On the Foraging Behavior of Beaked Whales and Other Deep Diving Odontocetes
Abstract
The long-term goal of our research is to understand beaked whale foraging process and to learn how to alleviate acoustic encounters between Navy assets and beaked whales and other deep diving odontocetes. The more specific goal of this proposal is to fabricate an integrated instrumentation system that can be used to study foraging behavior of deep diving beaked whales. The most effective manner to minimize acoustic encounters is to have knowledge of the movement patterns of beaked whales in any given body of water. Since the movement patterns of any animals is strongly affected by the availability of food resources, it is critical to understand the foraging behavior of beaked whales, the behavior of the prey, the oceanographic conditions affecting the presence of the prey and how the whales interact with the prey field. Our long-term objectives can be summarized as follows: 1. estimate the three-dimensional spatial extent of potential prey field, 2. collect synoptic data of beaked whale foraging on the prey field, 3. determine the taxa composition of the prey field, 4. estimate the size and density of the micronekton in the prey field, 5. correlate relevant oceanographic parameters with the presence of the prey field, 6. map the spatial and temporal pattern of beaked whales in the study area
Document Details
- Document Type
- Technical Report
- Publication Date
- Sep 30, 2011
- Accession Number
- ADA598282
Entities
People
- Marc O. Lammers
- Whitlow W. Au