title: Humpback whale (Megaptera novaeangliae) song unit and phrase repertoire progression on a subarctic feeding ground.
abstract: The songs of the male humpback whales have traditionally been associated with breeding activities at low latitude breeding grounds during winter. This study provides the first detailed analysis of humpback whale songs recorded in the subarctic waters of Iceland using passive acoustic recorders. Recordings were collected during three winter seasons: 2008-2009, 2009-2010, and 2011 during which singing was detected in all seasons. Peak song occurrence was during January-February in all years; this coincides with the timing of the peak breeding season of humpback whales in the Northern hemisphere. A total of 2810 song units from all years were measured and statistically divided into 14 groups, which constructed 25 phrases. The song unit repertoires included stable song unit types that occurred frequently in songs during all years while the occurrence of other song unit types varied more between years. Around 60% of the phrases were conserved between the first two study seasons, while the majority of phrases found during the last study season had not been observed before. This study indicates the importance of a subarctic feeding ground for song progression and song exchange and possibly as an opportunistic mating ground for migrating or overwintering humpback whales.
authors.affiliation: The University of Iceland's Research Center in Húsavík, 640 Húsavík, Iceland.
authors.forename: Edda E
authors.initials: EE
authors.lastname: Magnúsdóttir
authors.affiliation: Sea Mammal Research Unit, Scottish Oceans Institute, University of Saint Andrews, Saint Andrews, Fife KY16 8LB, UK.
authors.forename: Patrick J O
authors.initials: PJ
authors.lastname: Miller
authors.affiliation: The University of Iceland's Research Center in Húsavík, 640 Húsavík, Iceland.
authors.forename: Rangyn
authors.initials: R
authors.lastname: Lim
authors.affiliation: The University of Iceland's Research Center in Húsavík, 640 Húsavík, Iceland.
authors.forename: Marianne H
authors.initials: MH
authors.lastname: Rasmussen
authors.affiliation: Hawaii Institute of Marine Biology, Kaneohe, Hawaii 96744, USA.
authors.forename: Marc O
authors.initials: MO
authors.lastname: Lammers
authors.affiliation: Department of Life and Environmental Sciences, University of Iceland, 101 Reykjavík, Iceland.
authors.forename: Jörundur
authors.initials: J
authors.lastname: Svavarsson
mesh_terms: D000818:Animals; D001110:Arctic Regions; D001267:Atlantic Ocean; D016002:Discriminant Analysis; D005247:Feeding Behavior; D050640:Humpback Whale / Q000502:physiology*; D008297:Male; D025341:Principal Component Analysis; D012621:Seasons; D012815:Signal Processing, Computer-Assisted; D013018:Sound Spectrography; D014828:Vocalization, Animal