CALIFORNIA,
USA - The waters of Alaska's Inside Passage are
abuzz. They hum with vessel sounds, ranging from the puttering
of fishing boats to the rumble of cruise ships, in addition
to the grunts, whistles and chirps of the resident pods
of humpback whales.
Now UC Davis researchers are listening in, trying to measure
the impact of boat noise on the vocal communication of
these endangered whales as they forage in groups. Animal
behaviorist Brenda McCowan and graduate student Sean Hanser
have recently completed the first phase of a multiyear
study.
According to McCowan, humpback whales are some of the
most vocally diverse animals in the world, and rely heavily
on vocal communication and hearing ability to interact
with each other and their environment. "Humpback
whales make about every sound in the animal kingdom. I've
heard what sounds like elephants, lions. There are a lot
of sounds that we don't know the function of."
Of particular interest to the researchers is a type of
consistent vocal behavior known as feeding calls. Says
McCowan, "Feeding calls may help to herd fish, or
help coordinate members of a feeding group. Our hypothesis
is testing whether these animals actually change the way
they use feeding calls to compensate for noise."
The UC Davis researchers are collaborating on the study
with members of the Alaska Whale Foundation and the Search
for ExtraTerrestrial Intelligence (SETI) Institute, which
is interested in nonhuman communication techniques.
Each year, they will make thousands of baseline recordings
of humpback calls in the absence of vessel noise. They
will compare those calls to whale vocalizations recorded
when boats are systematically driven through areas where
whales are present. The researchers will also outfit a
handful of humpbacks with recoverable underwater microphones
to record individual vocal samples and experience noise
from a whale perspective.
The researchers hope that if their study reveals impacts
of boat noise on humpback behavior, the results can be
used to improve co-existence between whales and boaters.
Information on how whales react to noise also could help
prevent fishing gear entanglements and boat collisions,
which are known significant impacts on humpback whale
populations. The team's techniques for measuring the impact
of noise are potentially applicable to other animals,
both in and outside of the marine environment.
The study cost of about $150,000 is funded by the Alaska
Whale Foundation, the SETI Institute, and the National
Fish and Wildlife Foundation.
The University of California is one of the world's foremost
research and teaching institutions, and UC Davis is the
University of California's flagship campus for environmental
studies. UC Davis is a global leader in environmental
studies relating to air and water pollution; water and
land use; agricultural practices; endangered species management;
invasive plants and animals; climate change; resource
economics; information technology; and human society and
culture. One in six of UC Davis' 1,500 faculty members
specializes in an environment-related subject.
Music without words means leaving behind the mind. And leaving behind the mind is meditation.
Meditation returns you to the source. And the source of all is sound. — Kabir
The Healing Music Organization and The Healing Music Foundation
P.O. Box 3731, Santa Cruz, CA 95063 - 831.588.7498
Any questions, problems or suggestions please contact
us.
Healingmusic.org and "A Really Good HMO" are trademarks of The Healing Music Organization.
All other products and services mentioned are registered trademarks or trademarks of their respective organizations.
Copyright
2000-2007, Amrita Cottrell and The Healing Music Organization. All rights
reserved.
Go
to feedback form
JOIN OUR NETWORK
CALIFORNIA,
USA