Sticking Together: Movement of Marine Mammals and Response to Underwater Noise

Marine mammals use vocalisations for a number of purposes: in locating food and underwater obstacles, and to maintain contact with members of their family group. These sounds are loud in comparison with the ambient background, but are subject to masking due to underwater noise sources such as tidal turbines. We developed a model of animal movement which implements simple behavioural rules to allow group cohesion. We discuss some general features of group behaviour, and approaches to validation of the model using empirical data. Including external sources of noise can lead to loss of contact between group members. However, animals can take various measures to deal with these effects, such as more frequent vocalisation or “panic” swimming in response to sounds.