Passive acoustic monitoring of sperm whales and anthropogenic noise using stereophonic recordings in the Mediterranean Sea, North West Pelagos Sanctuary.

ABSTRACT: A total of 147 days spread over 4 years were recorded by a stereophonic sonobuoy set up in the Mediterranean sea, near the coast of Toulon, south of France. These recordings were analyzed in the scope of studying sperm whales (Physeter macrocephalus) and the impact anthropic noises may have on this species. With the use of a novel approach, which combines the use of a stereophonic antenna with a neural network, 226 sperm whales' passages have been automatically detected in an effective range of 32 km. This dataset was then used to analyze the sperm whales' abundance, the background noise, the influence of the background noise on the acoustic presence, and the animals' size. The results show that sperm whales are present all year round in groups of 1-9 individuals, especially during the day

SUBMITTER: Poupard M 

PROVIDER: S-EPMC8821711 | biostudies-literature | 2022 Feb

REPOSITORIES: biostudies-literature