Bioacoustics Research Program, Cornell Lab of Ornithology, Cornell University, Ithaca, New York 14850, USA.
J Acoust Soc Am. 2012 Aug;132(2):1207-12. doi: 10.1121/1.4730890.
Male fin whales, Balaenoptera physalus, produce a song consisting of 20 Hz notes at regularly spaced time intervals. Previous studies identified regional differences in fin whale internote intervals (INI), but seasonal changes within populations have not been closely examined. To understand the patterns of fin whale song in the western North Atlantic, the seasonal abundance and acoustic features of fin whale song are measured from two years of archival passive acoustic recordings at two representative locations: Massachusetts Bay and New York Bight. Fin whale 20 Hz notes are detected on 99% of recorded days. In both regions, INI varies significantly throughout the year as two distinct periods: a "short-INI" season in September-January (9.6 s) and a "long-INI" season in March-May (15.1 s). February and June-August are transitional-INI months, with higher variability. Note abundance decreases with increasing INI, where note abundance is significantly lower in April-August than in September-January. Short-INI and high note abundance correspond to the fin whale reproductive season. The temporal variability of INI may be a mechanism by which fin whale individuals encode and communicate a variety of behaviorally relevant information.
雄性长须鲸，Balaenoptera physalus，会发出由 20Hz 音符组成的歌曲，这些音符以规则的时间间隔间隔出现。先前的研究已经确定了长须鲸内间隔（INI）的区域差异，但尚未密切检查种群内的季节性变化。为了了解北大西洋西部长须鲸歌曲的模式，从两个具有代表性的地点：马萨诸塞湾和纽约湾，使用两年的档案被动声学记录来测量长须鲸歌曲的季节性丰度和声学特征。在记录的 99%的天数中可以检测到长须鲸的 20Hz 音符。在这两个地区，INI 全年都有很大的变化，分为两个明显的时期：9 月至 1 月的“短-INI”季节（9.6s）和 3 月至 5 月的“长-INI”季节（15.1s）。2 月和 6 月至 8 月是过渡-INI 月份，变异性较高。随着 INI 的增加，音符的丰度会降低，其中 4 月至 8 月的音符丰度明显低于 9 月至 1 月。短-INI 和高音符丰度与长须鲸的繁殖季节相对应。INI 的时间可变性可能是长须鲸个体编码和传达各种与行为相关的信息的一种机制。
