title: First indications that northern bottlenose whales are sensitive to behavioural disturbance from anthropogenic noise.
abstract: Although northern bottlenose whales were the most heavily hunted beaked whale, we have little information about this species in its remote habitat of the North Atlantic Ocean. Underwater anthropogenic noise and disruption of their natural habitat may be major threats, given the sensitivity of other beaked whales to such noise disturbance. We attached dataloggers to 13 northern bottlenose whales and compared their natural sounds and movements to those of one individual exposed to escalating levels of 1-2 kHz upsweep naval sonar signals. At a received sound pressure level (SPL) of 98 dB re 1 μPa, the whale turned to approach the sound source, but at a received SPL of 107 dB re 1 μPa, the whale began moving in an unusually straight course and then made a near 180° turn away from the source, and performed the longest and deepest dive (94 min, 2339 m) recorded for this species. Animal movement parameters differed significantly from baseline for more than 7 h until the tag fell off 33-36 km away. No clicks were emitted during the response period, indicating cessation of normal echolocation-based foraging. A sharp decline in both acoustic and visual detections of conspecifics after exposure suggests other whales in the area responded similarly. Though more data are needed, our results indicate high sensitivity of this species to acoustic disturbance, with consequent risk from marine industrialization and naval activity.
authors.affiliation: Sea Mammal Research Unit, Scottish Oceans Institute , University of St Andrews , St Andrews, Fife KY16 8LB, UK.
authors.forename: P J O
authors.initials: PJ
authors.lastname: Miller
authors.affiliation: Maritime Systems Division , Norwegian Defence Research Establishment (FFI) , Horten 3191, Norway.
authors.forename: P H
authors.initials: PH
authors.lastname: Kvadsheim
authors.affiliation: Acoustics and Sonar , Netherlands Organisation for Applied Scientific Research (TNO) , PO Box 96864, 2509 JG The Hague, The Netherlands.
authors.forename: F P A
authors.initials: FP
authors.lastname: Lam
authors.affiliation: Sea Mammal Research Unit, Scottish Oceans Institute , University of St Andrews , St Andrews, Fife KY16 8LB, UK.
authors.forename: P L
authors.initials: PL
authors.lastname: Tyack
authors.affiliation: Acoustic Group, Centre for Expertise and Engineering on Risks , Urban and Country Planning, Environment and Mobility (CEREMA - DTer Est) , F 67035 Strasbourg cedex2, France.
authors.forename: C
authors.initials: C
authors.lastname: Curé
authors.affiliation: Centre for Research into Ecological and Environmental Modelling , University of St Andrews , St Andrews, Fife KY16 9LZ, UK.
authors.forename: S L
authors.initials: SL
authors.lastname: DeRuiter
authors.affiliation: Maritime Systems Division , Norwegian Defence Research Establishment (FFI) , Horten 3191, Norway.
authors.forename: L
authors.initials: L
authors.lastname: Kleivane
authors.affiliation: Institute of Marine Research (IMR) , PO Box 1870 Nordnes, Bergen 5817, Norway.
authors.forename: L D
authors.initials: LD
authors.lastname: Sivle
authors.affiliation: Acoustics and Sonar , Netherlands Organisation for Applied Scientific Research (TNO) , PO Box 96864, 2509 JG The Hague, The Netherlands.
authors.forename: S P
authors.initials: SP
authors.lastname: van IJsselmuide
authors.affiliation: Kelp Marine Research , Loniusstraat 9, 1624 CJ Hoorn, The Netherlands ; Behavioural Biology Group , Leiden University , PO Box 9505, 2300 RA Leiden, The Netherlands.
authors.forename: F
authors.initials: F
authors.lastname: Visser
authors.affiliation: Sea Mammal Research Unit, Scottish Oceans Institute , University of St Andrews , St Andrews, Fife KY16 8LB, UK.
authors.forename: P J
authors.initials: PJ
authors.lastname: Wensveen
authors.affiliation: Acoustics and Sonar , Netherlands Organisation for Applied Scientific Research (TNO) , PO Box 96864, 2509 JG The Hague, The Netherlands.
authors.forename: A M
authors.initials: AM
authors.lastname: von Benda-Beckmann
authors.affiliation: Sea Mammal Research Unit, Scottish Oceans Institute , University of St Andrews , St Andrews, Fife KY16 8LB, UK.
authors.forename: L M
authors.initials: LM
authors.lastname: Martín López
authors.affiliation: Sea Mammal Research Unit, Scottish Oceans Institute , University of St Andrews , St Andrews, Fife KY16 8LB, UK.
authors.forename: T
authors.initials: T
authors.lastname: Narazaki
authors.affiliation: Sea Mammal Research Unit, Scottish Oceans Institute , University of St Andrews , St Andrews, Fife KY16 8LB, UK.
authors.forename: S K
authors.initials: SK
authors.lastname: Hooker
keywords: Hyperoodon ampullatus; anthropogenic noise; behavioural response; bottlenose whale; mitigation; naval sonar