150
6.1 History of Underwater Bioacoustics in Argentina
Argentina has a long history of attempting to develop acoustic studies on wild cetaceans by different groups of researchers. Despite decades of trials, the success of
more systematic work on cetaceans using passive acoustics happened only recently
(Fig. 6.1).
There were several projects since the 1970s which tried to incorporate sounds as
a component of ongoing research. The first attempt, to our knowledge, was carried
out by R. Payne and K. Payne, who recorded for the first time in Argentine waters
the sounds of Southern right whales in Península Valdés, Chubut, for 12 h. They
described the sound repertoire as hybrid calls (Payne and Payne 1971). In late June
and early July 1971 as part of the R/V Hero expedition, W. Cummings recorded
Southern right whales in Golfo San José, Argentina. He classified the sounds in their
sample into five categories: belches, two kinds of “moans”, miscellaneous sounds
and pulses, being the most common the belch-like utterance with most energy below
500 Hz (Cummings et al. 1972). In 1972, he came back to Península Valdés and
recorded 1750 sounds of Southern right whales. He mentioned that bellowings and
moans of rising pitch were associated with sexual activity (Cummings et al. 1972);
however, posterior studies by Clark in 1977 rejected Cummings’ conclusions. After
recording a total of 1571 h of whale sounds during 210 days in 1977, Clark characterized the acoustic repertoire of the Southern right whale (Clark 1982).
P. Tyack conducted acoustic studies on Bottlenose dolphins (Tursiops truncatus)
from November 1974 to June 1975 in Golfo San José, Península Valdés. To record
dolphins he stacked a hydrophone in a mudflat of the lower intertidal zone of the
beach near the field station; if dolphins were far from the hydrophone, he used an
inflatable boat and recorded the sounds from a portable hydrophone hung over the
side. He categorized vocalizations and behavior of Bottlenose dolphins (Tyack 1976).
After a gap of 9 years without acoustic studies on cetaceans, B. Würsig and
F. Cipriano recorded dusky dolphins (Lagenorhynchus obscurus) in Golfo San José,
Península Valdés, displaying foraging behavior using a manual hydrophone
deployed from an inflatable boat in January 1986, but no analyses were performed.
Twelve years later, Würsig and colleagues returned and in December 1998, they
recorded sounds from dusky dolphins groups resting, traveling and socializing
while snorkeling, using a manually operated mobile video/acoustic system with
stereo hydrophones with a 48 kHz sample rate (Vaughn-Hirshorn et al. 2012). They
found that the inter-click interval (ICI) was a continuum and that dusky dolphin may
use burst pulse sequences with a communication function.
M. Iñíguez made an attempt to record Commerson’s dolphins (Cephalorhynchus
commersonii) in Ría Deseado in 1986 and 1994 from a sailboat from Club Náutico
“Capitán A. Oneto”, using a portable hydrophone. This unsuccessful attempt was
due to the lack of necessary specifications for the equipment to record Commerson’s
dolphins’ high frequency clicks.
In 1990, 1991 and 1992, J. Ford, B. Ford and M. Iñíguez deployed a hydrophone
(Fig. 6.2a) fixed to 200 m cable and to an audio cassette recorder, located at the
M.L. Melcón et al.
6.1 History of Underwater Bioacoustics in Argentina
Argentina has a long history of attempting to develop acoustic studies on wild cetaceans by different groups of researchers. Despite decades of trials, the success of
more systematic work on cetaceans using passive acoustics happened only recently
(Fig. 6.1).
There were several projects since the 1970s which tried to incorporate sounds as
a component of ongoing research. The first attempt, to our knowledge, was carried
out by R. Payne and K. Payne, who recorded for the first time in Argentine waters
the sounds of Southern right whales in Península Valdés, Chubut, for 12 h. They
described the sound repertoire as hybrid calls (Payne and Payne 1971). In late June
and early July 1971 as part of the R/V Hero expedition, W. Cummings recorded
Southern right whales in Golfo San José, Argentina. He classified the sounds in their
sample into five categories: belches, two kinds of “moans”, miscellaneous sounds
and pulses, being the most common the belch-like utterance with most energy below
500 Hz (Cummings et al. 1972). In 1972, he came back to Península Valdés and
recorded 1750 sounds of Southern right whales. He mentioned that bellowings and
moans of rising pitch were associated with sexual activity (Cummings et al. 1972);
however, posterior studies by Clark in 1977 rejected Cummings’ conclusions. After
recording a total of 1571 h of whale sounds during 210 days in 1977, Clark characterized the acoustic repertoire of the Southern right whale (Clark 1982).
P. Tyack conducted acoustic studies on Bottlenose dolphins (Tursiops truncatus)
from November 1974 to June 1975 in Golfo San José, Península Valdés. To record
dolphins he stacked a hydrophone in a mudflat of the lower intertidal zone of the
beach near the field station; if dolphins were far from the hydrophone, he used an
inflatable boat and recorded the sounds from a portable hydrophone hung over the
side. He categorized vocalizations and behavior of Bottlenose dolphins (Tyack 1976).
After a gap of 9 years without acoustic studies on cetaceans, B. Würsig and
F. Cipriano recorded dusky dolphins (Lagenorhynchus obscurus) in Golfo San José,
Península Valdés, displaying foraging behavior using a manual hydrophone
deployed from an inflatable boat in January 1986, but no analyses were performed.
Twelve years later, Würsig and colleagues returned and in December 1998, they
recorded sounds from dusky dolphins groups resting, traveling and socializing
while snorkeling, using a manually operated mobile video/acoustic system with
stereo hydrophones with a 48 kHz sample rate (Vaughn-Hirshorn et al. 2012). They
found that the inter-click interval (ICI) was a continuum and that dusky dolphin may
use burst pulse sequences with a communication function.
M. Iñíguez made an attempt to record Commerson’s dolphins (Cephalorhynchus
commersonii) in Ría Deseado in 1986 and 1994 from a sailboat from Club Náutico
“Capitán A. Oneto”, using a portable hydrophone. This unsuccessful attempt was
due to the lack of necessary specifications for the equipment to record Commerson’s
dolphins’ high frequency clicks.
In 1990, 1991 and 1992, J. Ford, B. Ford and M. Iñíguez deployed a hydrophone
(Fig. 6.2a) fixed to 200 m cable and to an audio cassette recorder, located at the
M.L. Melcón et al.