153
Applicata al Mare (ICRAM), Italy, recorded sounds of dusky dolphins and
Commerson’s dolphins to study the potential impact caused by tourist activity on
dolphins between 2003 and 2005 in Northern Patagonia. Further studies and analyses by LAMAMA are still conducted.
In 2005, another Argentine non-governmental organization “Marybio”, conducted studies on wild Franciscana in San Blas bay in collaboration with the
University of Brussels, Belgium, and the Natural History Museum of Buenos Aires.
In 2006, they also recorded T. truncatus in Bahía San Antonio, Río Negro, but the
lack of human sources and the need to focus on higher-priority research lines made
them postpon the project.
Kyhn and colleagues recorded Hourglass dolphins (Lagenorhynchus cruciger) in
the Drake Passage with a four-element hydrophone array in 2007. This species produce narrow band high-frequency (NBHF) echolocation clicks and they concluded
that offshore NBHF dolphins, such as hourglass dolphin, seem to produce clicks
with higher source level than coastal dolphins do. A year later Kyhn recorded
Peale’s dolphins and Commerson’s dolphins at Islas Malvinas (Falkland Islands)
using a six-element hydrophone array. They obtained the first wide-band recordings
of Peale’s dolphins and showed that they produce NBHF clicks a well as Commerson
dolphins, but with lower centroid frequency and higher source levels. They hypothesized that these differences may be a result of some degree of character displacements to allow species recognition in these two sympatric species.
The ICB planned to develop an acoustic study which included Southern right
whales in Península Valdés in 2008, but they faced several problems to develop the
study and it was cancelled.
By the end of 2010, Fundación Cethus began to develop research incorporating
passive acoustics to study different species such as Franciscana dolphins (Pontoporia
blainvillei) (Melcón et al. 2012a, 2016) and Bottlenose dolphins in the Río Negro
Estuary, Commerson’s dolphins in Bahía San Julián, Ría Santa Cruz and Ría
Deseado (Santa Cruz) (Reyes Reyes et al. 2015, 2016a), Peale’s dolphins in Ría
Santa Cruz (Marino et al. in preparation). This was possible thanks to the collaboration of the Marine Physical Laboratory of Scripps Institution of Oceanography,
which generously donated the necessary equipment for such research (Fig. 6.2d).
Since 2014 Fundación Cethus, in collaboration with Scripps Institution of
Oceanography expanded the bioacoustics research line to the Antarctic, as part of
the International Whaling Commission’s Southern Ocean Research Partnership
(IWC-SORP). In this long-term project we are using two different types of acoustic recording devices: a hydrophone array towed by an Argentine Coast Guard vessel (Fig. 6.2b), and the autonomous High-frequency Acoustic Recording Package
(HARP) for broad-band recordings (Fig. 6.2c), which is deployed at 1000 m depth
approximately. The main target species are beaked whales, killer whales and sperm
whales, and blue whales (Trickey et al. 2015).
There were several attempts to record Burmeister’s porpoise (Phocoena spininpinnis) at the Beagle Channel, Tierra del Fuego, using hydrophones made by the
Laboratorio de Hidroacústica of Instituto Nacional de Investigacion y Desarrollo
Pesquero (INIDEP) with Centro Austral de Investigaciones Científicas (CADIC).
6 Bioacoustic Techniques Applied to Odontocete Conservation and Management…
Applicata al Mare (ICRAM), Italy, recorded sounds of dusky dolphins and
Commerson’s dolphins to study the potential impact caused by tourist activity on
dolphins between 2003 and 2005 in Northern Patagonia. Further studies and analyses by LAMAMA are still conducted.
In 2005, another Argentine non-governmental organization “Marybio”, conducted studies on wild Franciscana in San Blas bay in collaboration with the
University of Brussels, Belgium, and the Natural History Museum of Buenos Aires.
In 2006, they also recorded T. truncatus in Bahía San Antonio, Río Negro, but the
lack of human sources and the need to focus on higher-priority research lines made
them postpon the project.
Kyhn and colleagues recorded Hourglass dolphins (Lagenorhynchus cruciger) in
the Drake Passage with a four-element hydrophone array in 2007. This species produce narrow band high-frequency (NBHF) echolocation clicks and they concluded
that offshore NBHF dolphins, such as hourglass dolphin, seem to produce clicks
with higher source level than coastal dolphins do. A year later Kyhn recorded
Peale’s dolphins and Commerson’s dolphins at Islas Malvinas (Falkland Islands)
using a six-element hydrophone array. They obtained the first wide-band recordings
of Peale’s dolphins and showed that they produce NBHF clicks a well as Commerson
dolphins, but with lower centroid frequency and higher source levels. They hypothesized that these differences may be a result of some degree of character displacements to allow species recognition in these two sympatric species.
The ICB planned to develop an acoustic study which included Southern right
whales in Península Valdés in 2008, but they faced several problems to develop the
study and it was cancelled.
By the end of 2010, Fundación Cethus began to develop research incorporating
passive acoustics to study different species such as Franciscana dolphins (Pontoporia
blainvillei) (Melcón et al. 2012a, 2016) and Bottlenose dolphins in the Río Negro
Estuary, Commerson’s dolphins in Bahía San Julián, Ría Santa Cruz and Ría
Deseado (Santa Cruz) (Reyes Reyes et al. 2015, 2016a), Peale’s dolphins in Ría
Santa Cruz (Marino et al. in preparation). This was possible thanks to the collaboration of the Marine Physical Laboratory of Scripps Institution of Oceanography,
which generously donated the necessary equipment for such research (Fig. 6.2d).
Since 2014 Fundación Cethus, in collaboration with Scripps Institution of
Oceanography expanded the bioacoustics research line to the Antarctic, as part of
the International Whaling Commission’s Southern Ocean Research Partnership
(IWC-SORP). In this long-term project we are using two different types of acoustic recording devices: a hydrophone array towed by an Argentine Coast Guard vessel (Fig. 6.2b), and the autonomous High-frequency Acoustic Recording Package
(HARP) for broad-band recordings (Fig. 6.2c), which is deployed at 1000 m depth
approximately. The main target species are beaked whales, killer whales and sperm
whales, and blue whales (Trickey et al. 2015).
There were several attempts to record Burmeister’s porpoise (Phocoena spininpinnis) at the Beagle Channel, Tierra del Fuego, using hydrophones made by the
Laboratorio de Hidroacústica of Instituto Nacional de Investigacion y Desarrollo
Pesquero (INIDEP) with Centro Austral de Investigaciones Científicas (CADIC).
6 Bioacoustic Techniques Applied to Odontocete Conservation and Management…