| This dissertation comprises four interrelated studies on acoustic communication (including both signal production and signal reception) in pinnipeds, primarily northern elephant seals (Mirounga angustirostris). Field measurements of vocalization parameters were obtained in elephant seal breeding rookeries. Additionally, auditory masking experiments were conducted with individuals representing three pinniped species, including a northern elephant seal. This study quantified how aerial noise masks aerial hearing and provided preliminary data on auditory frequency filtering. All of these studies were conducted in air for a variety of practical and theoretical reasons. Some governmental, media, and research organizations have recently become concerned with the impacts of underwater anthropogenic noise on aquatic animals. However, little consideration has been given to the dual pressures imposed by aerial and underwater noise on amphibious marine mammals such as the pinnipeds. This dissertation sought to provide some basic data bearing on this matter by investigating aerial signals and aerial masked hearing. Data were obtained on aerial vocalization source levels, signal directivity patterns, natural aerial ambient noise, signal propagation properties, multi-modal aspects of signaling, motivation-specific signal variability, aerial critical masking ratios, and auditory filter bandwidths. The results indicate that different signal components may be more readily detectable in variable noise conditions, frequency resolution likely affects detection ranges, developmental and motivational factors affect signal parameters, and that some pinnipeds apparently detect signals over masking noise relatively well both in air and water. Using the northern elephant seal as a representative model, a model for quantifying constraints on vocal communication was developed to provide first-order predictions about detection ranges for signals in variable noise conditions. |
