Intraspecific variation in short-beaked common dolphin’s whistle repertoire

Abstract

ABSTRACT Dolphins’ whistles are strongly diversified mainly related to physiology and behaviour. We present the whistle characteristics and intraspecific variations of short-beaked common dolphins Delphinus delphis of the Western South Atlantic Ocean (WSAO). A total of 1630 whistles from six encounters were analysed considering group size, contours and acoustical parameters. No significant correlation was found (p > 0.05) between number of whistles and the group size. Upsweep, downsweep and constant were the most frequent contours. A positive relation between the downsweep contour and group size was detected (p < 0.05). Minimum, maximum, centre, peak, initial and final frequencies, frequency range, frequency gradient, duration and inflection points were extracted. The frequencies ranged from 1.34 to 35.23 kHz and the duration varied from 0.11 to 2.16 seconds. Comparing encounters between years through Bonferroni method, minimum frequency, duration, and frequency range were significantly different. C5.0 decision tree showed that whistles of 2014 and 2015 had correct classifications (67.0% and 54.0%, respectively). The nMDS grouped the Atlantic and Pacific oceans based on inflection points and duration, further corroborated through PERMANOVA (p < 0.05). Our results suggest the influence of certain parameters related to intraspecific variation. Whistles comparison with other localities corroborates with differences in geographical scale.