1. Testing the Motivation-Structural Rules Hypothesis in Southern Resident Killer Whales
Kathryn Scurci
Beam Reach
Spring 2010

2. Background 3 pods of Southern resident killer whales (J, K, and L)
Different “dialects” in pods
3 types of phonations:
Clicks
Whistles
Pulsed calls
Discrete, variable, aberrant
S1 and S 4 = common J calls
S2 and S19 = common L calls
S16 and S17 = common K calls
Ford 1991

3. The Motivation-Structural Rules Hypothesis
The harshness or tonality of a sound gives insight regarding the caller’s motivational/emotional state (Morton 1977)
Applies to close-contact situations
Darwin’s Principle of Antithesis (1872)
Evolutionary advantage of unambiguous calls
August and Anderson 1987

4. Harsh, Tonal, and Frequency-Modulated Calls Used in Study
S37 (Harsh)
S19 (Tonal)
V4 (Frequency-Modulated)

5. Methods Data Sets: Beam Reach 2010
Collected on the Gato Verde during 5 weeks at sea
Historical data from Lime Kiln State Park
Recordings made by Monika Wieland
Behavioral Data taken by Dr. Robert Otis and students
Greeting Ceremony video
Six minute recording and corresponding video from 2005

6. Kruskal-Wallis Test (p=0.037)
Combined Monika’s data with my data
Kruskal-Wallis Test (p=0.037)

7. (Kruskal-Wallis Test, p=0.015)
Trend = there is a significant difference between the occurrence of the three measured call types. By looking at the graphs, it becomes evident that S19 is the “statistically significant” call.
(Kruskal-Wallis Test, p=0.015)

8. Harsh, Tonal, and F-Modulated Call Rates for Greeting Ceremony and Other Data
Sets me up for future work. YAHOO! FIX P VALUE ON THIS SLIDE – ASK JASON IF NEED
Rates of S37, S19, and V4 were much higher in Greeting Ceremony than in other recordings (Wilcoxon Signed Rank Test, p>0.03)

9. Conclusions Limitations of study: Future studies:
Small sample size
Narrow definitions
Inconsistent methods of data collection
Future studies:
Specific acoustic parameters should be used to quantify harshness and tonality
Efforts should be made to measure aggressive behavior
Conclusions

10. Acknowledgements
I am very grateful to the following individuals and institutions for contributing to the realization of this study:
Friday Harbor Labs, University of Washington
Dr. Jason Wood
Dr. Val Veirs
Dr. Scott Veirs
Capt. Todd Shuster
Ken Balcomb
Monika Wieland
Dr. Robert Otis
Orca Network
Libby Whiting, Nora Carlson, and Horace Liang