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Recent Advances in Marine Bioacoustics
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Recent Advances in Marine Bioacoustics

A special issue of Journal of Marine Science and Engineering (ISSN 2077-1312). This special issue belongs to the section "Marine Biology".

Deadline for manuscript submissions: 1 November 2025 | Viewed by 9320

Special Issue Editors

Dr. Valentina Zaffaroni-Caorsi

E-Mail Website
Guest Editor
UNIMIB · Department of Earth and Environmental Sciences, Università degli Studi di Milano-Bicocca, Milan, Italy
Interests: bioacoustics; biotremology; urban noise; biodiversity; behavioral ecology
Dr. Giovanni Zambon

E-Mail Website
Guest Editor
Department of Earth and Environmental Sciences, Università degli Studi di Milano-Bicocca, Milan, Italy
Interests: soundscape in urban and natural areas; eco-acoustics; soundscape in marine habitats; noise mapping
Special Issues, Collections and Topics in MDPI journals
Dr. Roberto Benocci

E-Mail Website
Guest Editor
UNIMIB · Department of Earth and Environmental Sciences, Università degli Studi di Milano-Bicocca, Milan, Italy
Interests: soundscape in urban and natural areas; eco-acoustics; soundscape in marine habitats; noise mapping
Special Issues, Collections and Topics in MDPI journals

Special Issue Information

Dear Colleagues,

Anthropogenic disturbance is one of the major drivers of the marine biodiversity crisis worldwide. Among them, human-made noise (e.g., commercial shipping) reaches across much of the world’s marine landscape, leading to a substantial degradation of the acoustic environment. An increasing amount of noise in the marine environment can have major and even fatal impacts on the animals, since it interferes with their key life functions (e.g., foraging, mating, migrating). In response to this pressing issue, bioacoustic approaches emerge as valuable tools, offering insights into the effects of noise by unveiling the intricate processes underlying these ecological changes. This issue aims to showcase the latest advancements in marine bioacoustics research, encompassing new methodologies, the effectiveness of diverse approaches, and the exploration of novel habitats and species. By facilitating the exchange of research experiences and results, this issue seeks to contribute to ongoing updates in guidelines and regulations for underwater noise management and marine conservation.

Dr. Valentina Zaffaroni-Caorsi
Dr. Giovanni Zambon
Dr. Roberto Benocci
Guest Editors

Manuscript Submission Information

Manuscripts should be submitted online at www.mdpi.com by registering and logging in to this website. Once you are registered, click here to go to the submission form. Manuscripts can be submitted until the deadline. All submissions that pass pre-check are peer-reviewed. Accepted papers will be published continuously in the journal (as soon as accepted) and will be listed together on the special issue website. Research articles, review articles as well as short communications are invited. For planned papers, a title and short abstract (about 100 words) can be sent to the Editorial Office for announcement on this website.

Submitted manuscripts should not have been published previously, nor be under consideration for publication elsewhere (except conference proceedings papers). All manuscripts are thoroughly refereed through a single-blind peer-review process. A guide for authors and other relevant information for submission of manuscripts is available on the Instructions for Authors page. Journal of Marine Science and Engineering is an international peer-reviewed open access monthly journal published by MDPI.

Please visit the Instructions for Authors page before submitting a manuscript. The Article Processing Charge (APC) for publication in this open access journal is 2600 CHF (Swiss Francs). Submitted papers should be well formatted and use good English. Authors may use MDPI's English editing service prior to publication or during author revisions.

Keywords

  • bioacoustics
  • soundscape
  • marine
  • underwater
  • anthropogenic
  • conservation

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Published Papers (6 papers)

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Research

13 pages, 1434 KiB  
Article
Intra-Seasonal Acoustic Variation in Humpback Whale Songs in the North Colombian Pacific
by Juliana López-Marulanda and Hector Fabio Rivera-Gutierrez
J. Mar. Sci. Eng. 2025, 13(7), 1360; https://doi.org/10.3390/jmse13071360 - 17 Jul 2025
Viewed by 737
Abstract
Humpback whales (Megaptera novaeangliae) are well known for their complex acoustic communication, which plays a critical role in social interactions and reproduction. Understanding the variability in humpback whale songs is crucial to deciphering their communication strategies and the factors that influence [...] Read more.
Humpback whales (Megaptera novaeangliae) are well known for their complex acoustic communication, which plays a critical role in social interactions and reproduction. Understanding the variability in humpback whale songs is crucial to deciphering their communication strategies and the factors that influence these changes, which may affect reproductive success and population dynamics. While most studies of humpback whale song behavior have focused on annual variation, intra-seasonal changes remain underexplored. This study investigates intra-seasonal song variation in the Colombian Pacific humpback whale population, a unique and diverse breeding stock. We analyzed 37 h of recordings collected during two distinct periods of the 2019 breeding season (July and August–September) in the northern Colombian Pacific. Song repertoires were compared between periods, and the acoustic structure of a common song unit (Unit1) was analyzed using spectrographic cross-correlation. Results revealed a decrease in repertoire diversity over the course of the season, along with an increase in the song rate and the acoustic consistency of Unit1 during the second period. These findings highlight the dynamic nature of humpback whale song production and suggest potential influences of social learning and hormonal modulation. Such insights may be useful for the conservation and monitoring of humpback whale populations in breeding areas. Full article
(This article belongs to the Special Issue Recent Advances in Marine Bioacoustics)
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15 pages, 2284 KiB  
Article
Acoustic Analysis of Fish Tanks for Marine Bioacoustics Research
by Jesús Carbajo, Pedro Poveda, Naeem Ullah and Jaime Ramis
J. Mar. Sci. Eng. 2025, 13(7), 1253; https://doi.org/10.3390/jmse13071253 - 28 Jun 2025
Viewed by 319
Abstract
Underwater sounds play a key role in biodiversity as many marine animals use these to know their environment and to communicate among themselves. Unfortunately, anthropogenic noise makes this communication more difficult due to masking effects and may also produce harmful effects that compromise [...] Read more.
Underwater sounds play a key role in biodiversity as many marine animals use these to know their environment and to communicate among themselves. Unfortunately, anthropogenic noise makes this communication more difficult due to masking effects and may also produce harmful effects that compromise their preservation and survival. Many researchers have studied the influence of underwater noise on marine species in laboratory conditions using fish tanks. Consequently, studying the acoustic response of these fish tanks constitutes an essential task to better understand the results obtained in those experiments. In this work, a theoretical model and acoustic measurements were used to assess the uncertainty of a fish tank setup. The proposed methodology aims to improve the effectiveness of those studies involving fish tanks by an in-depth analysis of the sound field spatial distribution. Preliminary results show that this distribution depends on the frequency of the generated sound, the water level, and the measurement depth thus confirming the importance of analyzing the range of applicability of these setups. Full article
(This article belongs to the Special Issue Recent Advances in Marine Bioacoustics)
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20 pages, 122916 KiB  
Article
A Reef’s High-Frequency Soundscape and the Effect on Telemetry Efforts: A Biotic and Abiotic Balance
by Frank McQuarrie, Jr., C. Brock Woodson and Catherine R. Edwards
J. Mar. Sci. Eng. 2025, 13(3), 517; https://doi.org/10.3390/jmse13030517 - 7 Mar 2025
Viewed by 780
Abstract
Acoustic telemetry is a tool for tracking animals, but transmitted signals from tagged animals are not always detected. Detection efficiency declines with increasing background noise, which can have both abiotic and biotic sources. The abiotic noise present in reef environments (waves, bubbles, etc.) [...] Read more.
Acoustic telemetry is a tool for tracking animals, but transmitted signals from tagged animals are not always detected. Detection efficiency declines with increasing background noise, which can have both abiotic and biotic sources. The abiotic noise present in reef environments (waves, bubbles, etc.) is primarily low-frequency, but snapping shrimp create high-frequency noise that can interfere with transmission detections. Prior work in shallow coastal reefs correlated winds with less high-frequency background noise, and hypothesized that it was due to a balance of biotic and/or abiotic factors: shrimp may be less active during high wind events, and sound attenuation at the surface increases with wave height. To test this hypothesis, passive acoustic recordings from a live-bottom reef are used to quantify snapping shrimp snap rate. Snap rate was strongly correlated with temperature, and warmer environments appeared to be challenging for acoustic telemetry. However, the majority of synoptic variability in noise is shown to be driven by abiotic attenuation. Wind speed has little to no effect on snapping shrimp behavior, but has a significant inverse correlation with high-frequency noise levels due to surface attenuation of high-frequency noise, and therefore a positive effect on detection efficiency, pointing to primarily abiotic forcing behind noise variability and resulting telemetry success. This research gives context to previously collected detection data and can be leveraged to help plan future acoustic arrays in shallow, complex, and/or noisy environments, potentially predicting changes in detection range. Full article
(This article belongs to the Special Issue Recent Advances in Marine Bioacoustics)
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18 pages, 7170 KiB  
Article
Study of Non-Linearities in Humpback Whale Song Units
by Yann Doh, Dorian Cazau, Giulia Lamaj, Eduardo Mercado, Joy S. Reidenberg, Jeff K. Jacobsen, Christina E. Perazio, Beverley Ecalle and Olivier Adam
J. Mar. Sci. Eng. 2025, 13(2), 215; https://doi.org/10.3390/jmse13020215 - 23 Jan 2025
Viewed by 2396
Abstract
Unique in mammals, the vocal generator of mysticete species comprises membranes covering the two arytenoid cartilages that vibrate as the airflow passes through the trachea from the lungs to the laryngeal sac. By adjusting the airflow as well as the spacing and orientation [...] Read more.
Unique in mammals, the vocal generator of mysticete species comprises membranes covering the two arytenoid cartilages that vibrate as the airflow passes through the trachea from the lungs to the laryngeal sac. By adjusting the airflow as well as the spacing and orientation of the two cartilages, mysticetes control the vibrations and vary acoustic qualities of the produced sounds, including the duration, amplitude, and frequency modulation of vocalizations. Humpback whales control sound production in this way to construct a complex vocal repertoire, including vocalizations with or without harmonics as well as pulsed sounds. Some vocalizations within humpback whale songs, called units, exhibit non-linearities such as frequency jumps and chaos. Here, we further describe non-linear features of units, including two additional non-linearities: subharmonics and biphonation. Subharmonics within units are probably due to higher air flow rates and to the acoustic modes of internal resonators. Biphonic vocalizations are likely generated either by an asymmetric opening of the arytenoid cartilages or by the passage of the air flow at two separate positions along the membranes. Our analyses revealed acoustic non-linearities in vocalizations emitted by six different singers during multiple breeding seasons and from populations in different oceans, suggesting that singing humpback whales often produce units with non-linear features. Full article
(This article belongs to the Special Issue Recent Advances in Marine Bioacoustics)
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18 pages, 6601 KiB  
Article
Dolphin Health Classifications from Whistle Features
by Brittany Jones, Jessica Sportelli, Jeremy Karnowski, Abby McClain, David Cardoso and Maximilian Du
J. Mar. Sci. Eng. 2024, 12(12), 2158; https://doi.org/10.3390/jmse12122158 - 26 Nov 2024
Cited by 3 | Viewed by 2029
Abstract
Bottlenose dolphins often conceal behavioral signs of illness until they reach an advanced stage. Motivated by the efficacy of vocal biomarkers in human health diagnostics, we utilized supervised machine learning methods to assess various model architectures’ effectiveness in classifying dolphin health status from [...] Read more.
Bottlenose dolphins often conceal behavioral signs of illness until they reach an advanced stage. Motivated by the efficacy of vocal biomarkers in human health diagnostics, we utilized supervised machine learning methods to assess various model architectures’ effectiveness in classifying dolphin health status from the acoustic features of their whistles. A gradient boosting classifier achieved a 72.3% accuracy in distinguishing between normal and abnormal health states—a significant improvement over chance (permutation test; 1000 iterations, p < 0.001). The model was trained on 30,693 whistles from 15 dolphins and the test set (15%) totaled 3612 ‘normal’ and 1775 ‘abnormal’ whistles. The classifier identified the health status of the dolphin from the whistles features with 72.3% accuracy, 73.2% recall, 56.1% precision, and a 63.5% F1 score. These findings suggest the encoding of internal health information within dolphin whistle features, with indications that the severity of illness correlates with classification accuracy, notably in its success for identifying ‘critical’ cases (94.2%). The successful development of this diagnostic tool holds promise for furnishing a passive, non-invasive, and cost-effective means for early disease detection in bottlenose dolphins. Full article
(This article belongs to the Special Issue Recent Advances in Marine Bioacoustics)
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13 pages, 4495 KiB  
Article
Acoustic Target Strengths and Swimbladder Morphology of Chub Mackerel Scomber japonicus in the Northwest Pacific Ocean
by Hyungbeen Lee, Euna Yoon, Yong Jin Choo and Jeong-Hoon Lee
J. Mar. Sci. Eng. 2024, 12(9), 1500; https://doi.org/10.3390/jmse12091500 - 1 Sep 2024
Viewed by 1446
Abstract
The Northwest Pacific chub mackerel (Scomber japonicus) is one of the most productive, economically important fishery resources worldwide. Accurately assessing this species and ensuring adherence to total allowable catch limits are crucial owing to fluctuations in their abundance and distribution. Acoustic [...] Read more.
The Northwest Pacific chub mackerel (Scomber japonicus) is one of the most productive, economically important fishery resources worldwide. Accurately assessing this species and ensuring adherence to total allowable catch limits are crucial owing to fluctuations in their abundance and distribution. Acoustic target strength measurements of S. japonicus were conducted at 38, 70, and 120 kHz using a split-beam echosounder of individuals from nine size groups (mean fork length, 10.8–28.3 cm) swimming freely in a net cage within a seawater tank. An underwater camera was utilized to simultaneously measure swimming angle. Least-squares regression analysis revealed that when the slope was constrained to 20, as per the generally applicable morphometric equation, the resulting values for the constant term (b20) were −67.7, −66.6, and −67.3 dB at 38, 70, and 120 kHz, respectively. S. japonicus mean swimming angle across the groups was −10.5–9.6° (standard deviation [SD], 16.3–33.3°). Furthermore, the ratio of swimbladder height to swimbladder length, the ratio of swimbladder length to fork length, and the tilt angle of the swimbladder (mean ± SD) were 0.191 ± 0.060, 0.245 ± 0.055, and 9.6 ± 3.0°, respectively. These results can be used for the acoustic stock assessment of S. japonicus in the Northwest Pacific Ocean. Full article
(This article belongs to the Special Issue Recent Advances in Marine Bioacoustics)
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