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
[email protected]
Best regards,
Adam Pack
------------------------------------------------------------
Adam A. Pack, Ph.D.
Associate Professor Psychology & Biology
University of Hawaii at Hilo
Mailing Address:
Psychology Department
University of Hawaii at Hilo
200 West Kawili St.
Hilo, Hawaii 96720
Voice: 808-375-7892
email: [email protected]
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