Seasonal detections of bearded seal ( Erignathus barbatus ) vocalizations in Baffin Bay and Davis Strait in relation to
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ORIGINAL PAPER
Seasonal detections of bearded seal (Erignathus barbatus) vocalizations in Baffin Bay and Davis Strait in relation to sea ice concentration Tenna K. Boye1 · Malene J. Simon1 · Kristin L. Laidre2,3 · Frank Rigét2 · Kathleen M. Stafford3 Received: 24 June 2019 / Revised: 14 July 2020 / Accepted: 3 August 2020 © Springer-Verlag GmbH Germany, part of Springer Nature 2020
Abstract There is limited information about the biology and seasonal distribution of bearded seals (Erignathus barbatus) in Greenland. The species is highly ice-associated and depends on sea ice for hauling out and giving birth, making it vulnerable to climate change. We investigated the seasonality and distribution of bearded seal vocalizations at seven different locations across southern Baffin Bay and Davis Strait, West Greenland. Aural M2 and HARUphone recorders were deployed on the sea bottom during 2006–2007 and 2011–2013. Recordings were analyzed for presence/absence of bearded seal calls relative to location (including distance to shore and depth), mean sea ice concentration and diel patterns. Calling occurred between November and late June with most intense calling during the mating season at all sites. There was a clear effect of depth and distance to shore on the number of detections, and the Greenland shelf ( 0.05). Further circular statistics shows that the phases were significantly different (p > 0.05, Table 3). For all, the diel rhythm was similar with more calls during nighttime and fewer during the daytime. The number of calls detected on B1 from April to June was reduced compared to the three other recorders used in this analysis (Fig. 3). When the mean number of calls in each hour of each recorder was adjusted by total recording time for each recorder, and data from all four recorders were included, a significant diel pattern was evident. There were significantly more calls during the early morning between 0200 and 0400 followed by a decrease in calls, which reached minimum levels during the afternoon between 1400 and 1600 (Rao’s spacing test, p
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