Abstract
Bioacoustics has become a tool of increasing importance to study cetaceans, due to its great potential to estimate population density, determine habitat use, and understand seasonal patterns, among other relevant ecological parameters. These applications convert passive acoustics into a non-invasive tool capable of gathering information for longer periods of time and in remote areas. After various efforts to conduct acoustic studies in the country, Argentina started to slowly grow in the field in the late 2000s. Since then, more reliable and systematic studies have been conducted on odontocetes as a baseline to better understand their biology, and to address potential effects of human activities for conservation purposes.
Given the advantages provided by this method, along with its relative low cost, we encourage other countries in Latin America to use this tool more often. Moreover, considering the most frequent difficulties and challenges we have reviewed from different research groups to carry out research on cetaceans using bioacoustics, we recommend establishing international collaborations and specialize human resources in the topic.
This is a preview of subscription content, log in via an institution to check access.
Access this chapter
Tax calculation will be finalised at checkout
Purchases are for personal use only
Notes
- 1.
NBHF refers to clicks produced by some species of odontocetes which have all their frequency content above 100 kHz, longer duration and a narrower frequency bandwidth than the short BB clicks produced by most delphinid species.
References
Au WWL, Hastings MC (2008) Principles of marine bioacoustics. Springer, New York
Au WWL, Hastings, MC. (2008) Principles of marine bioacoustics. Springer, New York
Bastida R, Rodriguez D (2003) Mamíferos marinos de Patagonia y Antártida. Vazquez Mazzini, Buenos Aires
Baumann-Pickering S, Sirovic A, Trickey JS, Hildebrand JA, Reyes Reyes MV, Melcón ML, Iñíguez MA (2015) Cetacean presence near Elephant Island, Antarctica, based on passive acoustic monitoring. Paper SC/66a/SH18 presented to the IWC Scientific Committee, June 2015
Clark CW (1982) The acoustic repertoire of the southern right whale, a quantitative analysis. Anim Behav 30:1060–1071
Clark CW, Ellison WT, Southall BL, Hatch L, Van Parijs SM, Frankel A, Ponirakis D (2009) Acoustic masking in marine ecosystems: intuitions, analysis, and implication. Mar Ecol Prog Ser 395:201–222
Cox TM, Ragen TJ, Read AJ, Vos E, Baird RW, Balcomb K et al (2006) Understanding the impacts of anthropogenic sound on beaked whales. J Cetacean Res Manag 7(3):177–187
Cummings WC, Fish JF, Thompson PO (1972) Sound production and other behavior of southern right whales (Eubalaena glacialis). Trans San Diego Soc Nat Hist 17(1):1–13
Hawkins ER, Gartside DF (2009) Patterns of whistles emitted by wild Indo-Pacifıc bottlenose dolphins (Tursiops aduncus) during a provisioning program. Aquat Mamm 35:171–186
Hermannsen L, Beedholm K, Tougaard J, Madsen PT (2014) High frequency components of ship noise in shallow water with a discussion of implications for harbor porpoises (Phocoena phocoena). J Acoust Soc Am 136(4):1640–1653
Iñíguez MA (1993) Orcas de la Patagonia Argentina. Ed. Propulsora Literaria, Buenos Aires, 88 pp
Johnson M, Aguilar de Soto N, Madsen P (2009) Studying the behaviour and sensory ecology of marine mammals using acoustic recording tags: a review. Mar Ecol Prog Ser 395:55–73
Kyhn LA, Tougaard J, Jensen F, Wahlberg M, Stone G, Yoshinaga A, Beedholm K, Madsen PT (2009) Feeding at a high pitch: source parameters of narrow band, high-frequency clicks from echolocating off-shore hourglass dolphins and coastal Hector’s dolphins. J Acoust Soc Am 125(3):1783–1791
Kyhn LA, Jensen FH, Beedholm K, Tougaard J, Hansen M, Madsen PT (2010) Echolocation in sympatric Peale’s dolphins (Lagenorhynchus australis) and Commerson’s dolphins (Cephalorhynchus commersonii) producing narrow-band high-frequency clicks. J Exp Biol 213(11):1940–1949
MacLeod CD, Perrin WF, Pitman R, Barlow J, Balance L, D’amico A, Gerrodette T, Joyce G, Mullin KD, Palka DL, Waring GT (2006) Known and inferred distributions of beaked whale species (Cetacea: Ziphiidae). J Cetacean Res Manag 7:271–286
Madsen PT, Wahlberg M (2007) Recording and quantification of ultrasonic echolocation clicks from free ranging toothed whales. Deep-Sea Res I 54(8):1421–1444. doi:10.1016/j.dsr.2007.04.020
Mann D, Hill-Cook M, Manire C, Greenhow D, Montie E, Powell J et al (2010) Hearing loss in stranded odontocete dolphins and whales. PLoS One 5(11):e13824. doi:10.1371/journal.pone.0013824
Marino A, Reyes Reyes MV, Thayre BJ, Melcón ML. Acoustic recordings of NBHF clicks from free-ranging Peale’s dolphins (Lagenorhynchus australis) in the Patagonian shelf. In preparation
Melcón M, Failla M, Iñíguez M (2012a) Echocolocation behavior of Franciscana dolphins (Pontoporia blainvillei) in the wild. J Acoust Soc Am 131(6):EL448–EL453
Melcón ML, Cummins AJ, Kerosky SM, Roche LK, Wiggins SM, Hildebrand JA (2012b) Blue whales respond to anthropogenic noise. PLoS One 7(2):e32681
Melcón ML, Failla M, Iñíguez MA (2016) Towards understanding the ontogeny of echolocation in franciscana dolphins (Pontoporia blainvillei). Mar Mam Sci. doi:10.1111/mms.12336
Mooney TA, Nachtigall PE, Vlachos S (2009) Sonar-induced temporary hearing loss in dolphins. Biol Lett. doi:10.1098/rsbl.2009.0099
Payne RS, Payne K (1971) Underwater sounds of southern right whales. Zoologica 56:159–165
Reyes Reyes MV, Iñíguez MA, Hevia M, Hildebrand JA, Melcón ML (2015) Description and clustering of echolocation signals of Commerson’s dolphins (Cephalorhynchus commersonii) in Bahía San Julián, Argentina. J Acoust Soc Am 138(4):2046–2053
Reyes Reyes MV, Tossenberger VP, Iñiguez MA, Hildebrand JA, Melcón ML (2016a) Communication sounds of Commerson’s dolphins (Cephalorhynchus commersonii) and contextual use of vocalizations. Mar Mam Sci. doi:10.1111/mms.12321
Reyes Reyes MV, Baumann-Pickering S, Simonis AE, Trickey JS, Hildebrand JA, Melcón ML, Iñíguez MA (2016b). High-frequency modulated whistles of killer whales (Orcinus orca) in Antarctica. Abstract presented at the 1st LAMLA Worskhop, Brazil, July 2016
Trickey JS, Baumann-Pickering S, Hildebrand JA, Reyes Reyes MV, Melcón M, Iñíguez M (2015) Antarctic beaked whale echolocation signals near South Scotia Ridge. Mar Mamm Sci 31(3):1265–1274
Tyack P (1976). Patterns of vocalization in wild Tursiops truncatus. Senior thesis submitted to Harvard College, p 72
Tyack P, Clark C (2000) Communication and acoustic behavior of dolphins and whales. In: Au WW, Fay RR (eds) Hearing by whales and dolphins. Springer, New York, pp 156–224
Vaughn-Hirshorn RL, Hodge KB, Würsig B, Sappenfield RH, Lammers MO, Dudzinski KM (2012) Characterizing dusky dolphin sounds from Argentina and New Zealand. J Acoust Soc Am 132(1):498–506
Acknowledgements
We would like to thank Pablo Bordino, Guillermo Caille, Claudio Campagna, Luis Capozzo, Iris Caceres, Silvana Dans, Cristian de Haro, Natalia Dellabianca, Diego Rodriguez, Mariano Sironi, Peter Thomas, Peter Tyack, Els Vermeulen and Bernd Wursig for their kindness to provide us with information on other groups doing research on bioacoustics, or facilitating contacts to conduct a more complete survey on professionals working on passive bioacoustics underwater.
Author information
Authors and Affiliations
Corresponding author
Editor information
Editors and Affiliations
Rights and permissions
Copyright information
© 2018 Springer International Publishing AG
About this chapter
Cite this chapter
Melcón, M.L., Reyes Reyes, M.V., Iñíguez, M. (2018). Bioacoustic Techniques Applied to Odontocete Conservation and Management in Argentina. In: Rossi-Santos, M., Finkl, C. (eds) Advances in Marine Vertebrate Research in Latin America. Coastal Research Library, vol 22. Springer, Cham. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-319-56985-7_6
Download citation
DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-319-56985-7_6
Published:
Publisher Name: Springer, Cham
Print ISBN: 978-3-319-56984-0
Online ISBN: 978-3-319-56985-7
eBook Packages: Earth and Environmental ScienceEarth and Environmental Science (R0)