Dear colleagues,
We are pleased to announce our new publication:
Kaplan, M.B., Mooney, T.A., Sayigh, L.S., and Baird, R.W. 2014.
Repeated call types in Hawaiian melon-headed whales (Peponocephala
electra). J. Acoust. Soc. Am. 136(3): 1394-1401.
Abstract:
Melon-headed whales are pantropical odontocetes that are often found
near oceanic islands. While considered sound-sensitive,
their bioacoustic characteristics
are relatively poorly studied. The goal of this study was to
characterize the vocal repertoire of melon-headed whales to
determine whether they produce repeated calls that could assist in
recognition of conspecifics. The first tag-based acoustic recordings
of three melon-headed whales were analyzed.
Tag records were visually and aurally inspected and all calls were
individually extracted. Non-overlapping calls with sufficient
signal-to-noise were then parameterized and visually grouped into
categories of repeated call types. Thirty-six call categories
emerged. Categories differed significantly in duration, peak and
centroid frequency, and −3 dB bandwidth. Calls of a given type were
more likely to follow each other than expected. These data suggest
that repeated calls may function in individual, subgroup, or group
recognition. Repeated call production could also serve to enhance
signal detection in large groups
with many individuals producing simultaneous calls. Results suggest
that caution should be used in developing automatic classification
algorithms for this species based on small sample sizes, as they may
be dominated by repeated calls from a few individuals, and thus not
representative of species- or population-specific acoustic
parameters.
You can access the paper here:
http://scitation.aip.org/content/asa/journal/jasa/136/3/10.1121/1.4892759
or email me for a copy.
Best,
Max
--
Maxwell Kaplan
Biology Department
Woods Hole Oceanographic Institution
266 Woods Hole Rd, MS50, Woods Hole MA, 02543
office: + 1 508 289 3352
email: mkaplan@whoi.edu web: maxwellkaplan.com