Dear MARMAM community, My co-authors and I are pleased to share our recent study, published in Integrative Zoology: Pace DS, Pedrazzi G, D’Amario I, Troccoli A, Giacomini G, Labriola MS, Pavan G, Ventura D, Casoli E, Ardizzone GD, Papale E (2024). The Acoustic Ecology of Coastal Dolphins by Assessing the Structural Variability of Sounds and the Influence of Contextual Factors. Integrative Zoology, https://doi.org/10.1111/1749-4877.12934 Abstract The acoustic ecology of a previously unexamined bottlenose dolphin population in the Mediterranean was assessed by investigating how sound emissions and acoustic features are influenced by concurrent conditions. Whistles and click-trains emission rates were compared among different environmental, social and behavioural conditions. Structural variability of 3,928 good/high-quality vocalizations was analysed in relation to contexts through a two-stage approach. Firstly, two multivariate MANOVA-models were fitted considering the entire set of acoustic parameters extracted from whistles and click trains, to investigate the effect of concomitant factors on the overall acoustic structure of each vocalization. Subsequently, GLMM-models were applied to each acoustic feature individually, to explore its response to different contextual factors. Emission rates increased significantly with calves and in larger groups, with also a positive effect of socialization on whistles, and of muddy/sandy seabed and depth on impulsive sounds. The multivariate approach showed that all contextual factors influenced sounds’ structure, with whistles being strongly affected by behaviour and calves’ presence. The GLMM-models highlighted that each acoustic parameter varied differently in response to specific factors, with (1) increasing trends in whistles’ duration and inflection points during interaction with fishery, and decreasing ones during socializing, and (2) decreasing inter-click-intervals and increasing click-repetition-rates in larger groups and during interactions with fishery. These results provide new findings on the acoustic plasticity of bottlenose dolphin, and a more comprehensive view of the magnitude of the social, environmental and behavioural influence, highlighting how the complexity of the species’ acoustic repertoire has yet to be unravelled at the local level. With very best wishes, Daniela -- Daniela Silvia Pace, PhD Lecturer in Ecology and Acoustics of Marine Mammals Department of Environmental Biology Sapienza University of Rome Viale dell’Università 32 00185 Rome, Italy mail: danielasilvia.pace@uniroma1.it mobile: +39 346 1039652 office: +39 06 4991 4763 skype: lagenorinco Orcid ID: https://orcid.org/0000-0001-5121-7080 Scholar: https://scholar.google.com/citations?hl=it&user=RsYqB5QAAAAJ [image: Risultati immagini per logo sapienza] "*Ecology is a contingent science under the broad control of climate and evolutionary change. It is an essential science if we are to achieve conservation success. There is much left to do*" (Charles J. Krebs) [image: BMC Ecology and Evolution]