Leonie Huijser, PhD candidate, Confirmation Milestone Seminar, "Acoustic communication and social structure of Indo-Pacific bottlenose dolphins (Tursiops aduncus) in Moreton Bay, eastern Australia"

Leonie’s advisors are A/Prof Michael Noad and Dr Rebecca Dunlop 

Abstract

Bottlenose dolphins (Tursiops spp.) communicate using frequency-modulated tonal signals, which can be divided into stereotyped ‘signature whistles’ and non-stereotyped ‘variant whistles’. Signature whistles convey individual identity and play an important role in maintaining social group cohesion. Little is known about the function of variant whistles. The contextual use of both whistle types in wild, free-swimming dolphins is poorly understood due to the difficulty of assigning whistles to vocalising individuals. Whether whistles contain information about social group membership or geographic region in addition to individual identity remains unknown.

This project aims to better understand the acoustic behaviour of the Indo-Pacific bottlenose dolphins (Tursiops aduncus) inhabiting Moreton Bay, which have been poorly studied to date. I will investigate the contextual use of both signature and variant whistles by recording and localising whistles to individual dolphins using a custom-built hydrophone array. Furthermore, I will investigate the social structure of the Moreton Bay dolphins. Recorded whistles will be assigned to distinct social groupings (if found) and geographic region to assess group-specific and regional variability, respectively, in acoustic parameters of whistles.

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