Unraveling the Communicative Properties of Surface Active Behaviors

in Southern Residents

Horace LiangBeam Reach: School of Marine Science and

SustainabilityJune 3, 2009

Why Surface Active Behaviors

• Behavioral States– Traveling, Foraging, Resting, Socializing

• Are there meanings behind SABs?– Play or Irritation?

• Whale watching impacts

Main Questions

• Do certain discrete call-types occur that coincide with specific surface active behaviors?

• Does presence of boats or boat noise affect the SAB rate of killer whales?

Methods

• Behavioral Data– Spreadsheets

– Binoculars

– Watch and GPS

• Acoustic Data– Sound Devices

– Hydrophone Array

• Monika Wieland’s 2007 Lime Kiln Data

Total SAB events

0

20

40

60

80

100

120

Breac

h

Cartw

heel

Dorsa

lslap

Half B

reac

h

Pecks

lap

Spyho

p

Tailsla

p

# o

f o

ccu

rren

ces

(209)

Analysis

• Audacity 1.3.2 beta– Classified Discrete Call-types– Ford’s 1987 Catalog of Calls

• Microsoft Excel– Paired T-tests (Call-types in SABs)– ANOVA (Boat distance)– Linear Regression (SAB rates from noise)

Popular Call Rates with SABs

0

0.1

0.2

0.3

0.4

0.5

0.6

0.7

SAB No SAB

Ca

lls p

er

min

ute

p-value = 0.00913 Sample size = 209

p-value = 0.01676 Sample Size = 5

Rare call-types in Dorsal Slaps

0

0.5

1

1.5

2

2.5

3

3.5

4

Dorsal Slap No Dorsal Slap

Cal

ls p

er m

inu

te

SAB rates based on Vessel Range

0

0.2

0.4

0.6

0.8

Far Near

Range Categories

SA

Bs

/min

ute

p-value = 0.00416 Sample Size = 30

Further Research

• Larger Sample Size

• Data collection during different seasons

• Addition of Localization

• Individual animal IDs

• Underwater video monitoring

Acknowledgments

• Thank you so much...– Dr. Jason Wood

– Dr. Val Veirs

– Dr. Scott Veirs

– Captain Todd Shuster

– Nora, Kathryn, Libby

– Monika Wieland

– Friday Harbor Labs

– Mom and Dad

– Beam Reach