The design of experiments to investigate the combined effects of multiple stressors requires exposing target organisms to multiple combinations of stressor doses. Concurrent manipulation of stressors is often infeasible with wildlife, but long‐lasting health effects allow individual health to be used as an integrator of prior stressor exposure. The population of bottlenose dolphins in Barataria Bay, Louisiana, experienced long...

A 55+ year-long study of bottlenose dolphins ( Tursiops truncatus ) residing in Sarasota Bay on the west coast of Florida, USA, has supported the evolution of tags that address an expanding array of scientific questions while improving the welfare of tagged animals. Most individual dolphins from this community are identifiable from dorsal fin marks or freeze branding and are regularly resighted, which facilitates our ability t...

Studies of cetacean diving behavior in multiple locations in different ocean basins allow for an assessment of variability within and among populations. We examine foraging dive behaviors of goose‐beaked whales ( Ziphius cavirostris ) and dense‐beaked whales ( Mesoplodon densirostris ) using data from 132 tagged whales in seven locations in the Pacific and Atlantic Oceans and the Mediterranean Sea. Acoustic recording tags are...

Common bottlenose dolphins ( Tursiops truncatus ) produce individually distinctive signature whistles that are learned early in life and that help animals recognize and maintain contact with conspecifics. Signature whistles are the predominant whistle type produced when animals are isolated from conspecifics. Health assessments of dolphins in Sarasota, Florida (USA) provide a unique opportunity to record signature whistles, as...

Stemming from the traditional use of field observers to score states and events, the study of animal behaviour often relies on analyses of discrete behavioural categories. Many studies of acoustic communication record sequences of animal sounds, classify vocalizations, and then examine how call categories are used relative to behavioural states and events. However, acoustic parameters can also convey information independent of...

Auditory masking by anthropogenic noise may impact marine mammals relying on sound for important life functions, including echolocation. Animals have evolved antimasking strategies, but they may not be completely effective or cost‐free. We formulated seven a priori hypotheses on how odontocete echolocation behavior could indicate masking. We addressed six of them using data from 15 tagged sperm whales subject to experimental e...

Ramp‐up or soft‐start procedures (i.e., gradual increase in the source level) are used to mitigate the effect of sonar sound on marine mammals, although no one to date has tested whether ramp‐up procedures are effective at reducing the effect of sound on marine mammals. We investigated the effectiveness of ramp‐up procedures in reducing the area within which changes in hearing thresholds can occur. We modeled the level of soun...

Increasing evidence links exposure to Navy sonar with certain mass stranding events of deep diving beaked whales. Although the cause of these strandings is unknown, one theory suggests that the animals confuse the sonar signals with vocalizations of killer whales, a known predator. Here we analyze the movement patterns of a tagged female Blainville's beaked whale in reaction to playback of killer whale predation calls. During...

In 2007 and 2008, controlled exposure experiments were performed in the Bahamas to study behavioral responses to simulated mid‐frequency active sonar (MFA) by three groups of odontocetes: false killer whales, Pseudorca crassidens ; short‐finned pilot whales, Globicephala macrorhynchus ; and melon‐headed whales, Peponocephala electra . An individual in each group was tagged with a Dtag to record acoustic and movement data. Duri...

Marine mammal social interactions are poorly understood primarily because of the difficulty of observing these behaviors in the wild. Observations of copulations in North Atlantic right whale surface active groups (SAGs) have led to the hypothesis that the function of these groups is for conception. The occurrence and composition of SAGs sighted from 1992 to 2001 were investigated on the basis of age, sex, and reproductive sta...

The impact of naval sonar on beaked whales is of increasing concern. In recent years the presence of gas and fat embolism consistent with decompression sickness (DCS) has been reported through postmortem analyses on beaked whales that stranded in connection with naval sonar exercises. In the present study, we use basic principles of diving physiology to model nitrogen tension and bubble growth in several tissue compartments du...

One of the most pressing concerns associated with conservation of the endangered Florida manatee is mortality and serious injury due to collisions with watercraft. Watercraft collisions are the leading identified cause of manatee mortality, averaging 25% and reaching 31% of deaths each year. The successful establishment and management of protected areas depend upon the acquisition of data assessing how manatees use different h...

A bstract North Atlantic right whales ( Eubalaena glacialis ) make a short, distinctive broadband sound that is produced internally called a Gunshot sound. This sound has been recorded in the Bay of Fundy, Canada from both single whales ( n = 9) and social surface active groups ( n =49). Those single whales producing Gunshot sounds whose sex could be determined ( n = 9) were all mature males. Gunshot sounds were produced as pa...