Acoustic behaviour of the northern bottlenose whale within the North Atlantic soundscape

Underwater sound is a key sensory and communication medium for marine obligate species. Among cetaceans, toothed whales produce echolocation clicks for foraging and click and/or tonal sounds for social communication (Miller et al. 2004; Aguilar de Soto et al. 2011). Functional use of sounds takes place within a context of underwater noise generated by both natural and man-made sources. The northern bottlenose whale (Hyperoodon ampullatus) is a North Atlantic beaked whale classified as “data-deficient” by IUCN, which was heavily harvested for its oil in the past and faces current threats including climate change and anthropogenic noise (Whitehead & Hooker, 2012; Miller et al. 2015; Wensveen et al. 2019). Bottlenose whales are found most often in cold arctic and subarctic waters but can range as far south as the Canary Islands. While preferring in deep water habitats, they are occasionally found in shallow near-shore waters which may increase their risk of stranding (Grove et al., 2019).

Empirical work for the PhD project will have two primary themes: 1) describing the functional use of sound by northern bottlenose whales, and 2) using sounds produced by the species to describe their presence and large-scale movements around the North Atlantic. Previous studies of northern bottlenose whale vocalisations were limited in that records were made from the water surface (Hooker & Whitehead, 2002; Wahlberg, 2012). This study will use continuously monitored acoustic records from animal-attached sound-and-movement recording Dtags to address the questions in theme 1. Sounds produced by tagged whales and nearby conspecifics will be measured, and related to associated behaviour and conditions. The questions in theme 2 will primarily be addressed using fixed long-term deep-water underwater sound recorders placed in bottlenose whale habitats in (sub)arctic waters, including near Jan Mayen and Iceland. Sounds of the species will be identified in recordings using existing or to-be-developed automatic detection methods (e.g. deep-learning or other modern approaches) to describe seasonal and annual behaviour and movement patterns. These patterns will be linked to anthropogenic and other natural sources of sound identified in the recordings.

The outcome of the PhD project will be a substantial advance in our understanding of how this poorly understood beaked whale uses sounds in diverse parts of its habitat. A key objective throughout the project will be to evaluate how noise sources might impact bottlenose whale communication and/or habitat use. This is particularly relevant to the changing Arctic and deep-sea environments and particularly the increasing industrialisation in these otherwise pristine habitats.

The student will be supervised by a collaborative team consisting of Profs Patrick Miller and Sascha Hooker at the University of St Andrews, and Dr Paul Wensveen of the University of Iceland. It is anticipated that the student will participate in collection of new data for the study, but many datasets to address the project already exist and will made available.

The studentship has a target start date of September 2021.
Applications can be made online via our online portal- https://www.st-andrews.ac.uk/study/apply/postgraduate/research/