Aiming to gather information on southern right whale (Eubalaena australis) mother-calf pairs' vocal behavior, archival acoustic recorders were deployed at a calving area off Brazil. Manual inspection of spectrograms revealed seven call classes: upcall, downcall, down-upcall, tonal variable, tonal constant, hybrid, and pulsive calls, which are consistent with those previously described for this species in Argentina. Gunshots and warbles, vocalizations described from other right whale species, were not detected. Mean values of start, end, maximum, minimum and peak frequencies, frequency bandwidth and duration were calculated for each call class. Start and end frequencies, frequency bandwidth and duration of upcalls recorded off Brazil were compared to those from other right whale populations and species. Only mean duration of upcalls from Brazil were significantly different from upcalls from all other populations. Differences in call duration may be driven by differences in demographic factors or background noise features among study areas. The repertoire characterization presented in this study will contribute to increase the utility of passive acoustic monitoring as a tool for conservation and research of southern right whales off Brazil as it provides important baseline information on the vocal behavior of this species.
References
1.
Antunes Zappes
, C.
, da Silva
, C. V.
, Pontalti
, M.
, Lauriano Danielski
, M.
, and Di Beneditto
, A. P. M.
(2013
). “The conflict between the southern right whale and coastal fisheries on the southern coast of Brazil
,” Mar. Policy
38
, 428
–437
.2.
Au
, W. W. L.
(1993
). The Sonar of Dolphins
(Springer-Verlag
, New York)
, 728
pp.3.
Bort
, J.
, Van Parijs
, S. M.
, Stevick
, P. T.
, Summers
, E.
, and Todd
, S.
(2015
). “North Atlantic right whale Eubalaena glacialis vocalization patterns in the central Gulf of Maine from October 2009 through October 2010
,” Endang. Spec. Res.
26
, 271
–280
.4.
Bradbury
, J. W.
, and Vehrencamp
, S. L.
(1998
). Principles of Animal Communication
(Sinauer Associates
, Sunderland, MA
), 882
pp.5.
Brazil
(2000
). “Decree of 14 September 2000. It provides for the creation of the Right whale Environmental Protection Area in the state of Santa Catarina, and other measures
,” in Diário Oficial da União
(Nacional Press, Brasília
, DF, Brazil
), p. 2
.6.
Cartwright
, R.
, and Sullivan
, M.
(2009
). “Behavioral ontogeny in humpback whale (Megaptera novaeangliae) calves during their residence in Hawaiian waters
,” Mar. Mamm. Sci.
25
, 659
–680
.7.
Charif
, R. A.
, Waak
, A. M.
, and Strickman
, L. M.
(2010
). Raven Pro 1,4 User's Manual
(Cornell Laboratory of Ornithology
, Ithaca, NY
), 367
pp.8.
Clark
, C. W.
(1982
). “The acoustic repertoire of the southern right whale, a quantitative analysis
,” Anim. Behav.
30
, 1060
–1071
.9.
Clark
, C. W.
(1983
). “Acoustic communication and behavior of the southern right whale (Eubalaena australis)
,” in Communication and Behavior of Right Whales
, edited by R.
Payne
(Westview Press for the American Association for the Advancement of Science
, Boulder, CO
), pp. 163
–198
.10.
Clark
, C. W.
, Ellison
, W. T.
, Southall
, B. L.
, Hatch
, L.
, Van Parijs
, S. M.
, Frankel
, A.
, and Ponirakis
, D.
(2009
). “Acoustic masking in marine ecosystems: Intuitions, analysis, and implication
,” Mar. Ecol. Progr. Ser.
395
, 201
–222
.12.
Groch
, K. R.
, Palazzo
, J. J. T.
, Flores
, P. A. C.
, Adler
, F. R.
, and Fabian
, M. E.
(2005
). “Recent rapid increases in the right whale (Eubalaena australis) population off southern Brazil
,” Latin Am. J. Aquat. Mamm.
4
, 41
–47
.13.
Hofmeyr-Juritz
, L. H.
, and Best
, P. B.
(2011
). “Acoustic behaviour of southern right whales in relation to numbers of whales present in Walker Bay, South Africa
,” Afric. J. Mar. Sci.
33
, 415
–427
.14.
International Whaling Commission
(2012
). “Report of the workshop on the assessment of southern right whales
,” in Scientific Committee Meeting, 64th International Whaling Commission Meeting
, pp. 1
–39
.15.
Kraus
, S. D.
, and Hatch
, L. T.
(2001
). “Mating strategies in the North Atlantic right whale (Eubalaena australis)
,” J. Cetacean Res. Manage.
2
, 237
–244
.16.
Leuchtenberger
, C.
, Sousa-Lima
, R.
, Duplaix
, N.
, Magnusson
, W. E.
, and Mourao
, G.
(2014
). “Vocal repertoire of the social giant otter
,” J. Acoust. Soc. Am.
136
, 2861
–2875
.17.
Lodi
, L.
, Siciliano
, S.
, and Bellini
, C.
(1996
). “Occurrence and conservation of southern right whales, Eubalaena australis, off Brazil
,” Papéis Avulsos Zool.
39
, 307
–328
.18.
Matthews
, L. P.
, McCordic
, J. A.
, and Parks
, S. E.
(2014
). “Remote acoustic monitoring of North Atlantic right whales (Eubalaena glacialis) reveals seasonal and diel variations in acoustic behaviour
,” PloS one
9
, e91367
.19.
McCordic
, J. A.
, Root-Gutteridge
, H.
, Cusano
, D. A.
, Denes
, S. L
, and Parks
, S. E.
(2016
). “Calls of North Atlantic right whales Eubalaena glacialis contain information on individual identity and age class
,” Endang. Spec. Res.
30
, 157
–169
.20.
McDonald
, M. A.
, and Moore
, S. E.
(2002
). “Calls recorded from North Pacific right whales (Eubalaena japonica) in the eastern Bering Sea
,” J. Cetacean Res. Manage.
4
, 261
–266
.21.
Mellinger
, D. K.
, Stafford
, K. M.
, Moore
, S. E.
, Dziak
, R. P.
, and Matsumoto
, H.
(2007
). “An overview of fixed passive acoustic observation methods for cetaceans
,” Oceanography
20
, 36
–45
.22.
Mullen
, K. A.
, Peterson
, M. L.
, and Todd
, S. K.
(2013
). “Has designating and protecting critical habitat had an impact on endangered North Atlantic right whale ship strike mortality?
,” Mar. Policy
42
, 293
–304
.23.
Mussoline
, S. E.
, Risch
, D.
, Clark
, C. W.
, Hatch
, L. T.
, Weinrich
, M. T.
, Wiley
, D. N.
, Thompson
, M. A.
, Corkeron
, P. J.
, and Van Parijs
, S. M.
(2012
). “Seasonal and diel variation in North Atlantic right whale up-calls: Implications for management and conservation in the northwestern Atlantic Ocean
,” Endang. Spec. Res.
17
, 17
–26
.24.
Ott
, P.
, Groch
, K.
, and Danilewicz
, D.
(2008
). “Euabalena australis (Desmoulins, 1822)
,” in Livro Vermelho da Fauna Brasileira Ameaçada de Extinção
, edited by A. B. M.
Machado
, C. S.
Martins
, and G. M.
Drummond
(Ministário do Meio Ambiente, Brasília
, DF, Brazil
), pp. 801
–803
.25.
Parks
, S. E.
, Clark
, C. W.
, and Tyack
, P. L.
(2007
). “Short- and long-term changes in right whale calling behavior: The potential effects on acoustic communication
,” J. Acoust. Soc. Am.
122
, 3725
–3731
.26.
Parks
, S.
, Conger
, L.
, Cusano
, D.
, and Van Parijs
, S.
(2014
). “Variation in the acoustic behavior of right whale mother-calf pairs
,” J. Acoust. Soc. Am.
135
, 2240
.27.
Parks
, S.
, Groch
, K.
, Flores
, P. A. C.
, Sousa-Lima
, R. S.
, and Urazghildiiev
, I. R.
(2015
). “Humans, fish and whales: How right whales modify calling behaviour in response to shifting background noise
,” Adv. Exp. Med. Biol.
875
, 809
–813
.28.
Parks
, S. E.
, Hamilton
, P. K.
, Kraus
, S. D.
, and Tyack
, P. L.
(2005
). “The gunshot sound produced by male North Atlantic right whale (Eubalaena glacialis) and its potential function in reproductive advertisement
,” Mar. Mamm. Sci.
21
, 458
–475
.29.
Parks
, S. E.
, Searby
, A.
, Célérier
, A.
, Johnson
, M. P.
, Nowacek
, D. P.
, and Tyack
, P. L.
(2011
). “Sound production behavior of individual North Atlantic right whales: Implications for passive acoustic monitoring
,” Endang. Spec. Res.
15
, 63
–76
.30.
Parks
, S. E.
, and Tyack
, P.
(2005
). “Sound production by North Atlantic right whales (Eubalaena glacialis) in surface active groups
,” J. Acoust. Soc. Am.
117
, 3297
–3306
.31.
Pontalti
, M.
, and Danielski
, M.
(2011
). “Right whale, Eubalaena australis (Cetacea, Misticeti), entanglement records in the reproductive season of 2010 in Santa Catarina, Brazil
,” Biotemas
24
, 109
–112
.32.
Rocha-Campos
, C. C.
, and Camara
, I. G.
(2011
). “National action plan for the conservation of aquatic mammals: Big cetaceans and pinnipeds: Version III
” (Instituto Chico Mendes de Conservação da Biodiversidade, ICMBio, Brasília, DF, Brazil), 156
pp.33.
Rolland
, R. M.
, Parks
, S. E.
, Hunt
, K. E.
, Castellote
, M.
, Corkeron
, P. J.
, Nowacek
, D. P.
, Wasser
, S. K.
, and Kraus
, S. D.
(2012
). “Evidence that ship noise increases stress in right whales
,” R. Soc. Proc. Biol. Sci.
279
, 2363
–2368
.34.
Seyboth
, E.
, Groch
, K. R.
, Secchi
, E. R.
, and Dalla Rosa
, L.
(2015
). “Habitat use by southern right whales, Eubalaena australis (Desmoulins, 1822), in their main northernmost calving area in the western South Atlantic
,” Mar. Mamm. Sci.
31
, 1521
–1537
.35.
Soldevilla
, M. S.
, Rice
, A. N.
, Clark
, C. W.
, and Garrison
, L. P.
(2014
). “Passive acoustic monitoring on the North Atlantic right whale calving ground
,” Endang. Spec. Res.
25
, 115
–140
.36.
Tellechea
, J. S.
, and Norbis
, W.
(2012
). “A note on recordings of southern right whales (Eubalaena australis) off the coast of Uruguay
,” J. Cetacean Res. Manag.
12
, 361
–364
.37.
Trygonis
, V.
, Gerstein
, E.
, Moir
, J.
, and McCulloch
, S.
(2013
). “Vocalization characteristics of North Atlantic right whale surface active groups in the calving habitat, south-eastern United States
,” J. Acoust. Soc. Am.
134
, 4518
–4531
.38.
Tyack
, P. L.
(2000
). “Functional aspects of cetacean communication
,” in Cetacean Society: Field Studies of Dolphins and Whales
, edited by J.
Mann
, R. C.
Connor
, P. L.
Tyack
, and H.
Whitehead
(The University of Chicago Press
, Chicago, IL
), pp. 270
–307
.39.
Van Parijs
, S. M.
, Clark
, C. W.
, Sousa-Lima
, R. S.
, Parks
, S. E.
, Rankin
, S.
, Risch
, D.
, and Van Opzeeland
, I. C.
(2009
). “Management and research applications of real-time and archival passive acoustic sensors over varying temporal and spatial scales
,” Mar. Ecol. Prog. Ser.
395
, 21
–36
.© 2016 Acoustical Society of America.
2016
Acoustical Society of America
You do not currently have access to this content.