As part of the JJBA Bioacoustics Conference that concluded today in Brest, France, Archipelagos Institute participated by presenting some of the results of its underwater acoustic research on Aegean cetacean populations. This research, which continues to be carried out in collaboration with Brunel University London, concerns the populations of short-beaked common dolphins and bottlenose dolphins in the Aegean Sea.

Given the great difficulty of researching marine mammal populations in the open sea and the limited observation time in each recording, the analysis of their communication sounds and the underwater soundscape reveals very important aspects of both their behaviour and the impact of anthropogenic activities.

What is certain is that we are referring to mammals with highly developed intelligence, which evolved many millions of years before the arthropod. However, in the space of only a few decades, their survival has been increasingly threatened by the effects of human activity (overfishing; lack of food, chemical and plastic pollution, underwater noise pollution and many others).