Tervo Outi M, Parks Susan E, Miller Lee A
Arctic Station, University of Copenhagen, Qeqertarsuaq, Greenland.
J Acoust Soc Am. 2009 Sep;126(3):1570. doi: 10.1121/1.3158941.
Singing behavior has been described from bowhead whales in the Bering Sea during their annual spring migration and from Davis Strait during their spring feeding season. It has been suggested that this spring singing behavior is a remnant of the singing during the winter breeding season, though no winter recordings are available. In this study, the authors describe recordings made during the winter and spring months of bowhead whales in Disko Bay, Western-Greenland. A total of 7091 bowhead whale sounds were analyzed to describe the vocal repertoire, the singing behavior, and the changes in vocal behavior from February to May. The vocal signals could be divided into simple (frequency-modulated) calls (n=483), complex (amplitude-modulated) calls (n=635), and song notes (n=5973). Recordings from the end of February to middle of March were characterized by higher call rates with a greater diversity of call types than recordings made later in the season. This study is the first description of bowhead song from the stock in Western-Greenland during both the winter and spring months, and provides support for the hypothesis that song during the winter months contains more song notes than song from the spring making the winter song more variable.
在白令海的弓头鲸每年春季洄游期间以及戴维斯海峡春季觅食季节，都有歌唱行为的描述。有人认为这种春季歌唱行为是冬季繁殖季节歌唱行为的遗留，但目前尚无冬季的录音资料。在本研究中，作者描述了在西格陵兰迪斯科湾冬季和春季月份对弓头鲸的录音。总共分析了7091个弓头鲸声音，以描述其发声 repertoire、歌唱行为以及2月至5月发声行为的变化。发声信号可分为简单（调频）叫声（n = 483）、复杂（调幅）叫声（n = 635）和歌曲音符（n = 5973）。2月底至3月中旬的录音特点是叫声频率较高，叫声类型比该季节后期的录音更多样化。本研究首次描述了西格陵兰种群在冬季和春季月份的弓头鲸歌声，并支持了以下假设：冬季月份的歌声比春季的歌声包含更多歌曲音符，使得冬季歌声更具变化性。
