Allopatric humpback whales of differing generations share call types between foraging and wintering grounds

Humpback whales ( Megaptera novaeangliae ) are a cosmopolitan baleen whale species with geographically isolated lineages. Despite last sharing an ancestor ~ 2–3 million years ago, Atlantic and Pacific foraging populations share five call types. Whether these call types are also shared between allopa...

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Bibliographic Details
Published in:Scientific reports 2021-08, Vol.11 (1), p.16297-16297, Article 16297
Main Authors: Epp, Mikala V., Fournet, Michelle E. H., Silber, Gregory K., Davoren, Gail K.
Format: Article
Language:English
Subjects:
631/158
631/158/856
Acoustics
Allopatric populations
Aquatic mammals
Classification
Humanities and Social Sciences
multidisciplinary
Overwintering behavior
Principal components analysis
Science
Science (multidisciplinary)
Variation
Whales
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Summary:Humpback whales ( Megaptera novaeangliae ) are a cosmopolitan baleen whale species with geographically isolated lineages. Despite last sharing an ancestor ~ 2–3 million years ago, Atlantic and Pacific foraging populations share five call types. Whether these call types are also shared between allopatric breeding and foraging populations is unclear, but would provide further evidence that some call types are ubiquitous and fixed. We investigated whether these five call types were present on a contemporary foraging ground (Newfoundland, 2015–2016) and a historic breeding ground (Hawaii, 1981–1982). Calls were classified using aural/visual (AV) characteristics; 16 relevant acoustic variables were measured and a Principal Component Analysis (PCA) was used to examine within-call and between-population variation. To assess whether between-population variation influenced classification, all 16 variables were included in classification and regression tree (CART) and random forest analyses (RF). All five call types were identified in both populations. Between-population variation in combined acoustic variables (PC1, PC2, PC3) was lower within call types than among call types, and high agreement between AV and quantitative classification (CART: 83% agreement; RF: 77% agreement) suggested that acoustic characteristics were more similar within than among call types. Findings indicate that these five call types are shared across allopatric populations, generations, and behavioural contexts.
ISSN:2045-2322
2045-2322
DOI:10.1038/s41598-021-95601-7