Alfred Wegener Institute for Polar and Marine Research, Bremerhaven, Germany.
Helmholtz Institute for Functional Marine Biodiversity, Carl Von Ossietzky University Oldenburg, Oldenburg, Germany.
Sci Rep. 2021 Sep 22;11(1):18806. doi: 10.1038/s41598-021-98295-z.
Humpback whale males are known to sing on their low-latitude breeding grounds, but it is well established that songs are also commonly produced 'off-season' on the feeding grounds or during migration. This opens exciting opportunities to investigate migratory aggregations, study humpback whale behavioral plasticity and potentially even assign individual singers to specific breeding grounds. In this study, we analyzed passive acoustic data from 13 recording positions and multiple years (2011-2018) within the Atlantic sector of the Southern Ocean (ASSO). Humpback whale song was detected at nine recording positions in five years. Most songs were recorded in May, austral fall, coinciding with the rapid increase in sea ice concentration at most recording positions. The spatio-temporal pattern in humpback whale singing activity on Southern Ocean feeding grounds is most likely shaped by local prey availability and humpback whale migratory strategies. Furthermore, the comparative analyses of song structures clearly show a differentiation of two song groups, of which one was solely recorded at the western edge of the ASSO and the other song group was recorded throughout the ASSO. This new finding suggests a common feeding ground occupation by multiple humpback whale populations in the ASSO, allowing for cultural and potentially even genetic exchange among populations.
座头鲸雄性在低纬度繁殖地会唱歌，这是众所周知的，但也有大量证据表明，在摄食地或迁徙期间，鲸鱼也会“非繁殖季节”唱歌。这为调查洄游聚集区、研究座头鲸行为可塑性以及有可能将特定繁殖地的特定歌唱者分配提供了令人兴奋的机会。在本研究中，我们分析了南大洋大西洋区（ASSO）13 个录音点和多个年份（2011-2018 年）的被动声学数据。在五年内的九个录音点检测到座头鲸的歌声。大多数歌曲是在五月，即南半球秋季录制的，与大多数录音点的海冰浓度迅速增加相吻合。南大洋摄食地座头鲸歌唱活动的时空模式很可能是由当地猎物的可利用性和座头鲸的迁徙策略形成的。此外，对歌曲结构的比较分析清楚地表明，存在两个歌曲组的分化，其中一个仅在 ASSO 的西部边缘记录到，而另一个歌曲组则在整个 ASSO 记录到。这一新发现表明，多个座头鲸种群在 ASSO 共同占据了一个共同的摄食地，允许种群之间进行文化交流，甚至可能进行基因交流。
