The Identification of Behavioural States from Cook Inlet Beluga Whale (Delphinapterus Leucas) Acoustic Signals PDF Download

Author: Pamela Kasey Ryan
Publisher:
ISBN:
Category : Dissertations
Languages : en
Pages : 122

View

Book Description

Author: Kristin L. Laidre
Publisher:
ISBN:
Category : White whale
Languages : en
Pages : 33

View

Book Description
The following report contains detailed information on the movement patterns of beluga whales that were satellite-tagged in 1999 and 2000 in Cook Inlet, Alaska. The seasonal movements and dive patterns of three whales CI-9901, CI-0001, and CI-0002 were analyzed, and movement data from the whales tagged in 2000 were referenced to in a subsequent paper by Hobbs et al. (2005). However, the detailed analyses of diving behavior and movement patterns of these individual whales were never made available until now. The seasonal movements and dive patterns of three belugas in Cook Inlet, Alaska, were monitored between June and January 1999-2000 using satellite telemetry. One adult male whale was tagged on 30 May 1999 and tracked until 16 September 1999 (109 days), and one juvenile female and one adult male were tagged on 13 September 2000 and tracked until 2 (115 days) and 18 January 2001 (124 days), respectively. Whales remained in the inlet the entire time they were tracked. Mean dive depths across the entire tracking period ranged from 2.6 m (SD = 5.2) to 5.2 m (SD = 8.8). Mean dive durations ranged from 1.4 minutes (SD = 2.0) to 3.1 minutes (SD = 4.1). Overall mean time at surface (between 0 and 1 m) ranged from 23% to 70% and appeared to be related to season and location. Behavioral periods were identified for each whale (4-60 days) based on stationary movements in a particular part of the inlet and unique diving behavior during that time. Significant differences were found between diving behavior and tidal rate of change and direction, as well as whale location and average sea-ice concentration. Belugas in Cook Inlet display seasonal variation in dive behavior and movement patterns, both of which have implications for sightings rates, correction factors, and abundance estimates obtained for the population. [doi:10.7289/V5AFSC-PR-2017-08 (https://doi.org/10.7289/V5/AFSC-PR-2017-08)].

Author: United States. National Marine Fisheries Service. Alaska Regional Office. Protected Resources Division
Publisher:
ISBN:
Category : Endangered species
Languages : en
Pages : 284

View

Book Description
"The goal of this recovery plan is to guide efforts that achieve the recovery of CI belugas to a level sufficient to warrant their removal from the federal List of Endangered and Threatened Wildlife and Plants under the ESA (i.e., delist) by meeting the recovery criteria and addressing threats. The intermediate goal is to guide efforts that result in reclassification of CI belugas from endangered to threatened (i.e., downlist). The determinations regarding whether these goals are met include consideration of the population's risk of extinction and threats as identified under the ESA section 4(a)(1) factors. If a species is determined to be recovered, then the protections afforded by the ESA no longer apply, although other pertinent federal (e.g., MMPA) and state protections will still apply."--PDF page xiv-xv.

Author: Hans Slabbekoorn
Publisher: Springer
ISBN: 1493985744
Category : Medical
Languages : en
Pages : 322

View

Book Description
Over the past several years, many investigators interested in the effects of man-made sounds on animals have come to realize that there is much to gain from studying the broader literature on hearing sound and the effects of sound as well as data from the effects on humans. It has also become clear that knowledge of the effects of sound on one group of animals (e.g., birds or frogs) can guide studies on other groups (e.g., marine mammals or fishes) and that a review of all such studies together would be very useful to get a better understanding of the general principles and underlying cochlear and cognitive mechanisms that explain damage, disturbance, and deterrence across taxa. The purpose of this volume, then, is to provide a comprehensive review of the effects of man-made sounds on animals, with the goal of fulfilling two major needs. First, it was thought to be important to bring together data on sound and bioacoustics that have implications across all taxa (including humans) so that such information is generally available to the community of scholars interested in the effects of sound. This is done in Chaps. 2-5. Second, in Chaps. 6-10, the volume brings together what is known about the effects of sound on diverse vertebrate taxa so that investigators with interests in specific groups can learn from the data and experimental approaches from other species. Put another way, having an overview of the similarities and discrepancies among various animal groups and insight into the “how and why” will benefit the overall conceptual understanding, applications in society, and all future research.

Author:
Publisher:
ISBN:
Category :
Languages : en
Pages :

View

Book Description
Cook Inlet, Alaska is home to some of the greatest tidal energy resources in the U.S., as well as an endangered population of beluga whales (Delphinapterus leucas). Successfully permitting and operating a tidal power project in Cook Inlet requires a biological assessment of the potential and realized effects of the physical presence and sound footprint of tidal turbines on the distribution, relative abundance, and behavior of Cook Inlet beluga whales. ORPC Alaska, working with the Project Team--LGL Alaska Research Associates, University of Alaska Anchorage, TerraSond, and Greeneridge Science--undertook the following U.S. Department of Energy (DOE) study to characterize beluga whales in Cook Inlet - Acoustic Monitoring of Beluga Whale Interactions with the Cook Inlet Tidal Energy Project (Project). ORPC Alaska, LLC, is a wholly-owned subsidiary of Ocean Renewable Power Company, LLC, (collectively, ORPC). ORPC is a global leader in the development of hydrokinetic power systems and eco-conscious projects that harness the power of ocean and river currents to create clean, predictable renewable energy. ORPC is developing a tidal energy demonstration project in Cook Inlet at East Foreland where ORPC has a Federal Energy Regulatory Commission (FERC) preliminary permit (P-13821). The Project collected baseline data to characterize pre-deployment patterns of marine mammal distribution, relative abundance, and behavior in ORPC's proposed deployment area at East Foreland. ORPC also completed work near Fire Island where ORPC held a FERC preliminary permit (P-12679) until March 6, 2013. Passive hydroacoustic devices (previously utilized with bowhead whales in the Beaufort Sea) were adapted for study of beluga whales to determine the relative abundance of beluga whale vocalizations within the proposed deployment areas. Hydroacoustic data collected during the Project were used to characterize the ambient acoustic environment of the project site pre-deployment to inform the FERC pilot project process. The Project compared results obtained from this method to results obtained from other passive hydrophone technologies and to visual observation techniques performed simultaneously. This Final Report makes recommendations on the best practice for future data collection, for ORPC's work in Cook Inlet specifically, and for tidal power projects in general. This Project developed a marine mammal study design and compared technologies for hydroacoustic and visual data collection with potential for broad application to future tidal and hydrokinetic projects in other geographic areas. The data collected for this Project will support the environmental assessment of future Cook Inlet tidal energy projects, including ORPC's East Foreland Tidal Energy Project and any tidal energy developments at Fire Island. The Project's rigorous assessment of technology and methodologies will be invaluable to the hydrokinetic industry for developing projects in an environmentally sound and sustainable way for areas with high marine mammal activity or endangered populations. By combining several different sampling methods this Project will also contribute to the future preparation of a comprehensive biological assessment of ORPC's projects in Cook Inlet.

Author: Rachael E. Blevins
Publisher:
ISBN:
Category : Underwater acoustics
Languages : en
Pages : 161

View

Book Description
Cook Inlet beluga whales (CIBs) are a geographically and genetically isolated population residing in Cook Inlet, Alaska year round. The population declined by approximately 50% between 1994 and 1998 and was listed as endangered under the Endangered Species Act in 2008. The original decline was attributed to overharvest; however, the population has failed to rebound despite the virtual absence of harvest since 1998. This suggests that other factors, such as declining prey availability, increased predation, contaminants, disease, climate change, catastrophic events, habitat loss, unauthorized take, and underwater noise pollution, may be limiting the population's recovery. The goal of this dissertation research was to study the potential impacts of underwater noise on the CIB population. The objective of Chapter 1 was to study CIB acoustic behavior to gain a greater understanding of how CIBs utilize sound. The objective of Chapter 2 was to measure underwater sound levels in Cook Inlet to understand the background noise levels with which CIBs must cope. The objective of Chapter 3 was to document reactions of CIBs to noise disturbance utilizing local ecological knowledge to allow insight into the potential impacts of noise on beluga behavior. The results of Chapter 1 showed that belugas exhibit significant seasonal and spatial variation in calling behavior which suggested differences in habitat usage or differences in the surrounding environment, including background noise levels. The results of Chapter 2 showed that root mean square sound pressure levels exhibited high variation with the highest levels recorded in the 100 Hz frequency band. The seasonal differences in sound levels observed in this study were likely due to greater small vessel traffic and oil and gas development activities in the summer than the winter. In Chapter 3, participants reported observations of CIBs exhibiting avoidance reactions to noise sources including boats, planes, explosions, pile driving, construction, and cars. The results of this chapter showed that noise is perceived to alter beluga behavior and possibly beluga distribution in Cook Inlet. This dissertation research showed that underwater noise has the potential to affect CIBs, however the cost of this impact remains unclear and warrants further study. In light of the lack of support for many of the proposed factors limiting the population and the need for further research for many of these factors, it would be valuable to consider the cumulative effects of these multiple stressors. While their potential impact may be small individually, when combined, these factors may have a synergistic and significant impact on individual whales and, in turn, on the CIB population. Management of cumulative effects may be necessary to ensure the recovery of this endangered population.

Author:
Publisher:
ISBN:
Category : Endangered species
Languages : en
Pages :

View

Book Description

Author: Roderick C. Hobbs
Publisher:
ISBN:
Category : Aerial surveys in wildlife management
Languages : en
Pages : 25

View

Book Description
"Measuring population trends, and detecting a change in the trend, of Cook Inlet beluga whales (CIB), Delphinapterus leucas, has a specific role in the co-management agreement that determines harvest levels, and a more general application in the management of the population. Currently, an annual aerial survey schedule has provided abundance estimates from which growth trends for this population are determined. Under the harvest co-management agreement, the measured trend over a 10-year period is used to classify the population into one of three growth categories ('high', 'intermediate', or 'low'; Appendix). The growth category, along with the average abundance over the last 5-year period, is used to determine the number of takes allowed over the next 5-year hunting period (Appendix). For a more general application, we would like to be able to detect a change in the growth rate of the population that results from a change in the underlying life history parameters such as birth interval and rates of survival and identify the year that the change occurred"--Introduction.

Author: Kimberly T. Goetz
Publisher:
ISBN:
Category : Habitat conservation
Languages : en
Pages : 70

View

Book Description

Author: Patricia Ann Bulko-Dove
Publisher:
ISBN:
Category : Captive marine mammals
Languages : en
Pages : 124

View

Book Description