Evidence of geographic variation in the non-signature whistle repertoires of two isolated populations of New Zealand common bottlenose dolphin

Abstract

Dolphins are social animals that depend on sound to communicate, navigate, and find food. The aim of our research was to describe dolphin whistle characteristics and compare whistles between two isolated populations of bottlenose dolphins in New Zealand. We focused on three aspects of dolphin bioacoustics (1) classification of whistles; (2) comparison of the whistles of two discrete bottlenose dolphin populations; and (3) comparison of whistles of dolphin populations from around the world. At Great Barrier Island, the most common type of whistle was upsweep followed by sine, while at Doubtful Sound, convex and sine whistles were the most common whistle types. Random Forest models discriminated between whistles from the two populations with an estimated accuracy of 90%. The key differences were whistle-type contour, duration, and end frequency. Linear Mixed models show that whistle acoustic parameters were influenced by location but not by group size or the presence of immatures. Whistle parameters of both populations fell within the range of multiple populations from around the world. This studyprovides a benchmark for future research into drivers of geographic variation in dolphin vocal communication.