Narwhals react to ship noise and airgun pulses embedded in background noise
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Narwhals react to ship noise and airgun pulses embedded in background noise. / Tervo, Outi M.; Blackwell, Susanna B.; Ditlevsen, Susanne; Conrad, Alexander S.; Samson, Adeline L.; Garde, Eva; Hansen, Rikke G.; Heide-Jørgensen, Mads Peter.
In: Biology Letters, Vol. 17, No. 11, 20210220, 2021.Research output: Contribution to journal › Journal article › Research › peer-review
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TY - JOUR
T1 - Narwhals react to ship noise and airgun pulses embedded in background noise
AU - Tervo, Outi M.
AU - Blackwell, Susanna B.
AU - Ditlevsen, Susanne
AU - Conrad, Alexander S.
AU - Samson, Adeline L.
AU - Garde, Eva
AU - Hansen, Rikke G.
AU - Heide-Jørgensen, Mads Peter
N1 - Publisher Copyright: © 2021 The Authors.
PY - 2021
Y1 - 2021
N2 - Anthropogenic activities are increasing in the Arctic, posing a threat to niche-conservative species with high seasonal site fidelity, such as the narwhal Monodon monoceros. In this controlled sound exposure study, six narwhals were live-captured and instrumented with animal-borne tags providing movement and behavioural data, and exposed to concurrent ship noise and airgun pulses. All narwhals reacted to sound exposure with reduced buzzing rates, where the response was dependent on the magnitude of exposure defined as 1/distance to ship. Buzzing rate was halved at 12 km from the ship, and whales ceased foraging at 7-8 km. Effects of exposure could be detected at distances > 40 km from the ship.At only a few kilometres from the ship, the received high-frequency cetacean weighted sound exposure levels were below background noise indicating extreme sensitivity of narwhals towards sound disturbance and demonstrating their ability to detect signals embedded in background noise. The narwhal's reactions to sustained disturbance may have a plethora of consequences both at individual and population levels. The observed reactions of the whales demonstrate their auditory sensitivity but also emphasize, that anthropogenic activities in pristine narwhal habitats needs to be managed carefully if healthy narwhal populations are to be maintained.
AB - Anthropogenic activities are increasing in the Arctic, posing a threat to niche-conservative species with high seasonal site fidelity, such as the narwhal Monodon monoceros. In this controlled sound exposure study, six narwhals were live-captured and instrumented with animal-borne tags providing movement and behavioural data, and exposed to concurrent ship noise and airgun pulses. All narwhals reacted to sound exposure with reduced buzzing rates, where the response was dependent on the magnitude of exposure defined as 1/distance to ship. Buzzing rate was halved at 12 km from the ship, and whales ceased foraging at 7-8 km. Effects of exposure could be detected at distances > 40 km from the ship.At only a few kilometres from the ship, the received high-frequency cetacean weighted sound exposure levels were below background noise indicating extreme sensitivity of narwhals towards sound disturbance and demonstrating their ability to detect signals embedded in background noise. The narwhal's reactions to sustained disturbance may have a plethora of consequences both at individual and population levels. The observed reactions of the whales demonstrate their auditory sensitivity but also emphasize, that anthropogenic activities in pristine narwhal habitats needs to be managed carefully if healthy narwhal populations are to be maintained.
KW - airgun
KW - arctic
KW - disturbance
KW - foraging
KW - narwhal
KW - noise
UR - http://www.scopus.com/inward/record.url?scp=85121728684&partnerID=8YFLogxK
U2 - 10.1098/rsbl.2021.0220
DO - 10.1098/rsbl.2021.0220
M3 - Journal article
C2 - 34753294
AN - SCOPUS:85121728684
VL - 17
JO - Biology Letters
JF - Biology Letters
SN - 1744-9561
IS - 11
M1 - 20210220
ER -
ID: 299263634