Characteristics and microgeographic variation of whistles from the vocal repertoire of beluga whales (Delphinapterus leucas) from the White Sea.

Abstract

The beluga whale (Delphinapterus leucas) produces a variety of sounds, including whistles as well as pulsed, noisy, and biphonic vocalizations. This study presents the fine-scale, microgeographic characteristics of beluga whistles from data collected in four locations across Onega Bay and Dvina Bay in the White Sea, Russia. Ten parameters were measured from 1232 whistles. The whistles had a fundamental frequency from 0.4 to 25.0 kHz and duration from 0.04 to 3.93 s. Although two distinct types could be recognized in the White Sea beluga's whistle repertoire, other whistles formed a graded continuum. Among them, "flat" whistle contours with no inflection points appear to be the most common (39.7%), to be followed by frequency-modulated whistles: ascending (27.1%) and descending (15.6%). Non-linear phenomena detected in the whistles included frequency jumps (23.1%), biphonations (13.2%), sidebands (5.2%), and subharmonics (0.5%). The whistles varied in frequency parameters and duration across the locations, while those recorded in the same location in different years showed minimal difference. Beluga whistles appear to be an extremely diverse class of vocalizations. This, together with the lack of clear correlations between the behavior of whales and whistle production suggests whistles may perform multiple functions within the beluga whale communication system.