Dimitri Ponirakis

Cornell University | CU · Bioacoustics Research Program

Animal behavior is motivated by the fundamental need to feed and reproduce, and these behaviors can be inferred from spatiotemporal variations in biological signals such as vocalizations. Yet, linking foraging and reproductive effort to environmental drivers can be challenging for wide‐ranging predator species. Blue whales are acoustically active m...

Describing spatial and temporal occurrence patterns of wild animal populations is important for understanding their evolutionary trajectories, population connectivity, and ecological niche specialization, with relevance for effective management. Throughout the world, blue whales produce stereotyped songs that enable identification of separate acous...

As development of offshore wind energy areas (WEAs) progresses along the US Atlantic coast, so will the spatiotemporal overlap and potential space-use conflict with vulnerable or protected wildlife, including Critically Endangered North Atlantic right whales (NARWs). Assessments of potential impacts from construction and operational activities on N...

Making Ambient Noise Trends Accessible (MANTA) software is a tool for the community to enable comparisons between soundscapes and identification of ambient ocean sound trends required by ocean stakeholders. MANTA enhances the value of individual datasets by assisting users in creating thorough calibration metadata and internationally recommended pr...

In the original paper [JASA Express Lett. 1(1), 011203 (2021)], a method for processing, storing, and sharing high-bandwidth, passive acoustic spectral data that optimizes data volume while maintaining reasonable data resolution was proposed. The format was a hybrid that uses 1-Hz resolution up to 455 Hz and millidecade frequency bands above 455 Hz...

The global COVID-19 pandemic caused a sharp decline in vessel traffic in many areas around the world, including vessel-based tourism throughout Alaska, USA in 2020. Marine vessel traffic has long been known to affect the underwater acoustic environment with direct and indirect effects on marine ecological processes. Glacier Bay National Park in sou...

Understanding relationships between physical drivers and biological response is central to advancing ecological knowledge. Wind is the physical forcing mechanism in coastal upwelling systems, however lags between wind input and biological responses are seldom quantified for marine predators. Lags were examined between wind at an upwelling source, d...

This Letter proposes a frequency scaling for processing, storing, and sharing high-bandwidth, passive acoustic spectral data that optimizes data volume while maintaining reasonable data resolution. The format is a hybrid that uses 1 Hz resolution up to 455 Hz and millidecade frequency bands above 455 Hz. This hybrid is appropriate for many types of...

Vessel-generated underwater noise can affect humpback whales, harbor seals, and other marine mammals by decreasing the distance over which they can communicate and detect predators and prey. Emerging analytical methods allow marine protected area managers to use biologically relevant metrics to assess vessel noise in the dominant frequency bands us...

Anthropogenic noise negatively impacts many species. One of the more insidious effects of elevated noise levels is the reduction in area over which animals are able to acoustically communicate, often termed communication masking. This study utilizes modeling approaches to evaluate relative levels of masking for 4 baleen whale species from the combi...

The Gulf of Mexico ecosystem represents the intersection between high marine biodiversity and extensive human use and impact. Anthropogenic marine activities are prominent in the Gulf, prompting concern regarding impacts of chronic elevated noise throughout the marine ecosystem. Since sound is a critical component of the marine environment and many...

This work presents a new toolkit for describing the acoustic properties of the ocean environment before, during and after a sound event caused by an underwater seismic air-gun. The toolkit uses existing sound measures, but uniquely applies these to capture the early time period (actual pulse) and late time period (reverberation and multiple arrival...

In September and October 2011, a seismic survey took place in Baffin Bay, Western Greenland, in close proximity to a marine protected area (MPA). As part of the mitigation effort, five bottom-mounted marine acoustic recording units (MARUs) collected data that were used for the purpose of measuring temporal and spectral features from each impulsive...

Bowhead whales, Balaena mysticetus, in the Bering-Chukchi-Beaufort (BCB) population, experience a variable acoustic environment among the regions they inhabit throughout the year. A total of 41,698 hours of acoustic data were recorded from 1 August 2009 through 4 October 2010 at 20 sites spread along a 2300 km transect from the Bering Sea to the so...

Habitat loss is a leading cause of biodiversity loss in terrestrial ecosystems. For marine species that rely on acoustic cues to navigate, find food or select mates, sound is a key element of their environment. Chronic forms of human-generated ocean noise have the potential to mask communication signals over substantial fractions of their functiona...

The effects of chronic exposure to increasing levels of human-induced underwater noise on marine animal populations reliant on sound for communication are poorly understood. We sought to further develop methods of quantifying the effects of communication masking associated with human-induced sound on contact-calling North Atlantic right whales (Eub...

Whales, dolphins, and porpoises (cetaceans) are adapted to produce and perceive sounds that collectively span 4-6 orders of magnitude along space, time, and frequency dimensions. Two important concepts, acoustic ecology and acoustic habitat, emerge from this perspective: where acoustic ecology is the study of acoustics involved in interactions of l...

The possible effects of anthropogenic noise on the marine environment is becoming an important topic in the oceanic community. The exploration for fossil-fuel or alternative energy and the construction of facilities to support these endeavors often requires sizable construction efforts; which usually require permitting to study the impact of noise...

Recordings for marine mammals were collected in the Chukchi Sea in the 2006 and 2008 summer-fall seasons in proximity to seismic exploration activities. 2006 data were from MARUs off Cape Lisburne, Pt. Lay, Wainwright, and Pt. Barrow, AK. 2008 data were from MARUs in the Burger and Klondike areas. In 2006, belugas, but no bowheads, were rarely dete...

Acoustic masking from anthropogenic noise is increasingly being considered as a threat to marine mammals, particularly low-frequency specialists such as baleen whales. Low-frequency ocean noise has increased in recent decades, often in habitats with seasonally resident populations of marine mammals, raising concerns that noise chronically influence...

In 2006, we used the U.S. Coast Guard's Automatic Identification System (AIS) to describe patterns of large commercial ship traffic within a U.S. National Marine Sanctuary located off the coast of Massachusetts. We found that 541 large commercial vessels transited the greater sanctuary 3413 times during the year. Cargo ships, tankers, and tug/tows...

Data from two acoustic monitoring networks operating off New England in an area frequented by whales reveal acoustic features of those habitats. These seafloor and moored systems continuously sample the acoustic environment, and resultant data provide mechanisms for mapping, quantifying, and describing the spatio-spectral-temporal variability of th...

In 2006, we used the U.S. Coast Guard's Automatic Identification System (AIS) to describe patterns of large commercial ship traffic within a U.S. National Marine Sanctuary located off the coast of Massachusetts. We found that 541 large commercial vessels transited the greater sanctuary 3413 times during the year. Cargo ships, tankers, and tug/tows...

Understanding and mitigating the effects of underwater noise on marine species requires substantial information regarding acoustic contributions from shipping. In 2006, we used the U.S. Coast Guard's Automatic Identification System (AIS) to describe patterns of large commercial ship traffic within a U.S. National Marine Sanctuary. AIS data were com...

Large whales communicate primarily in the low (<1000 Hz) frequency bands; the same frequency range within which anthropogenic ocean noise has been increasing over the last half century at approximately 3-5 dBdecade. The working assumption and hypothesis hold that rising ambient noise levels negatively impact whales by interfering with communication...

The North Atlantic right whale is a highly endangered species of baleen whale. Acoustic communication plays an important role in the social behavior of these whales. Right whales are found in coastal waters along the east coast of the United States, an area characterized by high levels of human activity. Most of these activities generatenoise that...

Acoustic masking from anthropogenic sound sources is recognized as a potential threat to low- frequency specialists such as the baleen whales. Masking from chronic noise sources has been difficult to quantify and measure at both the individual and population levels. There is evidence for increases in low-frequency ocean noise and sound clutter, oft...