Delarue Julien, Todd Sean K, Van Parijs Sofie M, Di Iorio Lucia
College of the Atlantic, Halifax, Nova Scotia, Canada.
J Acoust Soc Am. 2009 Mar;125(3):1774-82. doi: 10.1121/1.3068454.
Passive acoustic data are increasingly being used as a tool for helping to define marine mammal populations and stocks. Fin whale (Balaenoptera physalus) songs present a unique opportunity to determine interstock differences. Their highly stereotyped interpulse interval has been shown to vary between geographic areas and to remain stable over time in some areas. In this study the structure of songs recorded at two geographically close feeding aggregations in the Gulf of St. Lawrence (GSL) and Gulf of Maine (GoM) was compared. Recordings were made from September 2005 through February 2006 in the GSL and intermittently between January 2006 and September 2007 at two locations in the GoM. 6257 pulse intervals corresponding to 19 GSL and 29 GoM songs were measured to characterize songs from both areas. Classification trees showed that GSL songs differ significantly from those in the GoM. The results are consistent with those derived from other stock structure assessment methodologies, such as chemical signature and photoidentification analysis, suggesting that fin whales in these areas may form separate management stocks. Song structure analysis could therefore provide a useful and cost-efficient tool for defining conservation units over temporal and geographical scales relevant to management objectives in fin whales.
被动声学数据正越来越多地被用作一种工具，以帮助界定海洋哺乳动物的种群和族群。长须鲸（Balaenoptera physalus）的歌声为确定不同族群间的差异提供了一个独特的机会。其高度刻板的脉冲间隔已被证明在不同地理区域有所不同，并且在某些区域随时间保持稳定。在本研究中，对在圣劳伦斯湾（GSL）和缅因湾（GoM）两个地理位置相近的觅食聚集地记录的歌声结构进行了比较。2005年9月至2006年2月在GSL进行了录音，并于2006年1月至2007年9月期间在GoM的两个地点间歇性地进行了录音。测量了对应于19首GSL和29首GoM歌曲的6257个脉冲间隔，以表征这两个区域的歌曲。分类树显示，GSL的歌曲与GoM的歌曲有显著差异。这些结果与从其他族群结构评估方法（如化学特征和照片识别分析）得出的结果一致，表明这些区域的长须鲸可能形成了独立的管理族群。因此，歌曲结构分析可以提供一个有用且具有成本效益的工具，用于在与长须鲸管理目标相关的时间和地理尺度上界定保护单元。
