| This study tests what relationships exist between man-made noise and dolphin vocalizations in stranded dolphins in rehabilitation, healthy wild dolphins, and a control group of healthy captive dolphins. Subjects include resident pods of Tursiops truncatus from Galveston Bay, 3 Tursiops truncatus at the Texas State Aquarium, and 10 stranded odontecetes in rehabilitation. A hydrophone and recorder were used to collect data, and archived data was provided for the animals in rehabilitation by the Texas Marine Mammal Stranding Network and Florida Keys Marine Mammal Rescue Team. Instances of vocalizations and man-made noise were logged and analyzed using chi-square goodness-of-fit tests. Results from 8 of 10 tests supported the hypotheses, indicating that man-made noise usually results in a decrease of dolphin vocalizations. |
