Acoustic occurrence patterns of Prince Edward Islands' killer whales on diel, monthly, and seasonal scales

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dc.contributor.advisorShabangu, Fannie
dc.contributor.advisorLamont, Tarron
dc.contributor.authorDaniels, Robyn Kayla
dc.date.accessioned2026-06-30T08:51:42Z
dc.date.available2026-06-30T08:51:42Z
dc.date.issued2026
dc.date.updated2026-06-30T08:08:40Z
dc.description.abstractKiller whales are highly social marine mammals which utilise their vocalisations for communication, feeding and navigation. They are poorly studied within the Southern Hemisphere, particularly in remote regions such as the sub-Antarctic Prince Edward Islands (PEIs) where fieldwork can be logistically challenging. This region is subject to rapid rise in temperatures and subsequent climate variability potentially causing ecosystem changes. This study therefore aims to investigate killer whale presence using two modalities (acoustic as primary and visual as validation), two methods of acoustic detection and a variety of potential influences, both biotic (primary production and killer whale prey) and abiotic (wind, sea surface height (SSH), sea surface temperature (SST)) factors across multiple temporal scales. A hydrophone was deployed at 46° 46.4'S, 37° 54.7' E and recorded from April 2021 to April 2023. SST, SSH, chlorophyll-a concentration (chl-a) and wind speed data were sourced from satellite and reanalysis data, and prey and sightings data from land-based surveys. Automated call detection was used to investigate these objectives and compared to manual detection. Results indicated that killer whales' calls were detected intermittently throughout the year with a higher occurrence of calls in the spring and early-summer months and no significant year-to-year variability was observed. Their sightings displayed similar patterns, but the environmental variables and prey abundance did not indicate matching year-to-year variability. This was attributed to fine-scale changes in their social structure, long-term resistance in their call behaviours to larger temporal scale environmental anomalies and substantial short-term variability of SSH and wind speed. Random forest modelling identified wind speed and hour of the day as the primary predictors of the occurrence of calls while SST, SSH, chl-a and prey abundance were moderately important. Strong diel call patterns were observed only in winter and summer, reflecting adaptive foraging and social behaviour. Automated call detection was found to be an effective method but is not to be used in isolation as it produced false positive and negative detections. These results provide important insights into PEIs' ecosystem functioning by disentangling the effects of climate variability on keystone species such as killer whales using cost-effective methods such as passive acoustic monitoring, automated detection, and satellite and reanalysis data.
dc.identifier.apacitationDaniels, R. K. (2026). <i>Acoustic occurrence patterns of Prince Edward Islands' killer whales on diel, monthly, and seasonal scales</i>. (). University of Cape Town ,Faculty of Science ,Department of Biological Sciences. Retrieved from http://hdl.handle.net/11427/43418en_ZA
dc.identifier.chicagocitationDaniels, Robyn Kayla. <i>"Acoustic occurrence patterns of Prince Edward Islands' killer whales on diel, monthly, and seasonal scales."</i> ., University of Cape Town ,Faculty of Science ,Department of Biological Sciences, 2026. http://hdl.handle.net/11427/43418en_ZA
dc.identifier.citationDaniels, R.K. 2026. Acoustic occurrence patterns of Prince Edward Islands' killer whales on diel, monthly, and seasonal scales. . University of Cape Town ,Faculty of Science ,Department of Biological Sciences. http://hdl.handle.net/11427/43418en_ZA
dc.identifier.ris TY - Thesis / Dissertation AU - Daniels, Robyn Kayla AB - Killer whales are highly social marine mammals which utilise their vocalisations for communication, feeding and navigation. They are poorly studied within the Southern Hemisphere, particularly in remote regions such as the sub-Antarctic Prince Edward Islands (PEIs) where fieldwork can be logistically challenging. This region is subject to rapid rise in temperatures and subsequent climate variability potentially causing ecosystem changes. This study therefore aims to investigate killer whale presence using two modalities (acoustic as primary and visual as validation), two methods of acoustic detection and a variety of potential influences, both biotic (primary production and killer whale prey) and abiotic (wind, sea surface height (SSH), sea surface temperature (SST)) factors across multiple temporal scales. A hydrophone was deployed at 46° 46.4'S, 37° 54.7' E and recorded from April 2021 to April 2023. SST, SSH, chlorophyll-a concentration (chl-a) and wind speed data were sourced from satellite and reanalysis data, and prey and sightings data from land-based surveys. Automated call detection was used to investigate these objectives and compared to manual detection. Results indicated that killer whales' calls were detected intermittently throughout the year with a higher occurrence of calls in the spring and early-summer months and no significant year-to-year variability was observed. Their sightings displayed similar patterns, but the environmental variables and prey abundance did not indicate matching year-to-year variability. This was attributed to fine-scale changes in their social structure, long-term resistance in their call behaviours to larger temporal scale environmental anomalies and substantial short-term variability of SSH and wind speed. Random forest modelling identified wind speed and hour of the day as the primary predictors of the occurrence of calls while SST, SSH, chl-a and prey abundance were moderately important. Strong diel call patterns were observed only in winter and summer, reflecting adaptive foraging and social behaviour. Automated call detection was found to be an effective method but is not to be used in isolation as it produced false positive and negative detections. These results provide important insights into PEIs' ecosystem functioning by disentangling the effects of climate variability on keystone species such as killer whales using cost-effective methods such as passive acoustic monitoring, automated detection, and satellite and reanalysis data. DA - 2026 DB - OpenUCT DP - University of Cape Town KW - killer whales KW - acoustic ecology KW - environmental variability KW - bioacoustics KW - sub- Antarctic ecosystem LK - https://open.uct.ac.za PB - University of Cape Town PY - 2026 T1 - Acoustic occurrence patterns of Prince Edward Islands' killer whales on diel, monthly, and seasonal scales TI - Acoustic occurrence patterns of Prince Edward Islands' killer whales on diel, monthly, and seasonal scales UR - http://hdl.handle.net/11427/43418 ER - en_ZA
dc.identifier.urihttp://hdl.handle.net/11427/43418
dc.identifier.vancouvercitationDaniels RK. Acoustic occurrence patterns of Prince Edward Islands' killer whales on diel, monthly, and seasonal scales. []. University of Cape Town ,Faculty of Science ,Department of Biological Sciences, 2026 [cited yyyy month dd]. Available from: http://hdl.handle.net/11427/43418en_ZA
dc.language.isoen
dc.language.rfc3066eng
dc.publisher.departmentDepartment of Biological Sciences
dc.publisher.facultyFaculty of Science
dc.publisher.institutionUniversity of Cape Town
dc.subjectkiller whales
dc.subjectacoustic ecology
dc.subjectenvironmental variability
dc.subjectbioacoustics
dc.subjectsub- Antarctic ecosystem
dc.titleAcoustic occurrence patterns of Prince Edward Islands' killer whales on diel, monthly, and seasonal scales
dc.typeThesis / Dissertation
dc.type.qualificationlevelMasters
dc.type.qualificationlevelMSc
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