When the noise goes on: received sound energy predicts sperm whale responses to both intermittent and continuous navy sonar

Forfatter
Isojunno, Saana
Wensveen, Paul Jacobus
Lam, Frans-Peter Alexander
Kvadsheim, Petter Helgevold
Benda-Beckmann, Alexander M. von
Lòpez, Lucia
Kleivane, Lars
Siegall, Elidh
Miller, Patrick James O'Malley
Publisert
2020-04-08
Emneord
Hvaler
Sonar
Permalenke
http://hdl.handle.net/20.500.12242/2818
DOI
doi:10.1242/jeb.219741
Samling
Articles
Description
Isojunno, Saana; Wensveen, Paul Jacobus; Lam, Frans-Peter Alexander; Kvadsheim, Petter Helgevold; Benda-Beckmann, Alexander M. von; Lòpez, Lucia; Kleivane, Lars; Siegall, Elidh; Miller, Patrick James O'Malley. When the noise goes on: received sound energy predicts sperm whale responses to both intermittent and continuous navy sonar. Journal of Experimental Biology 2020 ;Volum 232.(jeb219741)
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Sammendrag
Anthropogenic noise sources range from intermittent to continuous, with seismic and navy sonar technology moving towards near-continuous transmissions. Continuous active sonar (CAS) may be used at a lower amplitude than traditional pulsed active sonar (PAS), but potentially with greater cumulative sound energy. We conducted at-sea experiments to contrast the effects of navy PAS versus CAS on sperm whale behaviour using animal-attached sound- and movement-recording tags (n=16 individuals) in Norway. Changes in foraging effort and proxies for foraging success and cost during sonar and control exposures were assessed while accounting for baseline variation [individual effects, time of day, bathymetry and blackfish (pilot/killer whale) presence] in generalized additive mixed models (GAMMs). We found no reduction in time spent foraging during exposures to medium-level PAS (MPAS) transmitted at the same peak amplitude as CAS. In contrast, we found similar reductions in foraging during CAS (d.f.=1, F=8.0, P=0.005) and higher amplitude PAS (d.f.=1, F=20.8, P<0.001) when received at similar energy levels integrated over signal duration. These results provide clear support for sound energy over amplitude as the response driver. We discuss the importance of exposure context and the need to measure cumulative sound energy to account for intermittent versus more continuous sources in noise impact assessments.
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