Vocalizations of bearded seals (<scp><i>Erignathus barbatus</i></scp>) and their influence on the soundscape of the western Canadian Arctic

Heimrich, Annika F.; Halliday, William D.; Frouin‐Mouy, Héloïse; Pine, Matthew K.; Juanes, Francis; Insley, Stephen J.

doi:10.1111/mms.12732

Cited by 13 publications

(5 citation statements)

References 46 publications

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“…According to recent PAM results, bearded seal calls were detected nearly year‐round in the Beaufort Sea and Chukchi Sea (MacIntyre et al., 2015) and were more likely to be present when the SIC was high (Halliday et al., 2017). The seasonal migration of bearded seals and their vocalizations influence the ambient sound level in the Canadian Arctic (Heimrich et al., 2021). In addition, the sound of sea ice melting has been reported to be between 1 and 3 kHz and the 3‐kHz peak in the measurements in September seems to have originated from sea ice melting (Mahanty et al., 2020).…”

Section: Discussionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Effects of Geophony and Anthrophony on the Underwater Acoustic Environment in the East Siberian Sea, Arctic Ocean

Han

Joo²,

Son

et al. 2021

Geophysical Research Letters

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As Arctic warming accelerates, the underwater acoustic environment in the Arctic Ocean is rapidly changing. We present the first results of passive acoustic monitoring in the marginal ice zone of the East Siberian Sea (ESS). A high sea ice concentration (SIC) and seasonal variations in ice cover make the ESS an ideal region to verify how ambient sound levels respond to natural physical processes and anthropogenic activities during summer. Our observations show that the sound level in the ESS exhibits a strong negative correlation with SIC, and the sound level in September, which was higher than that in other months, was 16 dB higher than the annual average. This increase resulted from geophony and anthrophony with the reduction in the SIC, and sound level increased by 13 dB without anthrophony. Our results indicate that ambient sound level in the Arctic Ocean may increase as climate change accelerates sea ice melting.

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Section: Discussionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Effects of Geophony and Anthrophony on the Underwater Acoustic Environment in the East Siberian Sea, Arctic Ocean

Han

Joo²,

Son

et al. 2021

Geophysical Research Letters

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“…In previous studies, the frequency bandwidth of calls was defined as ±20 dB around the peak frequency (Rogers et al., 1995), or specialized programs such as Raven Pro (Cornell lab) and Osprey (Mellinger & Bradbury, 2007) were utilized (Heimrich et al., 2021; Shabangu & Rogers, 2021). While we adhered to the previously established criterion of a ±20 dB bandwidth, this criterion was insufficient for HDT, MST and AT.…”

Section: Methodsmentioning

confidence: 99%

Underwater soundscape in Seaview Bay, Antarctica, and triple ascending trill of the leopard seal (Hydrurga leptonyx) underwater vocalizations

Han,

Choi,

Kim

et al. 2024

Ecology and Evolution

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The underwater soundscape was recorded in Seaview Bay off Inexpressible Island, Ross Sea region Marine protected area, for 3 days in December 2021. Leopard seal Hydrurga leptonyx vocalizations were a prominent sound source that led to variations in ambient sound pressure levels in a frequency range of approximately 150–4500 Hz. Among the 14 call types previously identified, except ultrasound vocalizations, six types of broadcast calls were classified, and their acoustic characteristics were analyzed. We focused on the acoustic characteristics of four low‐frequency calls, clustered in a relatively narrow bandwidth, which have been relatively less studied. We identified a new call type of a triple ascending trill consisting of three trill parts, expanding upon the findings of previous studies. The audio data extracted from leopard seal vocalization videos, recorded by a monitoring camera on sea ice, enhanced the reliability of identifications of the underwater triple ascending trill. We present the unique results of underwater passive acoustic monitoring conducted at Seaview Bay, designated as Antarctic Specially Protected Area No 178. Our results could contribute to the development of detection and localization algorithms for leopard seal vocalizations and can be used as fundamental data for studies related to the vocalization and behavior of this species.

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“…Polar regions, although arguably at the forefront of climate change policy focus, have been largely neglected in holistic soundscape measurements. The soundscape of the polar regions is not only rich with the biophony of marine mammals, and fish, found to correlate positively with biodiversity assessments (Roca and Van Opzeeland, 2020;Heimrich et al, 2021), but as ice melts, it produces a recognizable sound signature (Mahanty et al, 2020) allowing for acoustic observation of climate change. Calving of icebergs, and glaciers is also recordable and present in analyses.…”

Section: Vulnerable Shallow Soundscapesmentioning

confidence: 99%

State of Play in Marine Soundscape Assessments

2022

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A soundscape is the recording of all sounds present in an area, creating a holistic view of the acoustic profile in an ecosystem. Studying acoustic parameters of marine soundscapes as a whole has been shown to give an indication of the health status of the location, as well as correlate to which species may be present and using the area. With the rapid innovation of technology, especially data storage and declining cost of equipment, marine soundscape research is fast increasing, and these previous limitations have been switched for computing capacity for data analysis. Here, we perform a systematic assessment of literature of marine soundscape studies, from 1978, when the first soundscape study was reported, until 2021. We identified 200 primary research studies that recorded soundscapes and captured their geographical location, depth, habitat, duration of the study, and number of sites in each study. Using this data, we summarize the state of play in marine soundscapes studies, and identify knowledge gaps in the spatial coverage, depth profiles, habitat representation and study duration. Spatially, studies are biased towards the northern hemisphere. They are also more prevalent in more easily accessible ecosystems, in order from most to least studied, in coastal (38%), pelagic (20%), tropical coral reef (17%), rocky reef (7%), polar (5.5%), seagrass meadows, oyster reef and kelp/algal forest (<5% each) areas, with zones of cold-water coral the least studied (0.3%). Continuing the trend of accessibility, studies also tended to focus on shallow ecosystems. Most recordings (68%) were conducted in the upper 50 m, with 13% in 50-200 m depths, and only 0.6% at a depth >4000 m. With anthropogenic noise and other pollution sources increasing globally, these gaps in research should be further addressed, especially as they pertain to vulnerable ecosystems, many of which are affected by global climate change and anthropogenic influences. It is crucial that marine soundscape studies continue to be developed and pursued, to establish baselines for healthy ecosystems and/or document recovery following management actions.

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Vocalizations of bearded seals (Erignathus barbatus) and their influence on the soundscape of the western Canadian Arctic

Abstract: The soundscape is a crucial habitat feature for marine mammals. This study investigates the contribution of bearded seal vocalizations to the soundscape in the western Canadian Arctic, and also the vocal characteristics of bearded

Cited by 13 publications

References 46 publications

Effects of Geophony and Anthrophony on the Underwater Acoustic Environment in the East Siberian Sea, Arctic Ocean

Effects of Geophony and Anthrophony on the Underwater Acoustic Environment in the East Siberian Sea, Arctic Ocean

Underwater soundscape in Seaview Bay, Antarctica, and triple ascending trill of the leopard seal (Hydrurga leptonyx) underwater vocalizations

State of Play in Marine Soundscape Assessments

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