"Blue Whales Respond to Anthropogenic Noise"

Summary:
     Strange noises can have effects on many animals and make them respond in different ways. In the ocean, humans can make many strange sounds using their boats and sonar. This experiment showed the effects of anthropogenic, or human-made, noise on blue whales. In particular the studied focused on how the whales responded vocally. Whales use noise, like many other animals as a form of communication with one another. These calls can have many different meanings such as mating calls, mothers communicating with their young, and warnings of danger. If the noise made by humans had an effect on these calls then it could disrupt the entire species.
      The study took place in the Southern California Bight, where many blue whales can be found. The scientist used passive acoustic monitoring in the mid-frequency range during the experiment. The crews would get in boats and use sonar to send out different frequencies when they knew blue whales were near by. They then could listen using underwater recordings to hear if the whales made noises.
     The results showed that blue whales were less likely to communicate with one another when mid-frequency sonar was used. They were even less likely to make calls when the sonar was louder and closer to them. However, only noises from ships being near by did not disrupt the calls. Overall, the results showed that the calls were disrupted by sonar. The long lasting effects of these results is still unknown.

Evaluation:
     The report was accurate. There were graphs and detailed descriptions about the study that was conducted. The graphs help show the results of the study. The authors used details describing what methods and tools they used. The report was not very clear because, although the authors used details on what they used, they did not explain what each method was. A lay audience member would not understand what the authors were describing. The authors could have been more clear explaining what each method was. The report was concise. There was only five pages of written material and one page of graphs.The report showed that the experiment was ethical. The blue whales were not harmed by this experiment. The noise did not hurt the animals and only being exposed to the noise for a short amount of time. The readability was poor. There were many big words used, methods were not explained well and the organization was not set up well. The overall user satisfaction of the report was poor because of this.
     The purpose of the article was to inform the reader of the experiment that was conducted and its results. The authors wanted the reader to know that sonar had a negative effect on the blue whale. The intended reader, or the audience, would be other scientist. The report is written for an expert audience, such as other scientist who understand what methods they use. Specifically marine scientist would be reading this report. The organization of this document was poor. The results and discussion were before the methods and data analysis. It does not make sense to put the results before the procedure is written.