Acoustic analysis of crabeater seal (Lobodon carcinophaga) vocalizations in the Southern Kerguelen Plateau region of East Antarctica
2021 (English)In: Journal of the Acoustical Society of America, ISSN 0001-4966, E-ISSN 1520-8524, Vol. 150, no 5, p. 3353-3361Article in journal (Refereed) Published
Abstract [en]
Crabeater seals are circumpolar, ice-dependent seals that produce distinct vocalizations during the breeding season. This study provides the first description of the acoustic repertoire of the crabeater seal in East Antarctica, using data from a stationary hydrophone at 1.8 km depth in the Southern Kerguelen Plateau region in 2014–2015. Two call types were identified in the data set: the low and the high moan calls. Of the 8821 calls detected, 92.5% were classified as low moan calls and 7.5% were high moan calls. The mean duration of the two call types was similar (2.3 and 2.8 s, respectively), however, the high moan calls had a higher frequency range (1020–4525 Hz, n = 11) than the low moan calls (360–2753 Hz, n = 120). The calls were primarily detected in the austral spring. Diel analysis showed that the low moan calls were mostly made at nighttime or proximal to dusk and dawn. The results of this study could aid in the development of automated detectors for crabeater seal vocalizations. This would facilitate comparisons of the distribution and abundance of the species using extant acoustic data and could increase knowledge on the breeding behavior of crabeater seals.
Place, publisher, year, edition, pages
2021. Vol. 150, no 5, p. 3353-3361
Keywords [en]
Acoustics, seals, pinnipeds
National Category
Biological Sciences
Research subject
Ecosystems and species history
Identifiers
URN: urn:nbn:se:nrm:diva-4560DOI: 10.1121/10.0006789OAI: oai:DiVA.org:nrm-4560DiVA, id: diva2:1619865
2021-12-142021-12-142022-12-21Bibliographically approved