Spitsbergen's endangered bowhead whales sing through the polar night
Spitsbergen's endangered bowhead whales sing through the polar night
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DOI：
10.3354/esr00444
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发表时间：
2012-01-01
影响因子：
3.1
通讯作者：
Kovacs, Kit M.
中科院分区：
文献类型：
--
作者：
Stafford, Kathleen M.;Moore, Sue E.;Kovacs, Kit M.
弓头鲸Balaena mysticetus是长寿的鲸目动物，在须鲸中唯一适应全年生活在北极的动物。从17世纪到19世纪，所有的北极露脊鲸种群都因商业捕鲸而大大减少，其中北大西洋的斯匹次卑尔根群岛的数量最大，几乎灭绝。最近在斯瓦尔巴特群岛西部看到弓头鲸，促使人们努力通过2008年在弗拉姆海峡北纬78.8度、相距95公里的海洋系泊处部署的两个记录器来倾听它们的声音。全年的声学记录进行了检查的弓头鲸的声音发生。简单的呼叫，呼叫序列，和复杂的歌曲被记录下来。从2008年11月初到2009年4月下旬，在西部弗拉姆海峡记录仪上几乎每小时都能检测到重复的呼叫序列或弓头鲸的歌声。2008年10月至2009年4月录制了60多首独特的歌曲。相比之下，简单的呼叫和呼叫序列是最常见的信号记录在中央弗拉姆海峡仪器。歌曲产生的峰值水平与水温最低、冰浓度密集和几乎完全黑暗的时期相一致。考虑到歌曲的多样性、音量和录制时间，西部弗拉姆海峡似乎是这种极度濒危的露脊鲸的越冬地，也可能是它们的交配地。
Bowhead whales Balaena mysticetus are long-lived cetaceans, uniquely adapted among the baleen whales to live year-round in the Arctic. All bowhead whale populations were greatly reduced by commercial whaling from the 1600s through the 1800s, with the largest, the Spitsbergen population in the North Atlantic, depleted to the point of extinction. Recent sightings of bowhead whales west of Svalbard precipitated an effort to listen for their vocalizations via 2 recorders deployed in 2008 on oceanographic moorings spaced 95 km apart at 78.8 degrees N latitude in the Fram Strait. Year-round acoustic records were examined for the occurrence of bowhead whale sounds. Simple calls, call sequences, and complex songs were recorded. Repeated call sequences or bowhead whale songs were detected nearly every hour from early November 2008 through late April 2009 on the western Fram Strait recorder. More than 60 unique songs were recorded from October 2008 to April 2009. In contrast, simple calls and call sequences were the most common signals recorded on the central Fram Strait instrument. Peak levels of song production coincided with the period of lowest water temperature, dense ice concentration, and almost complete darkness. Given the diversity, loudness, and period over which songs were recorded, western Fram Strait appears to be a wintering ground-and potentially a mating area-for this Critically Endangered population of bowhead whales.