Sound production and associated behavior of tagged fin whales (Balaenoptera physalus) in the Southern California Bight
Abstract
Background: For marine animals, acoustic communication is critical for many life functions, yet individual calling behavior is poorly understood for most large whale species. These topics are important for understanding whale social behavior and can also serve as a baseline for behavioral studies assessing whale response to disturbance. Using a new technique for identifying the calling individual, we measured body orientation, dive behavior, and surface social behavior in relation to call production for tagged fin whales in Southern California. Results: Behavioral metrics associated with elevated call rates included shallow maximum dive depths (10–15 m), little body movement, negative pitch in body orientation, and moderate body roll. Calling whales were also more likely to be traveling than milling, in groups rather than solitary, and without change in group size compared to non-calling whales. Conclusions: These are the first descriptions of body posture and depths at which fin whales are most likely to call, and some possible sound propagation and/or anatomical reasons for these results are considered. The call behavior characterizations presented here will help in predicting calling behavior from surface behavior, informing interpretation of passive acoustic data, and determining the effects of anthropogenic sound on whales in Southern California.
Citation
Stimpert , A , DeRuiter , S , Falcone , E , Joseph , J , Douglas , A B , Moretti , D J , Friedlander , A S , Calambokidis , J , Gailey , G , Tyack , P L & Goldbogen , J A 2015 , ' Sound production and associated behavior of tagged fin whales ( Balaenoptera physalus ) in the Southern California Bight ' , Animal Biotelemetry , vol. 3 , 23 . https://doi.org/10.1186/s40317-015-0058-3
Publication
Animal Biotelemetry
Status
Peer reviewed
ISSN
2050-3385Type
Journal article
Rights
© 2015 Stimpert et al. Open AccessThis article is distributed under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 International License (http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/), which permits unrestricted use, distribution, and reproduction in any medium, provided you give appropriate credit to the original author(s) and the source, provide a link to the Creative Commons license, and indicate if changes were made. The Creative Commons Public Domain Dedication waiver (http://creativecommons.org/publicdomain/zero/1.0/) applies to the data made available in this article, unless otherwise stated.
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