Fin whale song characteristics and potential subpopulation identity in the New York Bight.

Fin whale (Balaenoptera physalus) song can follow a highly consistent pattern, and regional differences in song patterns can be a valuable indicator of subpopulation identity and distribution. In the Northwest Atlantic, endangered fin whales are currently managed as a single stock despite previous identification of different regional song patterns, which indicates potential subpopulation structuring and vulnerability to anthropogenic disturbance if not managed accordingly. Here we document fin whale song in the New York Bight (NYB) from 2017 to 2020 using passive acoustic data to identify monthly and yearly trends in song patterns and to explore potential subpopulation structuring.

Self-localization of buoyless fishing gear and other objects on the sea floor.

End lines used in commercial trap/pot fishing pose a significant entanglement risk to whales, sea turtles, and sharks. Removal of these ropes for buoyless fishing is being considered by the United States and Canadian governments, but a method to systematically locate the gear without an attached buoy is required. A method was developed for an acoustic modem to self-localize and broadcast its location to nearby ships to minimize gear conflict, optimize power consumption, and reduce lost gear.

Acoustic detection range of right whale upcalls identified in near-real time from a moored buoy and a Slocum glider.

The goal of this study was to characterize the detection range of a near real-time baleen whale detection system, the digital acoustic monitoring instrument/low-frequency detection and classification system (DMON/LFDCS), equipped on a Slocum glider and a moored buoy. As a reference, a hydrophone array was deployed alongside the glider and buoy at a shallow-water site southwest of Martha's Vineyard (Massachusetts, USA) over a four-week period in spring 2017. A call-by-call comparison between North Atlantic right whale upcalls localized with the array (n = 541) and those detected by the glider or buoy was used to estimate the detection function for each DMON/LFDCS platform.

Near real-time detection of low-frequency baleen whale calls from an autonomous surface vehicle: Implementation, evaluation, and remaining challenges.

Mitigation of threats posed to marine mammals by human activities can be greatly improved with a better understanding of animal occurrence in real time. Recent advancements have enabled low-power passive acoustic systems to be integrated into long-endurance autonomous platforms for persistent near real-time monitoring of marine mammals via the sounds they produce. Here, the integration of a passive acoustic instrument capable of real-time detection and classification of low-frequency (LF) tonal sounds with a Liquid Robotics wave glider is reported.

Bowhead whales use two foraging strategies in response to fine-scale differences in zooplankton vertical distribution.

As zooplanktivorous predators, bowhead whales (Balaena mysticetus) must routinely locate patches of prey that are energy-rich enough to meet their metabolic needs. However, little is known about how the quality and quantity of prey might influence their feeding behaviours. We addressed this question using a new approach that included: (1) multi-scale biologging and unmanned aerial system observations of bowhead whales in Cumberland Sound, Nunavut (Canada), and (2) an optical plankton counter (OPC) and net collections to identify and enumerate copepod prey species through the water column.

Exploring movement patterns and changing distributions of baleen whales in the western North Atlantic using a decade of passive acoustic data.

Six baleen whale species are found in the temperate western North Atlantic Ocean, with limited information existing on the distribution and movement patterns for most. There is mounting evidence of distributional shifts in many species, including marine mammals, likely because of climate-driven changes in ocean temperature and circulation. Previous acoustic studies examined the occurrence of minke (Balaenoptera acutorostrata) and North Atlantic right whales (NARW; Eubalaena glacialis).

Author Correction: Baleen whale acoustic presence and behaviour at a Mid-Atlantic migratory habitat, the Azores Archipelago.

An amendment to this paper has been published and can be accessed via a link at the top of the paper.

Baleen whale acoustic presence and behaviour at a Mid-Atlantic migratory habitat, the Azores Archipelago.

The identification of important areas during the annual life cycle of migratory animals, such as baleen whales, is vital for their conservation. In boreal springtime, fin and blue whales feed in the Azores on their way to northern latitudes while sei whales migrate through the archipelago with only occasional feeding. Little is known about their autumn or winter presence or their acoustic behaviour in temperate migratory habitats.

Inter-individual variability in copepod microbiomes reveals bacterial networks linked to host physiology.

Copepods harbor diverse bacterial communities, which collectively carry out key biogeochemical transformations in the ocean. However, bulk copepod sampling averages over the variability in their associated bacterial communities, thereby limiting our understanding of the nature and specificity of copepod-bacteria associations. Here, we characterize the bacterial communities associated with nearly 200 individual Calanus finmarchicus copepods transitioning from active growth to diapause.

Correction: Evidence of molting and the function of "rock-nosing" behavior in bowhead whales in the eastern Canadian Arctic.

[This corrects the article DOI: 10.1371/journal.pone.

Evidence of molting and the function of "rock-nosing" behavior in bowhead whales in the eastern Canadian Arctic.

Bowhead whales (Balaena mysticetus) have a nearly circumpolar distribution, and occasionally occupy warmer shallow coastal areas during summertime that may facilitate molting. However, relatively little is known about the occurrence of molting and associated behaviors in bowhead whales. We opportunistically observed whales in Cumberland Sound, Nunavut, Canada with skin irregularities consistent with molting during August 2014, and collected a skin sample from a biopsied whale that revealed loose epidermis and sloughing.

Long-term passive acoustic recordings track the changing distribution of North Atlantic right whales (Eubalaena glacialis) from 2004 to 2014.

Given new distribution patterns of the endangered North Atlantic right whale (NARW; Eubalaena glacialis) population in recent years, an improved understanding of spatio-temporal movements are imperative for the conservation of this species. While so far visual data have provided most information on NARW movements, passive acoustic monitoring (PAM) was used in this study in order to better capture year-round NARW presence. This project used PAM data from 2004 to 2014 collected by 19 organizations throughout the western North Atlantic Ocean.

Coping with copepods: do right whales () forage visually in dark waters?

North Atlantic right whales () feed during the spring and early summer in marine waters off the northeast coast of North America. Their food primarily consists of planktonic copepods, , which they consume in large numbers by ram filter feeding. The coastal waters where these whales forage are turbid, but they successfully locate copepod swarms during the day at depths exceeding 100 m, where light is very dim and copepod patches may be difficult to see.

The Physiology and Ecology of Diapause in Marine Copepods.

Diapause is a type of dormancy that requires preparation, typically precedes the onset of unfavorable conditions, and necessitates a period of arrest before development can proceed. Two ecologically important groups of copepods have incorporated diapausing stages into their life histories. In freshwater, estuarine, and coastal environments, species within the Centropagoidea superfamily can produce resting eggs containing embryos that may be quiescent, diapausing, or in some intermediate state.

Transcriptional Profiling of Metabolic Transitions during Development and Diapause Preparation in the Copepod Calanus finmarchicus.

Calanus finmarchicus, like many other copepods in the family Calanidae, can enter into a facultative diapause during the last juvenile phase (fifth copepodid, C5) to enable survival during unfavorable periods. Diapause is essential to the persistence of Calanus populations and profoundly impacts energy flow within oceanic ecosystems, yet regulation of diapause is not understood in these animals. Transcriptional profiling has begun to provide insight into metabolic changes occurring as C.

Transcriptional profiling of reproductive development, lipid storage and molting throughout the last juvenile stage of the marine copepod Calanus finmarchicus.

Introduction: Calanus finmarchicus, a highly abundant copepod that is an important primary consumer in North Atlantic ecosystems, has a flexible life history in which copepods in the last juvenile developmental stage (fifth copepodid, C5) may either delay maturation and enter diapause or molt directly into adults. The factors that regulate this developmental plasticity are poorly understood, and few tools have been developed to assess the physiological condition of individual copepods.

Results: We sampled a cultured population of C.

Assessing performance of Bayesian state-space models fit to Argos satellite telemetry locations processed with Kalman filtering.

Argos recently implemented a new algorithm to calculate locations of satellite-tracked animals that uses a Kalman filter (KF). The KF algorithm is reported to increase the number and accuracy of estimated positions over the traditional Least Squares (LS) algorithm, with potential advantages to the application of state-space methods to model animal movement data. We tested the performance of two Bayesian state-space models (SSMs) fitted to satellite tracking data processed with KF algorithm.

North Atlantic blue and fin whales suspend their spring migration to forage in middle latitudes: building up energy reserves for the journey?

The need to balance energy reserves during migration is a critical factor for most long-distance migrants and an important determinant of migratory strategies in birds, insects and land mammals. Large baleen whales migrate annually between foraging and breeding sites, crossing vast ocean areas where food is seldom abundant. How whales respond to the demands and constraints of such long migrations remains unknown.

Real-time reporting of baleen whale passive acoustic detections from ocean gliders.

In the past decade, much progress has been made in real-time passive acoustic monitoring of marine mammal occurrence and distribution from autonomous platforms (e.g., gliders, floats, buoys), but current systems focus primarily on a single call type produced by a single species, often from a single location.

Long distance passive localization of vocalizing sei whales using an acoustic normal mode approach.

During a 2 day period in mid-September 2006, more than 200, unconfirmed but identifiable, sei whale (Balaenoptera borealis) calls were collected as incidental data during a multidisciplinary oceanography and acoustics experiment on the shelf off New Jersey. Using a combined vertical and horizontal acoustic receiving array, sei whale movements were tracked over long distances (up to tens of kilometers) using a normal mode back propagation technique. This approach uses low-frequency, broadband passive sei whale call receptions from a single-station, two-dimensional hydrophone array to perform long distance localization and tracking by exploiting the dispersive nature of propagating normal modes in a shallow water environment.

Hair regrowth following a Wnt- and follistatin containing treatment: safety and efficacy in a first-in-man phase 1 clinical trial.

Research has shown the importance of follistatin, Wnt 7a, and wound healing growth factors on the stimulation of bulge cells and inter-follicular stem cells to induce hair growth. We have studied the effects of a bioengineered, non-recombinant, human cell-derived formulation, termed Hair Stimulating Complex (HSC), containing these factors to assess its hair growth activity in male pattern baldness. HSC showed in vitro Wnt activity and contained follistatin, KGF, and VEGF.

A generalized baleen whale call detection and classification system.

Passive acoustic monitoring allows the assessment of marine mammal occurrence and distribution at greater temporal and spatial scales than is now possible with traditional visual surveys. However, the large volume of acoustic data and the lengthy and laborious task of manually analyzing these data have hindered broad application of this technique. To overcome these limitations, a generalized automated detection and classification system (DCS) was developed to efficiently and accurately identify low-frequency baleen whale calls.

Heat shock protein expression during stress and diapause in the marine copepod Calanus finmarchicus.

Calanoid copepods, such as Calanus finmarchicus, are a key component of marine food webs. C. finmarchicus undergo a facultative diapause during juvenile development, which profoundly affects their seasonal distribution and availability to their predators.

Heritability of alveolar bone loss from periodontal disease in a baboon population: a pilot study.

Background: Reports from studies of twins, disease aggregation in families, animal models for periodontal disease, and various genetic-analysis studies have determined that genetics plays a role in the susceptibility to periodontal disease. The purpose of this pilot study is to evaluate the effect of genetics on periodontal disease by evaluating the heritability of alveolar bone loss in a captive baboon population.

Methods: A collection of baboon skulls from a pedigreed colony (for which scientists and veterinarians maintain complete genealogic and veterinary records) was obtained from the Southwest National Primate Research Center, San Antonio, Texas and used in this pilot study.

Low frequency vocalizations attributed to sei whales (Balaenoptera borealis).

Low frequency (<100 Hz) downsweep vocalizations were repeatedly recorded from ocean gliders east of Cape Cod, MA in May 2005. To identify the species responsible for this call, arrays of acoustic recorders were deployed in this same area during 2006 and 2007. 70 h of collocated visual observations at the center of each array were used to compare the localized occurrence of this call to the occurrence of three baleen whale species: right, humpback, and sei whales.