The impact of anthropogenic noise on marine mammals has been an area of increasing concern over the past two decades. Most low-frequency anthropogenic noise in the ocean comes from commercial shipping which has contributed to an increase in ocean background noise over the past 150 years. The long-term impacts of these changes on marine mammals are not well understood. This paper describes both short- and long-term behavioral changes in calls produced by the endangered North Atlantic right whale (Eubalaena glacialis) and South Atlantic right whale (Eubalaena australis) in the presence of increased low-frequency noise. Right whales produce calls with a higher average fundamental frequency and they call at a lower rate in high noise conditions, possibly in response to masking from low-frequency noise. The long-term changes have occurred within the known lifespan of individual whales, indicating that a behavioral change, rather than selective pressure, has resulted in the observed differences. This study provides evidence of a behavioral change in sound production of right whales that is correlated with increased noise levels and indicates that right whales may shift call frequency to compensate for increased band-limited background noise.
REFERENCES
1.
Aguilar Soto
, N.
, Johnson
, M.
, Madsen
, P. T.
, Tyack
, P. L.
, Bocconcelli
, A.
, and Borsani
, J. F.
(2006
). “Does intense ship noise disrupt foraging in deep-diving Cuvier’s beaked whales (Ziphius cavirostris)?
,” Marine Mammal Sci.
22
, 690
–699
.2.
Andrew
, R. K.
, Howe
, B. M.
, and Mercer
, J. A.
(2002
). “Ocean ambient sound: Comparing the 1960s with the 1990s for a receiver off the California coast
,” ARLO
3
, 65
–70
.3.
Brumm
, H.
(2004
). “The impact of environmental noise on song amplitude in a territorial bird
,” J. Anim. Ecol.
73
, 434
–440
.4.
Buckstaff
, K. C.
(2004
). “Effects of watercraft noise on the acoustic behavior of bottlenose dolphins, Tursiops truncatus, in Sarasota Bay, Florida
,” Marine Mammal Sci.
20
, 709
–725
.5.
Clark
, C. W.
(1982
). “The acoustic repertoire of the southern right whale, a quantitative analysis
,” Anim. Behav.
30
, 1060
–1071
.6.
Clark
, C. W.
, Borsani
, J. F.
, and Notarbartolo-di-Sciara
, G.
(2002
). “Vocal activity of fin whales, Balaenoptera physalus, in the Ligurian Sea
,” Marine Mammal Sci.
18
, 281
–285
.7.
Cox
, T. M.
, Ragen
, T. J.
, Read
, A. J.
, Vos
, E.
, Baird
, R. W.
, Balcomb
, K.
, Barlow
, J.
, Caldwell
, J.
, Cranford
, T.
, Crum
, L.
, D’Amico
, A.
, D’Spain
, G.
, Fernández
, A.
, Finneran
, J.
, Gentry
, R.
, Gerth
, W.
, Gulland
, F.
, Hildebrand
, J.
, Houser
, D.
, Hullar
, T.
, Jepson
, P. D.
, Ketten
, D.
, MacLeod
, C. D.
, Miller
, P.
, Moore
, S.
, Mountain
, D. C.
, Palka
, D.
, Ponganis
, P.
, Rommel
, S.
, Rowles
, T.
, Taylor
, B.
, Tyack
, P. L.
, Wartzok
, D.
, Gisiner
, R.
, Mead
, J.
, and Benner
, L.
(2006
). “Understanding the impacts of anthropogenic sound on beaked whales
,” J. Cetacean Res. Manage.
7
, 177
–187
.8.
Foote
, A. D.
, Osborne
, R. W.
, and Hoelzel
, A. R.
(2004
). “Whale-call response to masking boat noise
,” Nature (London)
428
, 910
.9.
Frantzis
, A.
(1998
). “Does acoustic testing strand whales?
,” Nature (London)
392
, 29
.10.
Fristrup
, K. M.
, Hatch
, L. T.
, and Clark
, C. W.
(2003
). “Variation in humpback whale (Megaptera novaeangliae) song length in relation to low-frequency sound broadcasts
,” J. Acoust. Soc. Am.
113
, 3411
–3424
.11.
Gaines
, C. A.
, Hare
, M. P.
, Beck
, S. E.
, and Rosenbaum
, H. C.
(2005
). “Nuclear markers confirm taxonomic status and relationships among highly endangered and closely related right whale species
,” Proc. R. Soc. London, Ser. B
272
, 533
–542
.12.
Gillam
, E.
, Ulanovsky
, N.
, and McCracken
, G.
(2007
). “Rapid jamming avoidance in biosonar
,” Proc. R. Soc. B
274
, 651
–660
.13.
Hamilton
, P. K.
, Knowlton
, A. R.
, Marx
, M. K.
, and Kraus
, S. D.
(1998
). “Age structure and longevity in North Atlantic right whales (Eubalaena glacialis) and their relation to reproduction
,” Mar. Ecol.: Prog. Ser.
171
, 285
–292
.14.
Jepson
, P. D.
(2003
). “Gas-bubble lesions in stranded cetaceans
,” Nature (London)
425
, 575
–576
.15.
Kraus
, S. D.
, Brown
, M. W.
, Caswell
, H.
, Clark
, C. W.
, Fujiwara
, M.
, Hamilton
, P. K.
, Kenney
, R. D.
, Knowlton
, A. R.
, Landry
, S.
, Mayo
, C. A.
, McLellan
, W. A.
, Moore
, M. J.
, Nowacek
, D. P.
, Pabst
, D. A.
, Read
, A. J.
, and Rolland
, R. M.
(2005
). “North Atlantic right whales in crisis
,” Science
309
, 561
–562
.16.
Lesage
, V.
, Barrette
, C.
, Kingsley
, M. C. S.
, and Sjare
, B.
(1999
). “The effect of vessel noise on the vocal behavior of belugas in the St. Lawrence River Estuary, Canada
,” Marine Mammal Sci.
15
, 65
–84
.17.
Littell
, R. C.
, Milliken
, G. A.
, Stroup
, W. W.
, Wolfinger
, R. D.
, and Schabenberger
, O.
(2006
). SAS for Mixed Models
, 2nd Ed. (SAS Publishing
, Cary, N.C.).18.
McDonald
, M. A.
, Hildebrand
, J. A.
, and Wiggins
, S. M.
(2006
). “Increase in deep ocean ambient noise in the Northeast Pacific west of San Nicolas Island, California
,” J. Acoust. Soc. Am.
120
, 711
–718
.19.
Miller
, P. J. O.
, Biassoni
, N.
, Samuels
, A.
, and Tyack
, P. L.
(2000
). “Whale songs lengthen in response to sonar
,” Nature (London)
405
, 903
.20.
Munk
, W. H.
, Spindel
, R. C.
, Baggeroer
, A.
, and Birdsall
, T. G.
(1994
). “The Heard Island feasibility test
,” J. Acoust. Soc. Am.
96
, 2330
–2342
.21.
N.R.C. (
2005
). Marine Mammal Populations and Ocean Noise: Determining when Noise Causes Biologically Significant Effects
, National Academies Press
, Washington, D.C.22.
Parks
, S. E.
, and Tyack
, P. L.
(2005
). “Sound production by North Atlantic right whales (Eubalaena glacialis) in surface active groups
,” J. Acoust. Soc. Am.
117
, 3297
–3306
.23.
Payne
, R. S.
, and Webb
, D.
(1971
). “Orientation by means of long range acoustic signaling in baleen whales
,” Ann. N.Y. Acad. Sci.
188
, 110
–141
.24.
Penna
, M.
, Pottstock
, H.
, and Velasquez
, N.
(2005
). “Effect of natural and synthetic noise on evoked vocal responses in a frog of the temperate austral forest
,” Anim. Behav.
70
, 639
–651
.25.
Piggott
, C. L.
(1964
). “Ambient sea noise at low frequency in shallow water of the Scotian Shelf
,” J. Acoust. Soc. Am.
36
, 2152
–2163
.26.
Richardson
, W. J.
, Greene
, C. R.
, Jr., Malme
, C. I.
, and Thomson
, D. H.
(1995
). Marine Mammals and Noise
(Academic
, San Diego).27.
Ross
, D.
(1974
). “Ship sources of ambient noise. Proceedings of the International Workshop on Low-Frequency Propagation and Noise. Reprinted in 2005
,” IEEE J. Ocean. Eng.
30
, 257
–261
.28.
Scheifele
, P. M.
, Andrew
, S.
, Cooper
, R. A.
, Darre
, M.
, Musiek
, F. E.
, and Max
, L.
(2005
). “Indication of a Lombard vocal response in the St. Lawrence River beluga
,” J. Acoust. Soc. Am.
117
, 1486
–1492
.29.
Slabbekoorn
, H.
, and den Boer-Visser
, A.
(2006
). “Cities change the songs of birds
,” Curr. Biol.
16
, 2326
–2331
.30.
Slabbekoorn
, H.
, and Peet
, M.
(2003
). “Birds sing at a higher pitch in urban noise
,” Nature (London)
424
, 267
.31.
Sun
, J. W. C.
, and Narins
, P. M.
(2005
). “Anthropogenic sounds differentially affect amphibian call rate
,” Stud. Math.
121
, 419
–427
.32.
U.N. (
2004
). Review of maritime transport, 2004. UNCTAD/RMT/2004
(Geneva, Switzerland).33.
Wang
, C.
, and Corbett
, J. J.
(2005
). “Geographical characterization of ship traffic and emissions
,” Transp. Res. Rec.
1909
, 90
–99
.34.
Wenz
, G. M.
(1962
). “Acoustic ambient noise in the ocean: spectra and sources
,” J. Acoust. Soc. Am.
34
, 1936
–1956
.35.
Zakarauskas
, P.
, Chapman
, D. M. F.
, and Stall
, P. R.
(1990
). “Underwater acoustic ambient noise levels on the eastern Canadian continental shelf
,” J. Acoust. Soc. Am.
87
, 2064
–2071
.© 2007 Acoustical Society of America.
2007
Acoustical Society of America
You do not currently have access to this content.
