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Long-Term Monitoring of Cetaceans Using Autonomous Acoustic Recording Packages

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Part of the book series: Modern Acoustics and Signal Processing ((MASP))

Abstract

Autonomous acoustic recorders have advanced our understanding of cetaceans, providing information for better models of species distribution, behavior, ecology, and conservation. For over a decade, Acoustic Recording Packages (ARPs), and its broader-bandwidth successor, High-frequency Acoustic Recording Package (HARP), have been used for Passive Acoustic Monitoring (PAM) providing high-fidelity, long-term acoustic data sets for cetacean studies. Some of these studies are summarized below showing a wide range of applications and results including species signal characterization, seasonal and daily presence patterns, geographic and habitat use, population density and abundance estimations, acoustic stimuli behavioral response, and swimming behavior via array tracking. Species studied include low-frequency baleen whales and high-frequency dolphins and beaked whales.

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Acknowledgments

We thank the Frank Stone, Ernie Young, and Bob Gisiner of the Chief of Naval Operations Environmental Readiness Division as well as Chip Johnson and Julie Rivers of the Pacific Fleet for their support over the last decade. Also, we thank Erin Oleson, Melissa Soldevilla, Brandon Southall, Jason Gedamke, and Steve Katz of the National Ocean and Atmospheric Administration, Bob Small of the Alaska Department of Fish and Game, Roberta Martinelli of the National Science Foundation, James Eckman, Mike Weise and Dana Belden of the Office of Naval Research, Curt Collins and John Joseph of the Naval Postgraduate School, and Robert Holst of the Strategic Environmental Research and Development Project for additional support. We thank all those individuals who over the years have deployed and recovered ARPs and HARPs around the world and have processed and analyzed these large data sets including but not limited to: G. Armsworthy, R. Baird, H. Bassett, S. Baumann-Pickering, J. Burtenshaw, G. Campbell, G. Cardenas, F. Chang, T. Christianson, K. Frasier, C. Garsha, M. Gassmann, R. Griswold, K. Hardy, B. Hurley, J. Hurwitz, J. Jones, J. Larese, M. McDonald, M. McKenna, K. Merkens, C. Miller, L. Munger, E. Oleson, E. Roth, A. Sauter, A. Širović, M. Soldevilla, M. Stone, B. Thayre, S. Wagner, and D. Webster.

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Correspondence to Sean M. Wiggins .

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Wiggins, S.M., Hildebrand, J.A. (2016). Long-Term Monitoring of Cetaceans Using Autonomous Acoustic Recording Packages. In: Au, W., Lammers, M. (eds) Listening in the Ocean. Modern Acoustics and Signal Processing. Springer, New York, NY. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-1-4939-3176-7_3

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