new publication on humpback whale song

[emiii]

                
                ----- Original Message -----
                From: Adam Pack p...@hawaii.edu
                To: mar...@lists.uvic.ca
                Sent: Mon 02/14/11  7:11 PM
                Subject: Fwd: [MARMAM] new publication on humpback whale song

Aloha Colleagues:

On behalf of my co-authors, I pleased to announce the publication of
the following paper on humpback whale song.

"Green, S. R., Mercado, E. III, Pack, A. A, & Herman, L. M. (2011). 
Recurring patterns in the songs of humpback whales (Megaptera
novaeangliae), Behavioural Processes, 86, 284-294.

The abstract is presented below:
 Humpback whales, unlike most mammalian species, learn new songs as
adults. Populations of singers  progressively and collectively change
the sounds and patterns within their songs throughout their lives  and
across generations. In this study, humpback whale songs recorded in
Hawaii from 1985 to 1995  were analyzed using self-organizing maps
(SOMs) to classify the sounds within songs, and to identify  sound
patterns that were present across multiple years. These analyses
supported the hypothesis that  recurring, persistent patterns exist
within whale songs, and that these patterns are defined at least in
part  by acoustic relationships between adjacent sounds within songs.
Sound classification based on acoustic  differences between adjacent
sounds yielded patterns within songs that were more consistent from
year  to year than classifications based on the properties of single
sounds.  Maintenance of fixed ratios of acoustic  modulation across
sounds, despite large variations in individual sounds, suggests
intrinsic constraints on  how sounds change within songs. Such
acoustically invariant cues may enable whales to recognize and 
assess variations in songs despite propagation-related distortion of
individual sounds and yearly changes  in songs. 
Pdfs copies can be obtained from the lead author Sean Green at 

Best regards,

Adam Pack     
------------------------------------------------------------Adam A.
Pack, Ph.D. Associate Professor Psychology & BiologyUniversity of
Hawaii at Hilo
Mailing Address:Psychology DepartmentUniversity of Hawaii at Hilo200
West Kawili St.Hilo, Hawaii 96720
Voice: 808-375-7892email: