impacts with case study on the threatened Burrunan dolphin (Tursiops australis)

Puszka

Shimeta

Robb³

2021

PLoS ONE

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Vessels cause considerable disturbance to cetaceans world-wide, with potential long-term impacts to population viability. Here we present a comprehensive review of vessel impacts to cetacean behavior in Australian waters (2003–2015), finding inadequate protections to be in place. The majority of these studies found trends of decreased animal travel and resting behavioral states as well as low compliance to regulations, and they recommended further regulatory action such as greater enforcement or monitoring, or passive management strategies. As a case study, we conducted the first field assessment of vessel compliance with the Wildlife (Marine Mammal) Regulations 2009 in Gippsland Lakes, Australia, and provide the first assessment of the endangered Gippsland Lakes Burrunan dolphin (Tursiops australis) population’s behavioral ecology. Dolphin behavior and vessel regulation compliance data were collected during boat-based surveys of Gippsland Lakes from July 2017 to January 2018, with a total of 22 dolphin group sightings resulting in 477 five-minute point samples. 77% of dolphin sightings involved vessel interactions (within 400 m), and 56 regulation breaches were observed. These breaches were most severe in summer (mean = 4.54 breaches/hour). Vessels were found to alter dolphin behavior before, during, and after interactions and regulation breaches, including increased mating (mate guarding) and milling behavioral states, and increased ‘fish catch’, ‘high leap’ and ‘tail slap’ behavioral events. These behavioral changes may indicate masking of the dolphins' acoustic communication, disturbance of prey, increased dolphin transition behaviors, and/or induced stress and changes to group structure (including increased mate guarding). While our results provide evidence of short-term altered behavior, the potential for long-term effects on population dynamics for this threatened species is high. In the context of reported inadequate cetacean protection Australia-wide, our management recommendations include greater monitoring and enforcement, and the utilisation of adaptive management.

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“…Noise can reduce the transmission effectivity and detectability of acoustic signals (Brumm and Slabbekoorn, 2005). To reduce the negative effect of acoustic masking, animals may adjust the spectral and/or temporal features of their vocalizations by increasing amplitude, frequency, bandwidth and duration of vocal elements (Hage et al, 2013; Parks et al, 2007; Rios-Chelen et al, 2012; Siegert et al, 2013), and increasing the number of vocal elements and repetition rate (Bittencourt et al, 2017; Brumm et al, 2004; Caldart et al, 2016; Luther and Gentry, 2013; Nelson et al, 2017; Roy et al, 2011). Since masking is most effective when the masking sound spectrally overlaps with the target sound, it is expected that noise would have more negative impacts on the vocalizations that spectrally overlap more with the interfering noise and that animals under noisy conditions would make a greater effort to change their vocalizations than those that spectrally overlapped less with the noise.…”

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Bats adjust temporal features of echolocation calls but not those of communication calls in response to traffic noise

Song

Lin

Jiang

et al. 2018

Preprint

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statement: 26 This study reveals the impact of anthropogenic noise on spectrally distinct vocalizations 27 and the limitations of the acoustic masking hypothesis to explain the vocal response of 28 bats to chronic noise. 29 2 Abstract 30The acoustic masking hypothesis states that auditory masking may occur if the target 31 sound and interfering sounds overlap spectrally, and it suggests that animals exposed to 32 noise will modify their acoustic signals to increase signal detectability. However, it is 33 unclear if animals will put more effort into changing their signals that spectrally overlap 34 more with the interfering sounds than when the signals overlap less. We examined the 35 dynamic changes in the temporal features of echolocation and communication 36 vocalizations of the Asian particolored bat (Vespertilio sinensis) when exposed to traffic 37 noise. We hypothesized that traffic noise has a greater impact on communication 38 vocalizations than on echolocation vocalizations and predicted that communication 39 vocalization change would be greater than echolocation. The bats started to adjust 40 echolocation vocalizations on the fourth day of noise exposure, including an increased 41 number of call sequences, decreased number of calls, and vocal rate within a call 42 sequence. However, there was little change in the duration of the call sequence. In 43 contrast, these communication vocalization features were not significantly adjusted 44 under noise conditions. These findings suggest that the degree of spectral overlap 45 between noise and animal acoustic signals does not predict the level of temporal vocal 46 response to the noise.47 48

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Underwater noise in an impacted environment can affect Guiana dolphin communication

Cited by 27 publications

References 44 publications

Whistle variability of Guiana dolphins in South America: Latitudinal variation or acoustic adaptation?

Whistle variability of Guiana dolphins in South America: Latitudinal variation or acoustic adaptation?

Assessment on the effectiveness of vessel-approach regulations to protect cetaceans in Australia: A review on behavioral impacts with case study on the threatened Burrunan dolphin (Tursiops australis)

Bats adjust temporal features of echolocation calls but not those of communication calls in response to traffic noise

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