REEXAMINING THE RELATIONSHIP BETWEEN BODY SIZE AND TONAL SIGNALS FREQUENCY IN WHALES: A COMPARATIVE APPROACH USING A NOVEL PHYLOGENY

Authors: May-Collado, Laura J.¹; Agnarsson, Ingi²; Wartzok, Douglas³

Source: Marine Mammal Science, Volume 23, Number 3, July 2007 , pp. 524-552(29)

Publisher: Blackwell Publishing

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Abstract:

A negative relationship between cetacean body size and tonal sound minimum and maximum frequencies has been demonstrated in several studies using standard statistical approaches where species are considered independent data points. Such studies, however, fail to account for known dependencies among related species—shared similarity due to common ancestry. Here we test these hypotheses by generating the most complete species level cetacean phylogeny to date, which we then use to reconstruct the evolutionary history of body size and standard tonal sounds parameters (minimum, maximum, and center frequency). Our results show that when phylogenetic relationships are considered the correlation between body size (length or mass) and minimum frequency is corroborated with approximately 27% of the variation in tonal sound frequency being explained by body size compared to 86% to 93% explained when phylogenetic relationships are not considered. Central frequency also correlates with body size in toothed whales, but for other tonal sound frequency parameters, including maximum frequency, this hypothesized correlation disappears. Therefore, constraints imposed by body size seem to have played a role in the evolution of minimum frequency but alternative hypotheses are required to explain variation in maximum frequency.

Keywords: evolution; adaptation; independent contrast; scaling; communication; phylogeny; tonal signals; toothed whales; delphinids; Mysticeti

Document Type: Research article

DOI: 10.1111/j.1748-7692.2007.02250.x

Affiliations: 1: Department of Biological Sciences, Florida International University, 11200 SW 8th Street, Miami, Florida 33199, U. S. A.and Escuela de Biología, Universidad de Costa Rica, Apto. 2060, San Pedro, Costa Rica, Email: lmayc002@fiu.edu 2: Departments of Zoology and Botany, University of British Columbia, 3529-6270 University Boulevard, Vancouver, British Columbia V6T 1Z4, Canada and Systematic Biology-Entomology, E-530, Smithsonian Institution, NHB-105, P. O. Box 37012, Washington, DC 20013-7012, U. S. A. 3: Department of Biological Sciences, Florida International University, 11200 SW 8th Street, Miami, Florida 33199, U. S. A.

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