Singing humpback whales tracked on Northwest Atlantic feeding ground

Apr. 29, 2013 ? Male humpback whales sing complex songs in tropical waters during the winter breeding season, but they also sing at higher latitudes at other times of the year. NOAA researchers have provided the first detailed description linking humpback whale movements to acoustic behavior on a feeding ground in the Northwest Atlantic.

Findings from the study, published April 10 in the journal PLOS ONE, demonstrate the potential applications of passive acoustic tracking and monitoring for marine mammal conservation and management.

Co-author Sofie Van Parijs, who heads the passive acoustics group at the Woods Hole Laboratory of NOAA's Northeast Fisheries Science Center (NEFSC), says this study is not so much about biology, but about acoustic methods.

"We have monitored and acoustically recorded whale sounds for years, and are now able to 'mine' these data using new computer software applications and methods, " said Van Parijs. "Passive acoustic tracking has enabled us to localize humpback whale song to study the movements of individual whales, and to relate the singing to specific behaviors. This has never before been accomplished for singing humpbacks on a northwest Atlantic feeding ground."

"Passive acoustic tracking of humpback whales and other cetacean species provides an opportunity to collect data on movement patterns that are difficult?or impossible?to obtain using other techniques," said lead author Joy Stanistreet, who worked with Van Parjis and co-author Denise Risch at the NEFSC's Woods Hole Laboratory at the time of the study. Stanistreet is currently a graduate student at the Duke University Marine Laboratory in Beaufort, N.C.

Since 2007, NEFSC researchers have used year-round passive acoustic monitoring to study ocean noise in the Stellwagen Bank National Marine Sanctuary, a feeding ground for humpback whales and other marine mammal species in the southern Gulf of Maine. Humpback whales typically frequent the sanctuary between April and December and feed on sand lance and other small schooling fish. Humpback whale singing in the sanctuary usually occurs from April through May, following the spring migration from southern waters, and from August to December before the return fall migration. During the summer, humpbacks remain in the sanctuary but generally do not sing while they feed.

The researchers used data from acoustic recordings collected from an array of 10 bottom-mounted marine autonomous recording units (MARUs). Continuous 24-hour recordings units were deployed in the sanctuary for four consecutive three-month periods during 2009. The MARUs were placed three to six miles apart, and the arrays shifted seasonally to areas within the sanctuary having high whale concentrations.

Humpback whale songs were recorded in distinct time periods during spring and fall. No songs were recorded during summer and winter, although humpback whales remained in the area. Songs were most common in the spring, and occurrences of singing increased significantly before and after migration periods.

Forty-three song sessions, each lasting from 30 minutes to eight hours, were used to track individual singing whales. Most of the singers were actively swimming; the patterns and rates of their movement ranged from slow meandering to a faster directional movement. In one case, two singers were tracked at the same time, suggesting a potential reaction by one singer to the presence of the other.

Marine mammal researchers could also use passive acoustic localization and tracking methods to better understand the geographic distribution, abundance, and densities of cetacean species, many of which are threatened by human activities. These applications may help inform and enhance marine mammal conservation and management efforts

The study was funded by the National Oceanographic Partnership Program, a collaboration of federal agencies that provides leadership and coordination of national oceanographic research and education initiatives.

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Story Source:

The above story is reprinted from materials provided by NOAA Fisheries Northeast Fisheries Science Center.

Note: Materials may be edited for content and length. For further information, please contact the source cited above.

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Journal Reference:

1. Joy E. Stanistreet, Denise Risch, Sofie M. Van Parijs. Passive Acoustic Tracking of Singing Humpback Whales (Megaptera novaeangliae) on a Northwest Atlantic Feeding Ground. PLoS ONE, 2013; 8 (4): e61263 DOI: 10.1371/journal.pone.0061263

Note: If no author is given, the source is cited instead.

Disclaimer: Views expressed in this article do not necessarily reflect those of ScienceDaily or its staff.

Source: http://feeds.sciencedaily.com/~r/sciencedaily/top_news/top_science/~3/L3nWxW_qmvI/130429133658.htm

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Algeria president in France for tests after minor stroke

By Lamine Chikhi

ALGIERS (Reuters) - Algerian President Abdelaziz Bouteflika was transferred to France for medical tests on Saturday night after suffering a minor stroke, Algeria's official news agency said.

Bouteflika, who has ruled over the North African oil and gas producer for more than a decade, had an "transient ischemic attack" or mini-stroke on Saturday but his condition was not serious, the APS agency said, quoting the prime minister.

The 76-year-old is part of an older generation of leaders who have dominated politics in a country that supplies a fifth of Europe's gas imports and cooperates with the West in combating Islamist militancy.

He has rarely appeared in public in recent months, prompting speculation about his health.

"The president felt unwell and he has been hospitalized but his condition is not serious at all," Prime Minister Abdelmalek Sellal was quoted as saying by APS.

The president was then moved to France, on the recommendation of his doctors.

Bouteflika and other members of Algeria's elite have controlled Algeria since it won independence from France in a 1954-62 war.

In the early 1990s, the military-backed politicians overturned an election which Islamists were poised to win and then fought a conflict with them in which about 200,000 people were killed.

They also saw off the challenge of Arab Spring protests two years ago, with Bouteflika's government defusing unrest through pay rises and free loans for young people.

Bouteflika has served three terms as president of the OPEC member and is thought unlikely to seek a fourth at an election due in 2014.

U.S. diplomatic cables leaked in 2011 said Bouteflika had been suffering from cancer but it was in remission.

More than 70 percent of Algerians are under 30. About 21 percent of young people are unemployed, the International Monetary Fund says, and many are impatient with the gerontocracy ruling a country where jobs, wages and housing are urgent concerns.

A transient ischemic attack is a temporary blockage in a blood vessel to the brain. it typically lasts for less than five minutes and "usually causes no permanent injury to the brain", the American Stroke Association said on its website.

The attacks should be seen as a warning as a third of people who experience them go on to have a full stroke within a year, the organization added.

(Reporting by Lamine Chikhi; Editing by Andrew Heavens)

Source: http://news.yahoo.com/algerian-president-france-medical-tests-034747376.html

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Iraq instability tested further with bombing wave

BAGHDAD (AP) ? A wave of car bomb blasts tore through Shiite areas south of Baghdad on Monday, killing at least 36 and deepening fears that Iraq is rapidly spiraling back out of control.

The attacks capped a week of turmoil that is posing the greatest test of Iraq's stability since U.S. troops left the country in late 2011. At least 218 people have been killed in attacks and battles between gunmen and security forces that began with clashes at a Sunni protest camp in northern Iraq last Tuesday.

The unrest follows four months of widespread protests among Iraq's Sunni minority, who feel they are discriminated against and are being marginalized by Prime Minister Nouri al-Maliki's Shiite-led government.

Iraqi officials fear that Sunni feelings of disenfranchisement could be exploited by extremist groups such as al-Qaida and militant organizations such as the Naqshabandi Army, which is linked to Saddam Hussein's former regime.

In a possible sign of mounting worries over the deteriorating security situation, Iraqi authorities announced they plan to close the country's only border crossing with Jordan, beginning on Tuesday. The Interior Ministry said the move is related Iraq's domestic affairs.

The route to the border runs through the cities of Ramadi and Fallujah, west of Baghdad, which have been hotbeds of Sunni anger at the government. Many Sunnis in western Iraq have economic, tribal and cultural ties with Jordanians, most of whom are also Sunni.

Sheik Fakhir al-Kubaisi, a protest organizer in Anbar province, blasted the latest closure plans as "another escalation by the Iraqi government to punish the revolting Iraqi people." He predicted the closure would drive up the prices of food and medicine, and might be tied to a coming security crackdown on protest sites in the area.

The Interior Ministry spokesman, Lt. Col. Saad Maan Ibrahim, insisted the border closure was solely a technical matter and is unrelated to ongoing tensions in the country. He did not elaborate, and said it should reopen within 48 hours.

Iraq temporarily shut the same border crossing in January, weeks after anti-government protests erupted along the desert highway heading to the checkpoint. That angered many Sunnis in western Iraq, who saw it as collective punishment for their rallies.

The International Crisis Group recently warned that the standoff between Sunni protesters and the central government has begun a dangerous slide toward confrontation.

"The emergence of an arc of instability and conflict linking Lebanon, Syria and Iraq, fueled by sectarianism and involving porous borders as well as cross-border alliances, represents a huge risk," the conflict-prevention group warned. "Failure to integrate Sunni Arabs into a genuinely representative political system in Baghdad risks turning Iraq's domestic crisis into a broader regional struggle."

Monday's deadliest attack struck the southern city of Amarah. Two parked cars loaded with explosives went off simultaneously in the early morning near a gathering of construction workers and a market, killing 18 people and wounding 42, the police said.

That attack was followed by another parked car bombing near a restaurant in the city of Diwaniyah, killing nine people and wounding 23. At least three cars were left charred and twisted from the blast outside a two-story building, and its facade was damaged. Shop owners and cleaners were seen brushing debris off the bloodstained pavement.

Amarah, some 320 kilometers (200 miles) southeast of Baghdad, and Diwaniyah, 130 kilometers (80 miles) south of the capital, are heavily Shiite and usually peaceful.

Hours later, yet another car bomb went off in the Shiite holy city of Karbala, killing three civilians and wounding 14, police said. Two early Islamic figures revered by Shiites are buried in the city, about 90 kilometers (55 miles) south of Baghdad.

And in the otherwise predominantly Sunni town of Mahmoudiya, about 20 miles (30 kilometers) south of Baghdad, a car bomb ripped through a Shiite neighborhood, killing six people and wounding 14, another police officer said.

Ibrahim Ali, a schoolteacher there, was teaching a class when a thunderous boom went off.

"The students were panicking and some of them started to cry," he said, recounting seeing burned bodies and cars on fire at the nearby blast site. "We have been expecting this violence against Shiites because of the rising sectarian tension in the country," he said.

Medical officials confirmed the casualty figures. Like the police, they spoke on condition of anonymity because they were not authorized to talk to the media.

No one immediately claimed responsibility for Monday's blasts. But coordinated bombings in civilian areas are a favorite tactic for al-Qaida in Iraq.

Parliament speaker Osama al-Nujaifi, a Sunni, condemned Monday's bombings and urged the government to step down "in order to save the country from the specter of civil war and sectarian strife." He called for the installation of an interim government, dissolution of parliament and early elections.

He issued a similar call in February for the prime minister to step down and for early elections, but there is little sign for now of that happening.

Sectarian violence has spiked since last Tuesday, when security forces tried to make arrests at a Sunni Muslim protest camp in the northern city of Hawija. The move set off a clash that killed 23 people, including three soldiers.

In Baghdad, al-Maliki met on Monday with the prime minister of Iraq's largely autonomous Kurdish region, Nechirvan Barzani.

A statement from the Iraqi leader's office said the two sides discussed their differences "in an atmosphere of frankness and seriousness and with a common desire to find solutions."

Ongoing disputes between Baghdad and the Kurds over sensitive issues such as ethnically disputed territories and how to manage the country's vast oil wealth further undermine Iraq's stability as al-Maliki tries to manage relations with the country's Sunni Arabs.

In other violence Monday, several mortar shells exploded in an uninhabited area near Baghdad International Airport around sunset, but no casualties were reported, police said.

An Iranian exile group whose members live in a refugee camp near the airport described the explosions as rocket strikes. It said they hit water canals at the southern part of the camp.

The group, the National Council of Resistance of Iran, has been pushing for camp residents, members of its Mujahedeen-e-Khalq militant wing, to be moved back to another camp north of Baghdad. Iraq's government wants them out of the country altogether.

___

Associated Press writers Sinan Salaheddin and Sameer N. Yacoub contributed to this report.

___

Follow Adam Schreck on Twitter at http://twitter.com/adamschreck

Source: http://news.yahoo.com/iraq-instability-tested-further-bombing-wave-172820332.html

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