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A Direct Comparison of Bottlenose Dolphin and Common Dolphin Behavior During Seismic Surveys When Air Guns Are and Are Not Being Utilized

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The Effects of Noise on Aquatic Life

Part of the book series: Advances in Experimental Medicine and Biology ((AEMB,volume 730))

Abstract

The majority of noise produced by air guns from seismic surveys are recorded at sound pressure levels focused in the low frequencies (0 to 300 Hz) of ∼240 dB re 1 mPa at 1 m. Bottlenose (Tursiops truncatus) and common (Delphinus delphis) dolphins are sensitive to a broad range of frequencies, from just 50 (Turl 1993) to 300,000 Hz and from 100 to 150,000 Hz (Richardson et al. 1998), respectively. This paper uses combined data collected during 21 offshore seismic surveys over 8 years (2001–2008) from Europe, West Africa, and Australia to investigate the observed behavioral variations caused by seismic air gun activity on bottlenose and common dolphins.

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Correspondence to Sarah B. Barry .

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Barry, S.B., Cucknell, A.C., Clark, N. (2012). A Direct Comparison of Bottlenose Dolphin and Common Dolphin Behavior During Seismic Surveys When Air Guns Are and Are Not Being Utilized. In: Popper, A.N., Hawkins, A. (eds) The Effects of Noise on Aquatic Life. Advances in Experimental Medicine and Biology, vol 730. Springer, New York, NY. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-1-4419-7311-5_60

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