Article
Marine & Freshwater Biology
Brandon L. Southall, Douglas P. Nowacek, Ann E. Bowles, Valeria Senigaglia, Lars Bejder, Peter L. Tyack
Summary: Significant progress has been made in addressing the probability and severity of marine mammal behavioral responses to noise exposures since the publication of noise exposure criteria in 2007. New methodological developments have expanded the spatial, temporal, and population scales of potential disturbance studies and provided more scientific data on marine mammal responses to human noise exposure scenarios. Studies suggest that simple thresholds for noise exposure parameters and behavioral responses may lead to errors due to variability across species, individuals, contexts, and exposure scales.
Article
Environmental Sciences
Elizabeth L. Ferguson, Hannah M. Clayton, Taiki Sakai
Summary: The use of automated acoustic-based biodiversity indices in soundscape ecology shows promise in representing biodiversity in terrestrial environments. However, the relationship between specific underwater sounds and acoustic index measurements is largely unexplored.
FRONTIERS IN MARINE SCIENCE
(2023)
Article
Ecology
Charlotte M. Jones-Todd, Enrico Pirotta, John W. Durban, Diane E. Claridge, Robin W. Baird, Erin A. Falcone, Gregory S. Schorr, Stephanie Watwood, Len Thomas
Summary: This study introduces a method to assess the consequences of marine mammal exposure to human activities, estimating individual transition rate changes through telemetry data, revealing the impact of sonar exercises on beaked whale movement patterns, and providing a new tool for evaluating population-level consequences.
ECOLOGICAL APPLICATIONS
(2022)
Article
Environmental Sciences
Rebecca A. Dunlop, Janelle Braithwaite, Lars O. Mortensen, Catriona M. Harris
Summary: The PCoD model is a conceptual framework used to assess the population-level consequences of animals exposed to disturbance activities. Researchers applied this framework to migrating humpback whales exposed to a simulated commercial seismic survey scenario, using both a forwards and backwards approach to assess potential impacts. Results suggested a low potential for population consequences of seismic surveys on migrating humpbacks.
FRONTIERS IN MARINE SCIENCE
(2021)
Article
Environmental Sciences
Jenna Sullivan-Stack, Octavio Aburto-Oropeza, Cassandra M. Brooks, Reniel B. Cabral, Jennifer E. Caselle, Francis Chan, J. Emmett Duffy, Daniel C. Dunn, Alan M. Friedlander, Heather K. Fulton-Bennett, Steven D. Gaines, Leah R. Gerber, Ellen Hines, Heather M. Leslie, Sarah E. Lester, Jessica M. C. MacCarthy, Sara M. Maxwell, Juan Mayorga, Douglas J. McCauley, Fiorenza Micheli, Russell Moffitt, Kerry J. Nickols, Stephen R. Palumbi, Douglas R. Pearsall, Elizabeth P. Pike, Ellen K. Pikitch, Gorka Sancho, Ana K. Spalding, Daniel O. Suman, Seth T. Sykora-Bodie, Kirsten Grorud-Colvert
Summary: Marine protected areas are crucial for biodiversity conservation and human well-being. The study finds that the protection level of MPAs in the United States is unequal, with the majority of protected areas located in the central Pacific. Improving the quality and quantity of MPAs in U.S. waters is urgently needed to benefit both human and marine communities.
FRONTIERS IN MARINE SCIENCE
(2022)
Review
Environmental Sciences
Philip S. Hammond, Tessa B. Francis, Dennis Heinemann, Kristy J. Long, Jeffrey E. Moore, Andre E. Punt, Randall R. Reeves, Maritza Sepulveda, Guojon Mar Sigurosson, Margaret C. Siple, Gisli Vikingsson, Paul R. Wade, Rob Williams, Alexandre N. Zerbini
Summary: This paper provides an overview of methods for estimating marine mammal population abundance, focusing on pinnipeds, cetaceans, and sirenians. Common methods include extrapolation for pinnipeds and transect surveys for cetaceans and sirenians. Key considerations include defining the population, selecting appropriate methods, and understanding the resources needed for data collection and analysis.
FRONTIERS IN MARINE SCIENCE
(2021)
Article
Ecology
Ruth Joy, Robert S. Schick, Michael Dowd, Tetyana Margolina, John E. Joseph, Len Thomas
Summary: Understanding the effects of anthropogenic sound on marine mammals is crucial for effective management. A movement model is developed to simulate how whales respond to anthropogenic sound over ecologically relevant space and time scales. The model considers dive information, underwater soundscape, and historical whale distribution, and the behavioral response to noise disturbance is determined by a dose-response function.
ECOLOGICAL MODELLING
(2022)
Article
Biodiversity Conservation
Charmain D. Hamilton, Christian Lydersen, Jon Aars, Mario Acquarone, Todd Atwood, Alastair Baylis, Martin Biuw, Andrei N. Boltunov, Erik W. Born, Peter Boveng, Tanya M. Brown, Michael Cameron, John Citta, Justin Crawford, Rune Dietz, Jim Elias, Steven H. Ferguson, Aaron Fisk, Lars P. Folkow, Kathryn J. Frost, Dmitri M. Glazov, Sandra M. Granquist, Rowenna Gryba, Lois Harwood, Tore Haug, Mads Peter Heide-Jorgensen, Nigel E. Hussey, Jimmy Kalinek, Kristin L. Laidre, Dennis I. Litovka, Josh M. London, Lisa L. Loseto, Shannon MacPhee, Marianne Marcoux, Cory J. D. Matthews, Kjell Nilssen, Erling S. Nordoy, Greg O'Corry-Crowe, Nils oien, Morten Tange Olsen, Lori Quakenbush, Aqqalu Rosing-Asvid, Varvara Semenova, Kim E. W. Shelden, Olga V. Shpak, Garry Stenson, Luke Storrie, Signe Sveegaard, Jonas Teilmann, Fernando Ugarte, Andrew L. Von Duyke, Cortney Watt, Oystein Wiig, Ryan R. Wilson, David J. Yurkowski, Kit M. Kovacs
Summary: This study identified hotspots and areas of high species richness for Arctic marine mammals using biotelemetry data. The results can serve as a benchmark for measuring future distributional shifts and highlight differences in habitat features among species and regions. Gap analysis also revealed species and regions that require further research.
DIVERSITY AND DISTRIBUTIONS
(2022)
Article
Computer Science, Information Systems
Daniel T. Murphy, Elias Ioup, Md Tamjidul Hoque, Mahdi Abdelguerfi
Summary: Passive acoustic monitoring of marine mammals is crucial for tracking population changes in threatened environments. This study presents an automated approach using residual learning networks (ResNets) to classify marine mammal vocalizations. The optimal methods for converting acoustic recordings into spectrograms suitable for neural networks are determined. The performance of different configurations is assessed, and the best-performing configurations are used to train single and multi-channel ResNets. The results show that single-channel spectrograms outperform multi-channel spectrograms in overall classification performance.
Article
Environmental Sciences
Changqun Zhang, Haojie Zhou, Fredrik Christiansen, Yujiang Hao, Kexiong Wang, Zhangbing Kou, Ruipeng Chen, Jie Min, Randall Davis, Ding Wang
Summary: In this study, 3D modeling techniques were used to measure the volume of marine mammals. The most accurate results were obtained using Blender 3D models, with only a 2.5% mean error compared to direct measurements. Elliptical models with 19 height and width measurements also yielded similar accuracy, while truncated models with 3 or 5 girth measurements had lower accuracy. Researchers are recommended to use digital 3D models or elliptical models with 5% increments to accurately estimate the body volumes of free-ranging marine mammals.
FRONTIERS IN MARINE SCIENCE
(2023)
Article
Environmental Sciences
M. Rafael Ramirez-Leon, Oscar Sosa-Nishizaki, Paula Perez-Brunius, Alfonsina E. E. Romo-Curiel, Zurisaday Ramirez-Mendoza, Arturo Fajardo-Yamamoto, Sharon Z. Z. Herzka, Maria C. Garcia-Aguilar
Summary: Marine mammals are highly vulnerable to oil spills, but the effects are not fully understood. We developed a framework to assess the risk of oil spill exposure on marine mammals, considering species-specific traits and the feasibility of encounter, thus reducing uncertainty in the estimate. Our results provide key information for management plans in areas where the hydrocarbon industry operates.
FRONTIERS IN MARINE SCIENCE
(2023)
Article
Environmental Sciences
Michael J. Tetley, Gill T. Braulik, Caterina Lanfredi, Gianna Minton, Simone Panigada, Elena Politi, Margherita Zanardelli, Giuseppe Notarbartolo di Sciara, Erich Hoyt
Summary: The Important Marine Mammal Areas (IMMAs) initiative was launched to address the conservation crisis in marine mammal protection and ocean biodiversity. IMMAs identify important habitat for marine mammal species and undergo scientific review before being publicly available. So far, 173 IMMAs have been identified, playing a crucial role in protecting marine mammal species.
FRONTIERS IN MARINE SCIENCE
(2022)
Article
Public, Environmental & Occupational Health
Kun Han, Qixuan Wang, Lu Yang, Sijia Xu, Chen Li, James Lin, Hao Wu, Zhiwu Huang
Summary: This study translated and developed a Chinese version of the noise exposure questionnaire (C-NEQ) and validated its reliability and reproducibility. The results showed that the C-NEQ is an effective and fast-screen tool for identifying individuals with high risks of noise-induced hearing loss (NIHL) in the Chinese population.
Article
Environmental Sciences
Douglas Gillespie, Michael Oswald, Gordon Hastie, Carol Sparling
Summary: This article reports on the design and performance of a seabed mounted sensor platform for monitoring the fine scale movements of cetaceans and pinnipeds around operational tidal turbines. The system uses high-frequency multibeam active sonars for tracking animals in the horizontal plane and offsetting the vertical angle of the sonars to resolve a vertical component. It also utilizes hydrophones for measuring angles to cetacean echolocation clicks. The system proved highly reliable during field tests and will be deployed close to an operational turbine.
FRONTIERS IN MARINE SCIENCE
(2022)
Article
Acoustics
Vincent E. Premus, Philip A. Abbot, Vitaly Kmelnitsky, Charles J. Gedney, Ted A. Abbot
Summary: An autonomous surface vehicle called a wave glider is demonstrated as a low-noise system for passive acoustic monitoring of marine mammals. It is equipped with a low-power towed hydrophone array and embedded digital signal processor. The system effectively rejects noise and detects baleen whale vocalizations, allowing for precise localization of vocalizing individuals with multiple collaborating systems. The 32-channel towed array shows a significant advantage in detection range and area coverage compared to a single hydrophone.
JOURNAL OF THE ACOUSTICAL SOCIETY OF AMERICA
(2022)
