According to the “social intelligence hypothesis,” species with complex social interactions have
more sophisticated communication systems. Giant otters (Pteronura brasiliensis) live in groups
with complex social interactions. It is likely that the vocal communication of giant otters is more
sophisticated than previous studies suggest. The objectives of the current study...
Between 1999 and 2009, autonomous hydrophones were deployed to monitor seismic activity from 16° N to 50° N along the Mid-Atlantic Ridge. These data were examined for airgun sounds produced during offshore surveys for oil and gas deposits, as well as the 20 Hz pulse sounds from fin whales, which may...
This field trip consists of two geologic tours. On Tour 1, the Tertiary sedimentary rocks exposed along the Yaquina River between Newport and Toledo, Oregon, will be examined. This tour will start at the mouth of Yaquina Bay where Miocene sedimentary rocks are exposed and will proceed generally eastward and...
An alongshore wind stress is applied at the eastern boundary of an ocean model, and its effects on the structure of the circulation in the ventilated pycnocline are studied. The offshore surface Ekman flow associated with such a wind is taken to be balanced by onshore geostrophic transport distributed over...
The energy ratio mapping algorithm (ERMA) was developed to improve the performance of
energy-based detection of odontocete echolocation clicks, especially for application in environments
with limited computational power and energy such as acoustic gliders. ERMA systematically
evaluates many frequency bands for energy ratio-based detection of echolocation clicks produced
by a...
The hypothesis that sounds produced by odontocetes can debilitate fish was examined. The effects of simulated odontocete pulsed signals on three species of fish commonly preyed on by odontocetes were examined, exposing three individuals of each species as well as groups of four fish to a high-frequency click of a...
Sonar techniques were used to quantitatively observe foraging predators and their prey simultaneously in three dimensions. Spinner dolphins foraged at night in highly coordinated groups of 16–28 individuals using strict four-dimensional patterns to increase prey density by up to 200 times. Herding exploited the prey’s own avoidance behavior to achieve...
The target strength as a function of aspect angle were measured for four species of fish using dolphin-like and porpoise-like echolocation signals. The polar diagram of target strength values measured from an energy flux density perspective showed considerably less fluctuation with azimuth than would a pure tone pulse. Using detection...