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Potential motivational information encoded within humpback whale non-song vocal sounds

Overview of attention for article published in Journal of the Acoustical Society of America, March 2017
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  • In the top 25% of all research outputs scored by Altmetric
  • Good Attention Score compared to outputs of the same age (76th percentile)
  • High Attention Score compared to outputs of the same age and source (90th percentile)

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Title
Potential motivational information encoded within humpback whale non-song vocal sounds
Published in
Journal of the Acoustical Society of America, March 2017
DOI 10.1121/1.4978615
Pubmed ID
Authors

Rebecca A Dunlop

Abstract

Acoustic signals in terrestrial animals follow motivational-structural rules to inform receivers of the signaler's motivational state, valence and level of arousal. Low-frequency "harsh" signals are produced in aggressive contexts, whereas high-frequency tonal sounds are produced in fearful/appeasement contexts. Using the non-song social call catalogue of humpback whales (Megaptera novaeangliae), this study tested for potential motivational-structural rules within the call catalogue of a baleen whale species. A total of 32 groups within different social contexts (ranging from stable, low arousal groups, such as a female with her calf, to affiliating, higher arousal, groups containing multiple males competing for access to the central female) were visually and acoustically tracked as they migrated southwards along the eastern coast of Australia. Social calls separated into four main cluster types, with signal structures in two categories consistent with "aggressive" signals and, "fearful/appeasement" signals in terrestrial animals. The group's use of signals within these clusters matched their context in that presumed low arousal non-affiliating groups almost exclusively used "low-arousal" signals (a cluster of low frequency unmodulated or upsweep sounds). Affiliating groups used a higher proportion of an intermediate cluster of signal types deemed "higher arousal" signals and groups containing three or more adults used a higher proportion of "aggressive" signal types.

X Demographics

X Demographics

The data shown below were collected from the profiles of 11 X users who shared this research output. Click here to find out more about how the information was compiled.
Mendeley readers

Mendeley readers

The data shown below were compiled from readership statistics for 72 Mendeley readers of this research output. Click here to see the associated Mendeley record.

Geographical breakdown

Country Count As %
Unknown 72 100%

Demographic breakdown

Readers by professional status Count As %
Student > Bachelor 14 19%
Student > Ph. D. Student 14 19%
Student > Master 12 17%
Researcher 10 14%
Professor 3 4%
Other 4 6%
Unknown 15 21%
Readers by discipline Count As %
Agricultural and Biological Sciences 24 33%
Environmental Science 11 15%
Biochemistry, Genetics and Molecular Biology 6 8%
Neuroscience 3 4%
Nursing and Health Professions 2 3%
Other 9 13%
Unknown 17 24%
Attention Score in Context

Attention Score in Context

This research output has an Altmetric Attention Score of 8. This is our high-level measure of the quality and quantity of online attention that it has received. This Attention Score, as well as the ranking and number of research outputs shown below, was calculated when the research output was last mentioned on 02 November 2017.
All research outputs
#4,660,989
of 25,382,440 outputs
Outputs from Journal of the Acoustical Society of America
#1,239
of 10,577 outputs
Outputs of similar age
#76,800
of 323,203 outputs
Outputs of similar age from Journal of the Acoustical Society of America
#22
of 236 outputs
Altmetric has tracked 25,382,440 research outputs across all sources so far. Compared to these this one has done well and is in the 81st percentile: it's in the top 25% of all research outputs ever tracked by Altmetric.
So far Altmetric has tracked 10,577 research outputs from this source. They typically receive a little more attention than average, with a mean Attention Score of 5.5. This one has done well, scoring higher than 88% of its peers.
Older research outputs will score higher simply because they've had more time to accumulate mentions. To account for age we can compare this Altmetric Attention Score to the 323,203 tracked outputs that were published within six weeks on either side of this one in any source. This one has done well, scoring higher than 76% of its contemporaries.
We're also able to compare this research output to 236 others from the same source and published within six weeks on either side of this one. This one has done particularly well, scoring higher than 90% of its contemporaries.