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Publication year : 0
Thematic : Marine Resources
Language : English
Note
Blue whale Balaenoptera musculus songs can be divided into at least 10 types worldwide,
each type retaining the same units and similar phrasing over decades, unlike humpback whale
song which changes substantially from year to year. Historical acoustic recordings dating back as far
as the 1960s were examined, measuring the tonal frequencies of 1000s of blue whale songs. Within a
given year, individuals match the song frequency (related to ‘pitch’ in musical nomenclature) to
within less than 3%. The best documented song type, that observed offshore of California, USA, now
is sung at a frequency 31% lower than it was in the 1960s. Data available for 7 of the world’s 10
known song types show they are all shifting downward in frequency, though at different rates. Any
behavioral, ecological, oceanographic or anthropogenic change hypothesis seeking to explain the
observed shifts should account for the worldwide occurrence of a nearly linear downward shift in the
tonal frequencies of blue whale song. Hypotheses examined consider sexual selection, increasing
ocean noise, increasing whale body size post whaling, global warming, interference from other animal
sounds and post whaling increases in abundance. None of the commonly suggested hypotheses
were found to provide a full explanation; however, increasing population size post whaling provides
an intriguing and testable hypothesis that recovery is altering the sexually selected tradeoff for
singing males between song amplitude (the ability to be heard at a greater distance) and song
frequency (the ability to produce songs of lower pitch).
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Keywords : Miniopterus tristis
Encoded by : Pauline Carmel Joy Eje
