Determining killer whale (Orcinus orca) call variability from passive acoustic monitoring in the Chukchi and Bering Sea, Alaska

Abstract

Killer whales (Orcinus orca) are a highly vocal species that produce three types of vocalizations; pulsed calls, whistles, and clicks. Unlike the Northern and Southern Resident populations of western Canada and the Pacific Northwest, little is known regarding the acoustic behavior of resident and transient killer whale populations north of the Aleutian Islands in the Bering and Chukchi Seas. Acoustic data were analyzed from moored recorders deployed by the Marine Mammal Laboratory at two sites each in the Bering and Chukchi Seas (BOEM-funded). The recorders sampled at 4 kHz on a 7% duty cycle (Bering) or 16 kHz on a 28% duty cycle (Chukchi). Over 1100 calls were identified, and discrete call classification was conducted using an alphanumerical system that distinguished calls by location, general contour, and segment variation. Parameters analyzed included call duration, start/end frequency, and delta frequency/time; periods of call repetition were common. These results will help determine if resident populations occur in the Chukchi Sea, and identify which transient populations are present. This initial work classifying killer whale sounds in the Arctic and along the Bering Sea shelf will also facilitate comparisons of call types within and among transient and resident killer whale populations.