Abstract
Long-term data of underwater passive acoustic monitoring (PAM) collected from two sites of pygmy blue whale presence within Australia, the continental shelf off Portland (38.5° S, 141.2° E) and the Perth Canyon (32° S, 115° E) were analysed to compare the acoustic behaviour of eastern Indian Ocean pygmy blue (EIOPB) whales. Pygmy blue whale song detection was consistently higher at the Perth Canyon site than at the Portland sample site. Statistical analysis found there to be a significant difference in the production of song and phrase variants between sites (p < 0.01) with a shorter two-unit (P2) song variant being more common in the Perth Canyon area, while the traditional three-unit (P3) song variant was more frequent off Portland. This was supported by manual and feature space analysis techniques. Increasing song complexity was observed in the form of phrases with broken song units, a phenomenon that was first observed at the Portland site on isolated occasions but has occurred and proliferated in the Perth Canyon area from 2016 onwards. Analysis of environmental conditions indicated that increased background noise due to multiple EIOPB whales vocalising, as well as water depth, may influence song length. This was reflected by songs made up of shorter phrases dominating in higher background noise conditions and deeper water, while longer more complex phrase types dominate in quieter, shallower conditions. Further research is recommended to isolate any potential influence of environmental factors on song production.
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Acknowledgements
Sea noise data were sourced from the Integrated Marine Observing System (IMOS, 2008-2017) and were supported by Australian Department of Defence and Curtin University (2003- 2007). All IMOS data are publicly available through the portal https://acoustic.aodn.org.au/acoustic/ or on request from https://portal.aodn.org.au/. IMOS is supported by the Australian Government through the National Collaborative Research Infrastructure Strategy. A number of proficient and professional vessel crews were involved in data collection, notably crew of the RV Whale Song vessels and Paul Pittorini of FV Reliance II. Mal Perry, Dave Minchin and Frank Thomas were instrumental in preparing and maintaining all hardware used.
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Jolliffe, C.D., McCauley, R.D., Gavrilov, A.N. et al. Comparing the Acoustic Behaviour of the Eastern Indian Ocean Pygmy Blue Whale on Two Australian Feeding Grounds. Acoust Aust 49, 331–344 (2021). https://doi.org/10.1007/s40857-021-00229-2
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DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/s40857-021-00229-2