Marine mammal bioacustics using towed array systems in the western south atlantic Ocean

Abstract

Acoustic technologies have been applied in order to investigate and monitor underwater sound and have promoted achievements on the understanding of animal biology, behavior and ecology. Whales and dolphins produce sounds, which are unique, compared to other sounds in the marine environment. Passive acoustic surveys using a towed hydrophone array have become more accessible and widely used to explore patterns of occurrence, identifying critical habitats for several species of cetaceans and inferring about potential noise impacts over the populations. In this chapter we present characterization of acoustic signals produced by nine different cetacean species obtained form acoustic surveys. The species have species-specific qualities in their whistles and clicks. Acoustic methods can also offer population size estimates and identification of population structure.