Weddell seals do not lengthen calls in response to conspecific masking

Some mammalian and avian species alter their vocal communication signals to reduce masking by background noises (including conspecific calls). A preliminary study suggested that Weddell seals (Leptonychotes weddellii) increase the durations of some underwater call types when overlapped by another calling seal. The present study examined the durations and overlapping sequences of Weddell seal calls recorded in Eastern Antarctica. The calling rate, call type (13 major categories), total duration, numbers of elements per call, and overlapping order of 100-200 consecutive calls per recording location were measured. In response to increased conspecific calling rates, the call durations and numbers of elements (within repeated-element call types) did not change or became shorter. Calls that were not overlapped were 3.8 plus or minus 6.1 s long, the first call in a series of overlapped calls was 14.4 plus or minus 15.7 s and subsequent calls in an overlapping series were 6.5 plus or minus 10.3 s. The mean durations of non-overlapped and overlapped calls matched random distributions. Weddell seals do not appear to be adjusting the durations or timing of their calls to purposefully avoid masking each others' calls. The longer a call is, the more likely it is to overlap another call by chance. An implication of this is that Weddell seals may not have the behavioural flexibility to reduce masking by altering the temporal aspects of their calls or calling behaviours as background noises (natural and from shipping) increase.

Simple

Identification info

Alternate title
Weddell seals do not lengthen calls in response to conspecific masking
Date (Publication)
2016-03-02
Edition
1

Originator

Terhune, J.M.

Publisher

Australian Antarctic Data Centre

Principal investigator

TERHUNE, JOHN MOORE
Department of Biological Sciences
University of New Brunswick
100 Tucker Park Road
Saint John
New Brunswick
E2L 4L5
Canada

Collaborator

TERHUNE, JOHN MOORE
Department of Biological Sciences
University of New Brunswick
100 Tucker Park Road
Saint John
New Brunswick
E2L 4L5
Canada
Name
CAASM Metadata
Website
https://data.aad.gov.au/metadata/records/ASAC_1132_pulse_repetition

Purpose
The data were used in the two sets of analyses of Weddell seal underwater calls that are presented in Terhune, J.M. 2016. Weddell seals do not lengthen calls in response to conspecific masking. Bioacoustics 25: 75-88.
Status
Completed

Custodian

AU/AADC > Australian Antarctic Data Centre, Australia - AADC, DATA OFFICER (DATA CENTER CONTACT)
Australian Antarctic Division
203 Channel Highway
Kingston
Tasmania
7050
Australia
Topic category
  • Biota
  • Oceans

Extent

N
S
E
W


Extent

Description
Temporal Coverage

Temporal extent

TimePeriod
1991-10-01 2002-12-20
Title
Weddell seals do not lengthen calls in response to conspecific masking
Date (Publication)
2016
Citation identifier
25

Author

Terhune, J.M.
Name
Bioacoustics
Page
75-88
NASA/GCMD Earth Science Keywords
  • EARTH SCIENCE > BIOLOGICAL CLASSIFICATION > ANIMALS/VERTEBRATES > MAMMALS > CARNIVORES > SEALS/SEA LIONS/WALRUSES
Keywords
  • Weddell Seal
  • Leptonychotes weddellii
  • vocalisation
NASA/GCMD Earth Science Keywords
  • HYDROPHONES
NASA/GCMD Earth Science Keywords
  • FIELD SURVEYS
NASA/GCMD Earth Science Keywords
  • AMD/AU
  • AMD
  • CEOS
NASA/GCMD Earth Science Keywords
  • GEOGRAPHIC REGION > POLAR

Resource constraints

Use limitation
This metadata record is publicly available.

Resource constraints

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licence
Other constraints
None

Resource constraints

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Portable Network Graphic
Linkage
Creative Commons by Attribution logo

Title
Attribution 4.0 International (CC BY 4.0)
Website
https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/legalcode

Legal code for Creative Commons by Attribution 4.0 International license

Use constraints
licence
Other constraints
None This data set conforms to the CCBY Attribution License (http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/). Please follow instructions listed in the citation reference provided at http://data.aad.gov.au/aadc/metadata/citation.cfm?entry_id=ASAC_1132_pulse_repetition when using these data.
Language
English
Character encoding
UTF8

Distribution Information

Distributor

Distributor

AU/AADC > Australian Antarctic Data Centre, Australia - AADC, DATA OFFICER (DATA CENTER CONTACT)
Australian Antarctic Division
203 Channel Highway
Kingston
Tasmania
7050
Australia
OnLine resource
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Download point for the data

OnLine resource
PROJECT HOME PAGE

Public information for ASAC project 1132

OnLine resource
VIEW RELATED INFORMATION > PUBLICATIONS

Download point for the data - papers - AAD Staff Only

OnLine resource
VIEW RELATED INFORMATION

Citation reference for this metadata record and dataset.

Maintenance and update frequency
As needed
Maintenance note
2016-03-03 - record created by John Terhune.

Metadata

Metadata identifier
string/ASAC_1132_pulse_repetition

Language
English
Character encoding
UTF8

Sponsor

Australian Antarctic Division

Owner

AADC
Title
Parent Metadata Record
Citation identifier
ASAC_1132

Type of resource

Resource scope
Dataset

Alternative metadata reference

Title
gov.nasa.gsfc.gcmd
Citation identifier
0d302036-e00a-4e79-bb90-953115ad433e

Alternative metadata reference

Title
gov.nasa.gsfc.gcmd
Date (Last Revision)
2016-03-02T14:16:58

Identifier

Description
metadata.extraction_date

Alternative metadata reference

Title
gov.nasa.gsfc.gcmd
Citation identifier
8.6

Metadata linkage
http://data.aad.gov.au/metadata/records/ASAC_1132_pulse_repetition

Point of truth for the metadata record

Date info (Creation)
2016-03-02T00:00:00
Date info (Last Update)
2017-04-26

Metadata standard

Title
ISO 19115-3
Edition
2014
Other citation details
Version 1
Title
DIF to ISO 19115-1 Profile
 
 

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