Call type repertoire of killer whales (Orcinus orca) in Iceland and its variation across regions
Abstract
Killer whales (Orcinus orca) have group-specific call repertoires that can be used to track groups and populations using passive acoustic monitoring. To provide a detailed description of the Icelandic killer whale repertoire and its variation, we analyzed acoustic data collected in five locations between 1985 and 2016. Calls were classified manually, and CART and random forest analyses were employed to validate the manual classification. A total of 91 call categories (including call types and subtypes) were defined. Most call categories were recorded in more than one location, with the highest proportion shared between herring grounds in Vestmannaeyjar (South) and Breiðafjörður (West). However, both locations included call categories that were not recorded elsewhere in Iceland. Recordings from past herring wintering grounds in eastern Iceland included few call categories that matched other locations. Sample sizes from Reykjanes (Southwest) and Skjálfandi (North) were small and did not include unique call categories. The relative occurrence of call categories in Vestmannaeyjar changed little over a 14-year period (2002-2016), although shorter-term changes between years were observed that appeared to correlate to changes in individuals identified. This comparison of acoustic repertoires provides valuable information on the social structure and movement patterns of herring-eating killer whales around Iceland.
Citation
Selbmann , A , Deecke , V B , Filatova , O A , Fedutin , I D , Miller , P J O , Simon , M , Bowles , A E , Lyrholm , T , Lacey , C , Magnúsdóttir , E E , Maunder , W , Wensveen , P J , Svavarsson , J & Samarra , F I P 2023 , ' Call type repertoire of killer whales ( Orcinus orca ) in Iceland and its variation across regions ' , Marine Mammal Science , vol. 39 , no. 4 , pp. 1136-1160 . https://doi.org/10.1111/mms.13039
Publication
Marine Mammal Science
Status
Peer reviewed
ISSN
0824-0469Type
Journal article
Description
Funding: The Oticon Foundation and theOcean Futures/Free Willy Keiko Foundation provided funding and platforms for data collection in Vestmannaeyjar 2002. Funding for data collection in Vestmannaeyjar from 2008 onwards and in Breiðafjörður was provided by the BBC Natural History Unit, Fundaç ̃ao para a Ciência e a Tecnologia (grant number SFRH/BD/30303/2006), the Icelandic Centre for Research through a START Postdoctoral Fellowship (grant number 120248042) and Project Grant (grant number 163060), the National Geographic Global Exploration Fund (grant number GEFNE65-12), a Marie Curie International Incoming Fellowship (project number 297116), the Office of Naval Research (grant number N00014-08-1-0984), and a Russell Trust Award from the University of St Andrews. A.S. was supported by a Doctoral Student Grant (grant number 206808) from the Icelandic Centre for Research. V.B.D. was supported by a grant from the University of Cumbria's Research and Scholarship Development Fund. E.M. was supported by the Doctoral Grants of the University of Iceland Research Fund (grant number 200913) and the Conservation Fund of Pálmi Jonasson. This project was funded in part by the generous support of Earthwatch.Collections
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