Dear Colleagues, We are pleased to announce the following publication in PLoS ONE:
Wellard, R., Erbe, C., Fouda, L., Blewitt, M., (2015),* Vocalisation of killer whales (Orcinus orca) in the Bremer Canyon, Western Australia*. PLoS ONE 10(9). DOI: 10.1371/journal.pone.0136535 Abstract: To date, there has been no dedicated study in Australian waters on the acoustics of killer whales. Hence no information has been published on the sounds produced by killer whales from this region. Here we present the first acoustical analysis of recordings collected off the Western Australian coast. Underwater sounds produced by Australian killer whales were recorded during the months of February and March 2014 and 2015 in the Bremer Canyon in Western Australia. Vocalisations recorded included echolocation clicks, burst-pulse sounds and whistles. A total of 28 hours and 29 minutes were recorded and analysed, with 2376 killer whale calls (whistles and burst-pulse sounds) detected. Recordings of poor quality or signal-to-noise ratio were excluded from analysis, resulting in 142 whistles and burst-pulse vocalisations suitable for analysis and categorisation. These were grouped based on their spectrographic features into nine Bremer Canyon (BC) “call types”. The frequency of the fundamental contours of all call types ranged from 600 Hz to 29 kHz. Calls ranged from 0.05 to 11.3 seconds in duration. Biosonar clicks were also recorded, but not studied further. Surface behaviours noted during acoustic recordings were categorised as either travelling or social behaviour. A detailed description of the acoustic characteristics is necessary for species acoustic identification and for the development of passive acoustic tools for population monitoring, including assessments of population status, habitat usage, migration patterns, behaviour and acoustic ecology. This study provides the first quantitative assessment and report on the acoustic features of killer whales vocalisations in Australian waters, and presents an opportunity to further investigate this little-known population. The article can be downloaded from: http://journals.plos.org/plosone/article?id=10.1371/journal.pone.0136535 Alternatively, if you are unable to download the article please email me for a pdf at: [email protected] Kind regards, Rebecca Wellard. *PhD Candidate* *Centre for Marine Science and Technology* Curtin University GPO Box U1987 Perth, Western Australia 6845 *Email *[email protected]
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