Hostname: page-component-76fb5796d-skm99 Total loading time: 0 Render date: 2024-04-28T21:47:05.267Z Has data issue: false hasContentIssue false
  • English
  • Français

Descriptive parameters of pulsed calls for the spinner dolphin, Stenella longirostris, in the Fernando de Noronha Archipelago, Brazil

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  17 March 2008

Marcos R. Rossi-Santos ,
José Martins da Silva Jr ,
Flavio Lima Silva  and
Emygdio L.A. Monteiro-Filho
Marcos R. Rossi-Santos*
Affiliation:
Instituto Baleia Jubarte, Avenida do Farol, P Box 92, Praia do Forte, 48280-000, Bahia, Brazil Pós Graduação em Zoologia/Universidade Federal do Paraná, PO Box 19020, Centro Politécnico, Curitiba, Paraná, 81531-970, Brazil
José Martins da Silva Jr
Affiliation:
Centro Golfinho Rotador/PO Box 49, Fernando de Noronha, Pernambuco, 53990-000, Brazil
Flavio Lima Silva
Affiliation:
Centro Golfinho Rotador/PO Box 49, Fernando de Noronha, Pernambuco, 53990-000, Brazil Departamento de Ciências Biológicas, Universidade do Estado do Rio Grande do Norte, 59600-970, Mossoró, Rio Grande do Norte, Brazil
Emygdio L.A. Monteiro-Filho
Affiliation:
Pós Graduação em Zoologia/Universidade Federal do Paraná, PO Box 19020, Centro Politécnico, Curitiba, Paraná, 81531-970, Brazil Instituto de Pesquisas Cananéia—Rua Tristão Lobo da Cunha, 38, Cananéia, São Paulo, Brazil
*
Correspondence should be addressed to: Marcos R. Rossi-Santos, Instituto Baleia Jubarte, Avenida do Farol, P Box 92, Praia do Forte, 48280-000 Bahia, Brazil email: marcos.rossi@baleiajubarte.com.br
Get access Rights & Permissions [Opens in a new window]

Abstract

The aim of this work is to describe the repertoire of calls utilized by the spinner dolphins (Stenella longirostris) in the southern Atlantic Ocean. We measured four acoustic parameters of the fundamental frequency of each call: (i) duration; (ii) frequency amplitude; (iii) minimum frequency; and (iv) maximum frequency. We also classified calls by their shape contour by visual inspection of the spectrograms. The obtained values for call duration were 0.046 to 2.08 seconds (mean 0.433, standard deviation (SD) 0.433), amplitude of 0.13 to 2.01 kHz (mean of 0.36, SD 0.29), minimum frequency of 0.22 to 1.80 (mean 0.55, SD 0.29), maximum frequency of 0.46 to 7.50 (mean 1.00, SD 0.89). We classified 73 calls by spectral contour, identifying six basic types of discernible calls, showing heterogeneity among the call types, with C1, C2 and C3 calls presenting higher frequencies, 21, 30 and 23%, respectively. We found that the calls of S. longirostris in the Fernando de Noronha Archipelago are more diverse and complex than previously recognized for spinner dolphins and further studies worldwide can reinforce the broad use of this sound for the species repertoire.

Keywords

pulsed callsspinner dolphinStenella longirostrisBrazil
Type
Research Article
Information
Journal of the Marine Biological Association of the United Kingdom , Volume 88 , Special Issue 6: Marine Mammals , September 2008 , pp. 1093 - 1097
Copyright
Copyright © Marine Biological Association of the United Kingdom 2008

Access options

Get access to the full version of this content by using one of the access options below. (Log in options will check for institutional or personal access. Content may require purchase if you do not have access.)

References

REFERENCES

Au, W.L. (1992) Sonar of dolphins. Springer-Verlag.Google Scholar
Bazúa-Durán, C. (2004) Differences in the whistle characteristics and repertoire of bottlenose and spinner dolphins. Anais Academia Brasileira de Ciências 76, 386–392.CrossRefGoogle ScholarPubMed
Bazúa-Durán, C. and Au, W. (2002) The whistles of the Hawaiian spinner dolphins. Journal of the Acoustical Society of America 112, 3064–3072.CrossRefGoogle ScholarPubMed
Carleton, M.D. and Olson, S.L. (1999) Amerigo Vespucci and the rat of Fernando de Noronha: a new genus and species of Rodentia (Muridae: Sigmodontinae) from a volcanic island off Brazil's continental shelf. American Museum Novitates 3256, 1–59.Google Scholar
Ding, W., Würsig, B. and Evans, W. (1995) Whistles of bottlenose dolphins: comparisons among populations. Aquatic Mammals 21, 65–77.Google Scholar
Ford, J.K.B. (1991) Vocal traditions among resident killer whales (Orcinus orca) in coastal waters of British Columbia. Canadian Journal of Zoology 69, 1454–1483.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Ford, J.K.B. and Fisher, H.D. (1978) Underwater acoustic signals of the narwhal (Monodon monoceros). Canadian Journal of Zoology 56, 552–560.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Ford, J.K.B. and Fisher, H.D. (1982) Killer whales (Orcinus orca) dialects as an indicator of stocks in British Columbia. Report of the International Whaling Commission 32, 671–679.Google Scholar
Janik, V.M. (2000) Whistle matching in wild bottlenose dolphin (Tursiops truncatus). Science 289, 1355–1357.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Karczmarski, L., Würsig, B., Gailey, G., Larson, K.W. and Vanderlip, C. (2005) Spinner dolphins in a remote Hawaiian atoll: social grouping and population strucutre. Behavioral Ecology 16, 675–685.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Lammers, M. and Au, W.L. (2003) Directionality of whistles of Hawaiian spinner dolphins (Stenella longirostris): a signal feature to cue direction of movement? Marine Mammal Science 19, 249–264.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Lammers, M., Au, W.L. and Herzing, D.L. (2003) The broadband social acoustic signaling behavior of spinner and spotted dolphins. Journal of the Acoustical Society of America 114, 1629–1639.CrossRefGoogle ScholarPubMed
Maida, M. and Ferreira, B.P. (1997) Coral reefs of Brazil: an overview. Proceedings of the International Coral Reef Symposium 8, 263–274.Google Scholar
Miller, P.J.O. and Bain, D.E. (2000) Within-pod variation in the sound production of a pod of killer whales (Orcinus orca). Animal Behaviour 60, 617–628.CrossRefGoogle ScholarPubMed
Monteiro-Filho, E.L.A. and Monteiro, K.D.K.A. (2001) Low-frequency sounds emitted by Sotalia fluviatilis guianensis (Cetacea: Delphinidae) in an estuarine region in southeastern Brazil. Canadian Journal of Zoology 79, 59–66.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Morisaka, T., Shinohara, M., Nakahara, F. and Akamatsu, T. (2005) Geographic variation in the whistles among three Indo-Pacific bottlenose dolphin (Tursiops aduncus) populations in Japan. Fisheries Research Science 71, 568–576.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Norris, K.S., Würsig, B., Wells, R.S., Würsig, M., Brownlee, S.M., Johnson, C.M. and Solow, J. (1994) The Hawaiian spinner dolphin. University of California Press.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Podos, J., Da Silva, V.M.F. and Rossi-Santos, M.R. (2002) Vocalizations of Amazon river dolphins (Inia geoffrensis): insights into evolutionary origins of Delphinidae whistles. Ethology 108, 1–12.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Poole, M.M. (1995) Aspects of the behavioral ecology of spinner dolphins (Stenella longirostris) in the nearshore waters of Mo'orea, French Polynesia. PhD thesis, University of California, Santa Cruz.Google Scholar
Popper, A.N. (1980) Sound emission and detection by delphinids. In Herman, L.M. (ed.) Cetacean behavior: mechanisms and functions. Wiley-Interscience, pp. 1–52.Google Scholar
Rendell, L.E., Matthews, J.N., Gill, A., Gordon, J.C.D. and Macdonald, D.W. (1999) Quantitative analysis of tonal calls from five odontocete species, examining interespecific variation. Journal of Zoology 249, 403–410.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Richardson, W.J., Greene, C.R., Malme, C.I. and Thomson, D.H. (1995) Marine mammals and noise. Academic Press.Google Scholar
Schevill, W.E. and Watkins, W.A. (1966) Sound structure and directionality in Orcinus orca (killer whale). Zoologica 51, 71–76.Google Scholar
Silva, J.M. Jr, Silva, F.J.L. and Sazima, I. (2005) Rest, nurture, sex, release, and play: diurnal underwater behaviour of the spinner dolphin at Fernando de Noronha Archipelago, SW Atlantic. Aqua, Journal of Ichthyology and Aquatic Biology 9, 161–176.Google Scholar
Silva, J.M. Jr, Silva, F.J.L., Sazima, C. and Sazima, I. (2007) Trophic relationships of the spinner dolphin at Fernando de Noronha Archipelago, SW Atlantic. Scientia Marina 71, 505–511.Google Scholar
Sjare, B.L. and Smith, T.G. (1986) The vocal repertoire of white whales, Delphinapterus leucas, summering in Cunningham Inlet, Northwest Territories. Canadian Journal of Zoology 64, 2824–2831.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Stafford, K.M., Nieukirk, S.L. and Fox, C.G. (2001) Geographic variation of blue whale calls in the North Pacific. Journal of Cetacean Research and Management 3, 65–76.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Steiner, W.W., Hain, J.H., Winn, H.E. and Perkins, P.J. (1979) Vocalizations and feeding behavior of killer whale (Orcinus orca). Journal of Mammalogy 60, 823–827.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Tyack, P.L. (1998) Acoustic communication under sea. In Hopp, S.L. et al. (eds) Animal acoustics communication—sound analysis and research methods. New York: Springer-Verlag, pp. 163–219.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Van Parijs, S.M., Parra, G.J. and Corkeron, P.J. (2000) Sounds produced by Australian Irrawady dolphins, Orcaella brevirostris. Journal of the Acoustical Society of America 108, 1938–1940.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Winn, H.E., Thompson, T.J., Cummings, W.C., Hain, J., Hundnall, J., Hays, H. and Steiner, W.W. (1981) Songs of humpback whale—population comparisons. Behavioral Ecology and Sociobiology 8, 41–46.CrossRefGoogle Scholar