101
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Byrnes EE, Lear KO, Morgan DL, Gleiss AC. Respirometer in a box: development and use of a portable field respirometer for estimating oxygen consumption of large-bodied fishes. JOURNAL OF FISH BIOLOGY 2020; 96:1045-1050. [PMID: 32057104 DOI: 10.1111/jfb.14287] [Citation(s) in RCA: 7] [Impact Index Per Article: 1.8] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [MESH Headings] [Track Full Text] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 12/04/2019] [Accepted: 02/12/2020] [Indexed: 06/10/2023]
Abstract
This study developed a portable, low-cost field respirometer for measuring oxygen consumption rates of large-bodied fishes. The respirometer performed well in laboratory tests and was used to measure the oxygen consumption rates ( M ˙ O2 ) of bull sharks Carcharhinus leucas (mean: 249.21 ± 58.10 mg O2 kg-1 h-1 at 27.05°C). Interspecific comparisons and assessments of oxygen degradation curves indicated that the respirometer provided reliable measurements of M ˙ O2 . This system presents a field-based alternative to laboratory respirometers, opening opportunities for studies on species in remote localities, increasing the ability to validate physiological field studies.
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Affiliation(s)
- Evan E Byrnes
- Centre for Sustainable Aquatic Ecosystems, Harry Butler Institute, Murdoch University, Perth, Australia
- College of Science, Health Engineering and Education, Murdoch University, Perth, Australia
| | - Karissa O Lear
- Centre for Sustainable Aquatic Ecosystems, Harry Butler Institute, Murdoch University, Perth, Australia
- College of Science, Health Engineering and Education, Murdoch University, Perth, Australia
| | - David L Morgan
- Centre for Sustainable Aquatic Ecosystems, Harry Butler Institute, Murdoch University, Perth, Australia
- College of Science, Health Engineering and Education, Murdoch University, Perth, Australia
| | - Adrian C Gleiss
- Centre for Sustainable Aquatic Ecosystems, Harry Butler Institute, Murdoch University, Perth, Australia
- College of Science, Health Engineering and Education, Murdoch University, Perth, Australia
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102
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Gharnit E, Bergeron P, Garant D, Réale D. Exploration profiles drive activity patterns and temporal niche specialization in a wild rodent. Behav Ecol 2020. [DOI: 10.1093/beheco/araa022] [Citation(s) in RCA: 16] [Impact Index Per Article: 4.0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Indexed: 11/14/2022] Open
Abstract
Abstract
Individual niche specialization can have important consequences for competition, fitness, and, ultimately, population dynamics and ecological speciation. The temporal window and the level of daily activity are niche components that may vary with sex, breeding season, food supply, population density, and predator’s circadian rhythm. More recently, ecologists emphasized that traits such as dispersal and space use could depend on personality differences. Boldness and exploration have been shown to correlate with variation in foraging patterns, habitat use, and home range. Here, we assessed the link between exploration, measured from repeated novel environment tests, activity patterns, and temporal niche specialization in wild eastern chipmunks (Tamias striatus). Intrinsic differences in exploration should drive daily activity patterns through differences in energy requirements, space use, or the speed to access resources. We used collar-mounted accelerometers to assess whether individual exploration profiles predicted: 1) daily overall dynamic body acceleration, reflecting overall activity levels; 2) mean activity duration and the rate of activity sequences, reflecting the structure of daily activity; and 3) patterns of dawn and dusk activity, reflecting temporal niche differentiation. Exploration and overall activity levels were weakly related. However, both dawn activity and rate of activity sequences increased with the speed of exploration. Overall, activity patterns varied according to temporal variability in food conditions. This study emphasizes the role of intrinsic behavioral differences in activity patterns in a wild animal population. Future studies will help us understand how yearly seasonality in reproduction, food abundance, and population density modulate personality-dependent foraging patterns and temporal niche specialization.
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Affiliation(s)
- Elouana Gharnit
- Département des Sciences Biologiques, Université du Québec à Montréal, Montréal, QC, Canada
| | - Patrick Bergeron
- Department of Biological Sciences, Bishop’s University, Sherbrooke, QC, Canada
| | - Dany Garant
- Département de Biologie, Université de Sherbooke, Sherbrooke, QC, Canada
| | - Denis Réale
- Département des Sciences Biologiques, Université du Québec à Montréal, Montréal, QC, Canada
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103
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Tackaberry JE, Cade DE, Goldbogen JA, Wiley DN, Friedlaender AS, Stimpert AK. From a calf's perspective: humpback whale nursing behavior on two US feeding grounds. PeerJ 2020; 8:e8538. [PMID: 32181052 PMCID: PMC7060748 DOI: 10.7717/peerj.8538] [Citation(s) in RCA: 7] [Impact Index Per Article: 1.8] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [Track Full Text] [Download PDF] [Figures] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 08/05/2019] [Accepted: 01/09/2020] [Indexed: 11/29/2022] Open
Abstract
Nursing influences growth rate and overall health of mammals; however, the behavior is difficult to study in wild cetaceans because it occurs below the surface and can thus be misidentified from surface observations. Nursing has been observed in humpback whales on the breeding and calving grounds, but the behavior remains unstudied on the feeding grounds. We instrumented three dependent calves (four total deployments) with combined video and 3D-accelerometer data loggers (CATS) on two United States feeding grounds to document nursing events. Two associated mothers were also tagged to determine if behavior diagnostic of nursing was evident in the mother’s movement. Animal-borne video was manually analyzed and the average duration of successful nursing events was 23 s (±7 sd, n = 11). Nursing occurred at depths between 4.1–64.4 m (along the seafloor) and in close temporal proximity to foraging events by the mothers, but could not be predicted solely by relative positions of mother and calf. When combining all calf deployments, successful nursing was documented eleven times; totaling only 0.3% of 21.0 hours of video. During nursing events, calves had higher overall dynamic body acceleration (ODBA) and increased fluke-stroke rate (FSR) compared to non-nursing segments (Mixed effect models, ODBA: F1,107 = 13.57756, p = 0.0004, FSR: F1,107 = 32.31018, p < 0.0001). In contrast, mothers had lower ODBA and reduced FSR during nursing events compared to non-nursing segments. These data provide the first characterization of accelerometer data of humpback whale nursing confirmed by animal-borne video tags and the first analysis of nursing events on feeding grounds. This is an important step in understanding the energetic consequences of lactation while foraging.
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Affiliation(s)
- Jennifer E Tackaberry
- Vertebrate Ecology Lab, Moss Landing Marine Laboratories, Moss Landing, CA, United States of America.,Cascadia Research Collective, Olympia, WA, United States of America
| | - David E Cade
- Department of Biology, Hopkins Marine Station, Stanford University, Pacific Grove, CA, United States of America
| | - Jeremy A Goldbogen
- Department of Biology, Hopkins Marine Station, Stanford University, Pacific Grove, CA, United States of America
| | - David N Wiley
- Stellwagen Bank National Marine Sanctuary, Situate, MA, United States of America
| | - Ari S Friedlaender
- University of California, Santa Cruz, Santa Cruz, CA, United States of America
| | - Alison K Stimpert
- Vertebrate Ecology Lab, Moss Landing Marine Laboratories, Moss Landing, CA, United States of America
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104
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Pagano AM, Atwood TC, Durner GM, Williams TM. The seasonal energetic landscape of an apex marine carnivore, the polar bear. Ecology 2020; 101:e02959. [DOI: 10.1002/ecy.2959] [Citation(s) in RCA: 19] [Impact Index Per Article: 4.8] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Submit a Manuscript] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 09/20/2019] [Revised: 10/22/2019] [Accepted: 11/12/2019] [Indexed: 12/12/2022]
Affiliation(s)
- Anthony M. Pagano
- U.S. Geological SurveyAlaska Science Center4210 University Drive Anchorage Alaska99508USA
- Department of Ecology & Evolutionary Biology University of California Santa Cruz 130 McAllister Way Santa Cruz California95060USA
| | - Todd C. Atwood
- U.S. Geological SurveyAlaska Science Center4210 University Drive Anchorage Alaska99508USA
| | - George M. Durner
- U.S. Geological SurveyAlaska Science Center4210 University Drive Anchorage Alaska99508USA
| | - Terrie M. Williams
- Department of Ecology & Evolutionary Biology University of California Santa Cruz 130 McAllister Way Santa Cruz California95060USA
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105
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Okuyama J, Shiozawa M, Shiode D. Heart rate and cardiac response to exercise during voluntary dives in captive sea turtles (Cheloniidae). Biol Open 2020; 9:bio049247. [PMID: 32033966 PMCID: PMC7055368 DOI: 10.1242/bio.049247] [Citation(s) in RCA: 7] [Impact Index Per Article: 1.8] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [MESH Headings] [Grants] [Track Full Text] [Download PDF] [Figures] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 11/07/2019] [Accepted: 01/24/2020] [Indexed: 12/14/2022] Open
Abstract
In chelonids, oxygen is primarily stored in the lungs during a dive. Therefore, management of blood oxygen transportation to peripheral tissues by cardiovascular adjustments during submergence is crucial to maximize their dive duration, and consequently, the time spent for ecological activities such as foraging. However, the cardiac response to exercise has rarely been examined in sea turtles. In this study, heart rate and its relationship with exercise during voluntary dives were determined in six captive green turtles (19.4±1.5 kg) by simultaneously recording depth, acceleration and electrocardiogram. Our results demonstrated that the heart rate of green turtles was generally low (11.1±0.4 bpm) during resting dives, but they often exhibited instantaneously extreme tachycardia (up to 78.4 bpm). Green turtles elevated their heart rate up to 39.8±1.5 bpm during ventilation after resting dives, while up to 33.1±1.4 bpm after active dives. The heart rate immediately elevated with onset of exercise, and increased linearly with exercise. This result may indicate that turtles immediately need to transport oxygen from the lungs to peripheral tissues by pulmonary and systemic circulations to meet the metabolic demands of exercise because they mainly store oxygen in their lungs.
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Affiliation(s)
- Junichi Okuyama
- Research Center for Subtropical Fisheries, Seikai National Fisheries Research Institute, Japan Fisheries Research and Education Agency, Ishigaki, Okinawa 907-0451, Japan
| | - Maika Shiozawa
- Department of Marine Bioscience, Graduate School of Marine Science and Technology, Tokyo University of Marine Science and Technology, Minato, Tokyo 108-8477, Japan
| | - Daisuke Shiode
- Department of Marine Bioscience, Graduate School of Marine Science and Technology, Tokyo University of Marine Science and Technology, Minato, Tokyo 108-8477, Japan
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106
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Meese EN, Lowe CG. Active acoustic telemetry tracking and tri-axial accelerometers reveal fine-scale movement strategies of a non-obligate ram ventilator. MOVEMENT ECOLOGY 2020; 8:8. [PMID: 32071719 PMCID: PMC7011439 DOI: 10.1186/s40462-020-0191-3] [Citation(s) in RCA: 11] [Impact Index Per Article: 2.8] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [Track Full Text] [Figures] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 09/03/2019] [Accepted: 01/06/2020] [Indexed: 06/10/2023]
Abstract
BACKGROUND California horn sharks (Heterodontus francisci) are nocturnally active, non-obligate ram ventilating sharks in rocky reef habitats that play an important ecological role in regulating invertebrate communities. We predicted horn sharks would use an area restricted search (ARS) movement strategy to locate dense resource patches while minimizing energetic costs of travel and nighttime activity. As ectotherms, we predicted environmental temperature would play a significant role in driving movement and activity patterns. METHODS Continuous active acoustic tracking methods and acceleration data loggers were used to quantify the diel fine-scale spatial movements and activity patterns of horn sharks. First passage time was used to identify the scale and locations of patches indicative of ARS. Activity was assessed using overall dynamic body acceleration (ODBA) as a proxy for energy expenditure. Behavior within a patch was characterized into three activity patterns: resting, episodic burst activity, and moderate, consistent activity. RESULTS After resting in daytime shelters, individuals travelled to multiple reefs throughout the night, traversing through depths of 2-112 m and temperatures of 10.0-23.8 °C. All sharks exhibited area restricted search patch use and arrived at their first patch approximately 3.4 ± 2.2 h (mean ± SD) after sunset. Sharks exhibited moderate, consistent activity in 54% of the patches used, episodic burst activity in 33%, and few (13%) were identified as resting at night. ODBA peaked while sharks were swimming through relatively deeper (~ 30 m), colder channels when traversing from one patch to the next. There was no consistent pattern between ODBA and temperature. CONCLUSIONS We provide one of the largest fine-scale, high-resolution paired data sets for an elasmobranch movement ecology study. Horn sharks exhibited ARS movement patterns for various activity patterns. Individuals likely travel to reefs known to have profitable and predictable patches, potentially tolerating less suitable environmental temperatures. We demonstrate how gathering high-resolution information on the movement decisions of a community resident enhances knowledge of community structure and overall ecosystem function.
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Affiliation(s)
- Emily N. Meese
- Department of Biological Sciences, CSULB Shark Lab, Long Beach, CA 90840 USA
- Present address: Texas A&M University Galveston, 1001 Texas Clipper Road, Galveston, TX 77551 USA
| | - Christopher G. Lowe
- Department of Biological Sciences, CSULB Shark Lab, Long Beach, CA 90840 USA
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107
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Flack A, Schaeffer PJ, Taylor JRE, Müller I, Wikelski M, Fiedler W. Daily energy expenditure in white storks is lower after fledging than in the nest. J Exp Biol 2020; 223:jeb219337. [PMID: 31900347 DOI: 10.1242/jeb.219337] [Citation(s) in RCA: 2] [Impact Index Per Article: 0.5] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [MESH Headings] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 11/26/2019] [Accepted: 12/17/2019] [Indexed: 01/26/2023]
Abstract
Many juvenile birds turn into long-distance migrants within weeks of fledging. This transition involves upheavals in their energy management as major changes in growth and activity occur. Understanding such ontogenetic transitions in energy allocation has been difficult because collecting continuous data on energy costs in wild developing birds was previously largely impossible. Here, we continuously measured heart rate and fine-scale movements of 20 free-living juvenile white storks (Ciconia ciconia) using on-board bio-loggers to explore individual and environmental factors relating to daily mean heart rate. In addition, we explored which specific energy management strategy storks use during these crucial early life stages. We found that daily mean heart rate increased with overall movement activity, and increasing body temperature, but that it decreased with age. Further, we found that during the nestling period, when growth costs are high, activity costs are low, and post-fledging that activity costs are increased while maintenance costs are low, indicating a constraint on overall energy use in both phases. Our observations are consistent with the hypothesis that individuals invested more energy per unit time while still in the nest than after fledging despite the high costs of flight.
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Affiliation(s)
- Andrea Flack
- Department of Migration, Max Planck Institute of Animal Behavior, 78315 Radolfzell, Germany
- Department of Biology, University of Konstanz, 78457 Konstanz, Germany
- Centre for the Advanced Study of Collective Behaviour, University of Konstanz, D-78468 Konstanz, Germany
| | - Paul J Schaeffer
- Department of Biology, Miami University, 212 Pearson Hall, 700 E. High Street, Oxford, OH 45056, USA
| | - Jan R E Taylor
- Faculty of Biology, University of Białystok, ul. Ciołkowskiego 1J, 15-245 Białystok, Poland
| | - Inge Müller
- Department of Migration, Max Planck Institute of Animal Behavior, 78315 Radolfzell, Germany
- Department of Biology, University of Konstanz, 78457 Konstanz, Germany
- Centre for the Advanced Study of Collective Behaviour, University of Konstanz, D-78468 Konstanz, Germany
| | - Martin Wikelski
- Department of Migration, Max Planck Institute of Animal Behavior, 78315 Radolfzell, Germany
- Department of Biology, University of Konstanz, 78457 Konstanz, Germany
- Centre for the Advanced Study of Collective Behaviour, University of Konstanz, D-78468 Konstanz, Germany
| | - Wolfgang Fiedler
- Department of Migration, Max Planck Institute of Animal Behavior, 78315 Radolfzell, Germany
- Department of Biology, University of Konstanz, 78457 Konstanz, Germany
- Centre for the Advanced Study of Collective Behaviour, University of Konstanz, D-78468 Konstanz, Germany
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108
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Coffey DM, Royer MA, Meyer CG, Holland KN. Diel patterns in swimming behavior of a vertically migrating deepwater shark, the bluntnose sixgill (Hexanchus griseus). PLoS One 2020; 15:e0228253. [PMID: 31978204 PMCID: PMC6980647 DOI: 10.1371/journal.pone.0228253] [Citation(s) in RCA: 14] [Impact Index Per Article: 3.5] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [MESH Headings] [Track Full Text] [Download PDF] [Figures] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 10/01/2019] [Accepted: 01/10/2020] [Indexed: 12/16/2022] Open
Abstract
Diel vertical migration is a widespread behavioral phenomenon where organisms migrate through the water column and may modify behavior relative to changing environmental conditions based on physiological tolerances. Here, we combined a novel suite of biologging technologies to examine the thermal physiology (intramuscular temperature), fine-scale swimming behavior and activity (overall dynamic body acceleration as a proxy for energy expenditure) of bluntnose sixgill sharks (Hexanchus griseus) in response to environmental changes (depth, water temperature, dissolved oxygen) experienced during diel vertical migrations. In the subtropical waters off Hawai‘i, sixgill sharks undertook pronounced diel vertical migrations and spent considerable amounts of time in cold (5–7°C), low oxygen conditions (10–25% saturation) during their deeper daytime distribution. Further, sixgill sharks spent the majority of their deeper daytime distribution with intramuscular temperatures warmer than ambient water temperatures, thereby providing them with a significant thermal advantage over non-vertically migrating and smaller-sized prey. Sixgill sharks exhibited relatively high rates of activity during both shallow (night) and deep (day) phases and contrary to our predictions, did not reduce activity levels during their deeper daytime distribution while experiencing low temperature and dissolved oxygen levels. This demonstrates an ability to tolerate the low oxygen conditions occurring within the local oxygen minimum zone. The novel combination of biologging technologies used here enabled innovative in situ deep-sea natural experiments and provided significant insight into the behavioral and physiological ecology of an ecologically important deepwater species.
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Affiliation(s)
- Daniel M. Coffey
- Hawai‘i Institute of Marine Biology, University of Hawai‘i at Mānoa, Kāne‘ohe, Hawai‘i, United States of America
- * E-mail:
| | - Mark A. Royer
- Hawai‘i Institute of Marine Biology, University of Hawai‘i at Mānoa, Kāne‘ohe, Hawai‘i, United States of America
| | - Carl G. Meyer
- Hawai‘i Institute of Marine Biology, University of Hawai‘i at Mānoa, Kāne‘ohe, Hawai‘i, United States of America
| | - Kim N. Holland
- Hawai‘i Institute of Marine Biology, University of Hawai‘i at Mānoa, Kāne‘ohe, Hawai‘i, United States of America
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109
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Katzner TE, Arlettaz R. Evaluating Contributions of Recent Tracking-Based Animal Movement Ecology to Conservation Management. Front Ecol Evol 2020. [DOI: 10.3389/fevo.2019.00519] [Citation(s) in RCA: 30] [Impact Index Per Article: 7.5] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Indexed: 11/13/2022] Open
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110
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Schmutz A, Chèze L, Jacques J, Martin P. A Method to Estimate Horse Speed per Stride from One IMU with a Machine Learning Method. SENSORS 2020; 20:s20020518. [PMID: 31963422 PMCID: PMC7014525 DOI: 10.3390/s20020518] [Citation(s) in RCA: 8] [Impact Index Per Article: 2.0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [MESH Headings] [Track Full Text] [Download PDF] [Figures] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 11/13/2019] [Revised: 12/27/2019] [Accepted: 01/15/2020] [Indexed: 11/26/2022]
Abstract
With the emergence of numerical sensors in sports, there is an increasing need for tools and methods to compute objective motion parameters with great accuracy. In particular, inertial measurement units are increasingly used in the clinical domain or the sports one to estimate spatiotemporal parameters. The purpose of the present study was to develop a model that can be included in a smart device in order to estimate the horse speed per stride from accelerometric and gyroscopic data without the use of a global positioning system, enabling the use of such a tool in both indoor and outdoor conditions. The accuracy of two speed calculation methods was compared: one signal based and one machine learning model. Those two methods allowed the calculation of speed from accelerometric and gyroscopic data without any other external input. For this purpose, data were collected under various speeds on straight lines and curved paths. Two reference systems were used to measure the speed in order to have a reference speed value to compare each tested model and estimate their accuracy. Those models were compared according to three different criteria: the percentage of error above 0.6 m/s, the RMSE, and the Bland and Altman limit of agreement. The machine learning method outperformed its competitor by giving the lowest value for all three criteria. The main contribution of this work is that it is the first method that gives an accurate speed per stride for horses without being coupled with a global positioning system or a magnetometer. No similar study performed on horses exists to compare our work with, so the presented model is compared to existing models for human walking. Moreover, this tool can be extended to other equestrian sports, as well as bipedal locomotion as long as consistent data are provided to train the machine learning model. The machine learning model’s accurate results can be explained by the large database built to train the model and the innovative way of slicing stride data before using them as an input for the model.
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Affiliation(s)
- Amandine Schmutz
- Lim France, Chemin Fontaine de Fanny, 24300 Nontron, France;
- CWD-Vetlab, Ecole Nationale Vétérinaire d’Alfort, F-94700 Maisons-Alfort, France
- LBMC UMR T9406, Université de Lyon, Lyon 1, 69364 Lyon, France;
- ERIC EA3083, Université de Lyon, Lyon 2, 69007 Lyon, France;
- Correspondence:
| | - Laurence Chèze
- LBMC UMR T9406, Université de Lyon, Lyon 1, 69364 Lyon, France;
| | - Julien Jacques
- ERIC EA3083, Université de Lyon, Lyon 2, 69007 Lyon, France;
| | - Pauline Martin
- Lim France, Chemin Fontaine de Fanny, 24300 Nontron, France;
- CWD-Vetlab, Ecole Nationale Vétérinaire d’Alfort, F-94700 Maisons-Alfort, France
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111
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Zena LA, Dillon D, Hunt KE, Navas CA, Buck CL, Bícego KC. Hormonal correlates of the annual cycle of activity and body temperature in the South-American tegu lizard (Salvator merianae). Gen Comp Endocrinol 2020; 285:113295. [PMID: 31580883 DOI: 10.1016/j.ygcen.2019.113295] [Citation(s) in RCA: 13] [Impact Index Per Article: 3.3] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [MESH Headings] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Submit a Manuscript] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 03/29/2019] [Revised: 08/19/2019] [Accepted: 09/29/2019] [Indexed: 01/29/2023]
Abstract
Life history transitions and hormones are known to interact and influence many aspects of animal physiology and behavior. The South-American tegu lizard (Salvator merianae) exhibits a profound seasonal shift in metabolism and body temperature, characterized by high daily activity during warmer months, including reproductive endothermy in spring, and metabolic suppression during hibernation in winter. This makes S. merianae an interesting subject for studies of interrelationships between endocrinology and seasonal changes in physiology/behavior. We investigated how plasma concentrations of hormones involved in regulation of energy metabolism (thyroid hormones T4 and T3; corticosterone) and reproduction (testosterone in males and estrogen/progesterone in females) correlate with activity and body temperature (Tb) across the annual cycle of captive held S. merianae in semi-natural conditions. In our initial model, thyroid hormones and corticosterone showed a positive relationship with activity and Tb with independent of sex: T3 positively correlated with activity and Tb, while T4 and corticosterone correlated positively with changes in Tb only. This suggests that thyroid hormones and glucocorticoids may be involved in metabolic transitions of annual cycle events. When accounting for sex-steroid hormones, our sex separated models showed a positive relationship between testosterone and Tb in males and progesterone and activity in females. Coupling seasonal endocrine measures with activity and Tb may expand our understanding of the relationship between animal's physiology and its environment. Manipulative experiments are required in order to unveil the directionality of influences existing among abiotic factors and the hormonal signaling of annual cyclicity in physiology/behavior.
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Affiliation(s)
- Lucas A Zena
- Department of Physiology, Institute of Biosciences, University of São Paulo, 05508-090 São Paulo, SP, Brazil; Department of Biological Sciences, Northern Arizona University, Flagstaff, AZ, USA.
| | - Danielle Dillon
- Department of Biological Sciences, Northern Arizona University, Flagstaff, AZ, USA
| | - Kathleen E Hunt
- Department of Biology, George Mason University, Fairfax, VA, USA
| | - Carlos A Navas
- Department of Physiology, Institute of Biosciences, University of São Paulo, 05508-090 São Paulo, SP, Brazil
| | - C Loren Buck
- Department of Biological Sciences, Northern Arizona University, Flagstaff, AZ, USA
| | - Kênia C Bícego
- Department of Animal Morphology and Physiology, College of Agricultural and Veterinary Sciences, São Paulo State University, 14884-900 Jaboticabal, São Paulo, Brazil.
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112
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Sotillo A, Baert JM, Müller W, Stienen EWM, Soares AMVM, Lens L. Time and energy costs of different foraging choices in an avian generalist species. MOVEMENT ECOLOGY 2019; 7:41. [PMID: 31908778 PMCID: PMC6937837 DOI: 10.1186/s40462-019-0188-y] [Citation(s) in RCA: 4] [Impact Index Per Article: 0.8] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [Grants] [Track Full Text] [Figures] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 10/19/2019] [Accepted: 12/18/2019] [Indexed: 06/10/2023]
Abstract
BACKGROUND Animals can obtain a higher foraging yield by optimizing energy expenditure or minimizing time costs. In this study, we assessed how individual variation in the relative use of marine and terrestrial foraging habitats relates to differences in the energy and time investments of an avian generalistic feeder (the Lesser Black-backed Gull, Larus fuscus), and how this changes during the course of the chick-rearing period. METHODS We analyzed 5 years of GPS tracking data collected at the colony of Zeebrugge (Belgium). Cost proxies for energy expenditure (overall dynamic body acceleration) and time costs (trip durations and time spent away from the colony), together with trip frequency, were analyzed against the relative use of the marine and terrestrial habitats. RESULTS The marine habitat was most often used by males and outside weekends, when fisheries are active. Marine trips implied higher energetic costs and lower time investments. As chicks became older, terrestrial trips became more prevalent, and trip frequency reached a peak towards 20 days after hatching of the first egg. Over a full chick rearing period, energy costs varied widely between individuals, but no trends were found across the marine foraging gradient. Conversely, a higher use of marine foraging implied lower overall amounts of time spent away from the colony. CONCLUSIONS Foraging habitat choice was related to overall time costs incurred by gulls, but not to energy costs. The effect of chick age on foraging habitat choice and effort may be driven by energy expenditure constraints on the amount of marine foraging that can be performed. If time is less constraining to them, Lesser Black-backed Gulls may meet the increasing chick demand for food by switching from high to low energy demanding foraging strategies.
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Affiliation(s)
- Alejandro Sotillo
- Department of Biology, Terrestrial Ecology Unit, Ghent University, K.L. Ledeganckstraat 35, 9000 Ghent, Belgium
- Department of Biology & CESAM - Centre for Environmental and Marine Studies, University of Aveiro, Campus de Santiago, 3810-193 Aveiro, Portugal
| | - Jan M. Baert
- Department of Biology, Terrestrial Ecology Unit, Ghent University, K.L. Ledeganckstraat 35, 9000 Ghent, Belgium
- Department of Biology – Behavioural Ecology and Ecophysiology Group, University of Antwerp, Campus Drie Eiken, Universiteitsplein 1, 2610 Wilrijk, Antwerp Belgium
| | - Wendt Müller
- Department of Biology – Behavioural Ecology and Ecophysiology Group, University of Antwerp, Campus Drie Eiken, Universiteitsplein 1, 2610 Wilrijk, Antwerp Belgium
| | - Eric W. M. Stienen
- Research Institute for Nature and Forest (INBO), Herman Teirlinckgebouw, Havenlaan 88, 1000 Brussels, Belgium
| | - Amadeu M. V. M. Soares
- Department of Biology & CESAM - Centre for Environmental and Marine Studies, University of Aveiro, Campus de Santiago, 3810-193 Aveiro, Portugal
| | - Luc Lens
- Department of Biology, Terrestrial Ecology Unit, Ghent University, K.L. Ledeganckstraat 35, 9000 Ghent, Belgium
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113
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Martin ME, Moriarty KM, Pauli JN. Forest structure and snow depth alter the movement patterns and subsequent expenditures of a forest carnivore, the Pacific marten. OIKOS 2019. [DOI: 10.1111/oik.06513] [Citation(s) in RCA: 13] [Impact Index Per Article: 2.6] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Indexed: 02/06/2023]
Affiliation(s)
- Marie E. Martin
- Dept of Forest and Wildlife Ecology, Univ. of Wisconsin‐Madison, 1630 Linden Drive Madison WI USA
| | - Katie M. Moriarty
- Pacific Northwest Research Station, United States Forest Service Olympia WA USA
- National Council for Air and Stream Improvement, Inc. Corvallis OR USA
| | - Jonathan N. Pauli
- Dept of Forest and Wildlife Ecology, Univ. of Wisconsin‐Madison, 1630 Linden Drive Madison WI USA
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Fahlbusch JA, Harrington KJ. A low-cost, open-source inertial movement GPS logger for eco-physiology applications. ACTA ACUST UNITED AC 2019; 222:jeb.211136. [PMID: 31753906 DOI: 10.1242/jeb.211136] [Citation(s) in RCA: 6] [Impact Index Per Article: 1.2] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 09/23/2019] [Accepted: 11/15/2019] [Indexed: 11/20/2022]
Abstract
Open-source technology has been increasingly used for developing low-cost animal-borne bio-loggers; however, a gap remains for a bio-logger that records both inertial movement and GPS positions. We address this need with the Tapered Wings Logger (TWLogger), an archival bio-logger that records high-resolution (e.g. 50 Hz) tri-axial accelerometry and magnetometry, temperature and GPS. The TWLogger can be built for 90 USD, accepts user-defined sampling parameters, and with a 500 mA h battery weighs 25 g. We provide publicly available build instructions and custom analysis scripts. Bench tests recorded 50 Hz inertial movement and 2 min GPS for 31.8±2.2 h (mean±s.d., n=6) with GPS accuracy within 10.9±13.6 m. Field deployments on a medium-sized bird of prey in the wild achieved similar results (n=13). The customizable TWLogger has wide-ranging application across systems and thus offers a practical solution for eco-physiology applications.
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Affiliation(s)
- James A Fahlbusch
- Hopkins Marine Station, Stanford University, 120 Ocean View Blvd, Pacific Grove, CA 93950, USA
| | - Katie J Harrington
- Acopian Center for Conservation Learning, Hawk Mountain Sanctuary, 410 Summer Valley Road, Orwigsburg, PA 17961, USA
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115
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Gou X, Tsunekawa A, Peng F, Zhao X, Li Y, Lian J. Method for Classifying Behavior of Livestock on Fenced Temperate Rangeland in Northern China. SENSORS 2019; 19:s19235334. [PMID: 31817009 PMCID: PMC6928611 DOI: 10.3390/s19235334] [Citation(s) in RCA: 3] [Impact Index Per Article: 0.6] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [MESH Headings] [Track Full Text] [Download PDF] [Figures] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 08/27/2019] [Revised: 11/05/2019] [Accepted: 11/29/2019] [Indexed: 11/26/2022]
Abstract
Different livestock behaviors have distinct effects on grassland degradation. However, because direct observation of livestock behavior is time- and labor-intensive, an automated methodology to classify livestock behavior according to animal position and posture is necessary. We applied the Random Forest algorithm to predict livestock behaviors in the Horqin Sand Land by using Global Positioning System (GPS) and tri-axis accelerometer data and then confirmed the results through field observations. The overall accuracy of GPS models was 85% to 90% when the time interval was greater than 300–800 s, which was approximated to the tri-axis model (96%) and GPS-tri models (96%). In the GPS model, the linear backward or forward distance were the most important determinants of behavior classification, and nongrazing was less than 30% when livestock travelled more than 30–50 m over a 5-min interval. For the tri-axis accelerometer model, the anteroposterior acceleration (–3 m/s2) of neck movement was the most accurate determinant of livestock behavior classification. Using instantaneous acceleration of livestock body movement more precisely classified livestock behaviors than did GPS location-based distance metrics. When a tri-axis model is unavailable, GPS models will yield sufficiently reliable classification accuracy when an appropriate time interval is defined.
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Affiliation(s)
- Xiaowei Gou
- The United Graduate School of Agricultural Sciences, Tottori University, 4-101 Koyama-Minami, Tottori 680-8553, Japan;
| | - Atsushi Tsunekawa
- Arid Land Research Center, Tottori University, 1390 Hamasaka, Tottori 680-0001, Japan;
| | - Fei Peng
- International Platform for Dryland Research and Education, Tottori University, 1390 Hamasaka, Tottori 680-0001, Japan
- Key Laboratory of Desert and Desertification, Northwest Institute of Eco-Environment and Resources, Chinese Academy of Sciences, Lanzhou 73000, China
- Correspondence:
| | - Xueyong Zhao
- Naiman Desertification Research Station, Northwest Institute of Eco-Environment and Resources, Chinese Academy of Sciences, Tongliao 028300, China; (X.Z.); (Y.L.); (J.L.)
| | - Yulin Li
- Naiman Desertification Research Station, Northwest Institute of Eco-Environment and Resources, Chinese Academy of Sciences, Tongliao 028300, China; (X.Z.); (Y.L.); (J.L.)
| | - Jie Lian
- Naiman Desertification Research Station, Northwest Institute of Eco-Environment and Resources, Chinese Academy of Sciences, Tongliao 028300, China; (X.Z.); (Y.L.); (J.L.)
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116
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Abstract
Movement data were collected at a riding stable over seven days. The dataset comprises data from 18 individual horses and ponies with 1.2 million 2-s data samples, of which 93,303 samples have been tagged with labels (labeled data). Data from 11 subjects were labeled. The data from six subjects and six activities were labeled more extensively. Data were collected during horse riding sessions and when the horses freely roamed the pasture over seven days. Sensor devices were attached to a collar that was positioned around the neck of horses. The orientation of the sensor devices was not strictly fixed. The sensors devices contained a three-axis accelerometer, gyroscope, and magnetometer and were sampled at 100 Hz.
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117
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Chakravarty P, Maalberg M, Cozzi G, Ozgul A, Aminian K. Behavioural compass: animal behaviour recognition using magnetometers. MOVEMENT ECOLOGY 2019; 7:28. [PMID: 31485331 PMCID: PMC6712732 DOI: 10.1186/s40462-019-0172-6] [Citation(s) in RCA: 13] [Impact Index Per Article: 2.6] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [Grants] [Track Full Text] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 05/20/2019] [Accepted: 07/25/2019] [Indexed: 05/08/2023]
Abstract
BACKGROUND Animal-borne data loggers today often house several sensors recording simultaneously at high frequency. This offers opportunities to gain fine-scale insights into behaviour from individual-sensor as well as integrated multi-sensor data. In the context of behaviour recognition, even though accelerometers have been used extensively, magnetometers have recently been shown to detect specific behaviours that accelerometers miss. The prevalent constraint of limited training data necessitates the importance of identifying behaviours with high robustness to data from new individuals, and may require fusing data from both these sensors. However, no study yet has developed an end-to-end approach to recognise common animal behaviours such as foraging, locomotion, and resting from magnetometer data in a common classification framework capable of accommodating and comparing data from both sensors. METHODS We address this by first leveraging magnetometers' similarity to accelerometers to develop biomechanical descriptors of movement: we use the static component given by sensor tilt with respect to Earth's local magnetic field to estimate posture, and the dynamic component given by change in sensor tilt with time to characterise movement intensity and periodicity. We use these descriptors within an existing hybrid scheme that combines biomechanics and machine learning to recognise behaviour. We showcase the utility of our method on triaxial magnetometer data collected on ten wild Kalahari meerkats (Suricata suricatta), with annotated video recordings of each individual serving as groundtruth. Finally, we compare our results with accelerometer-based behaviour recognition. RESULTS The overall recognition accuracy of > 94% obtained with magnetometer data was found to be comparable to that achieved using accelerometer data. Interestingly, higher robustness to inter-individual variability in dynamic behaviour was achieved with the magnetometer, while the accelerometer was better at estimating posture. CONCLUSIONS Magnetometers were found to accurately identify common behaviours, and were particularly robust to dynamic behaviour recognition. The use of biomechanical considerations to summarise magnetometer data makes the hybrid scheme capable of accommodating data from either or both sensors within the same framework according to each sensor's strengths. This provides future studies with a method to assess the added benefit of using magnetometers for behaviour recognition.
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Affiliation(s)
- Pritish Chakravarty
- School of Engineering, Ecole Polytechnique Fédérale de Lausanne, Lausanne, Switzerland
| | - Maiki Maalberg
- School of Engineering, Ecole Polytechnique Fédérale de Lausanne, Lausanne, Switzerland
- School of Information Technologies, Tallinn University of Technology, Tallinn, Estonia
| | - Gabriele Cozzi
- Department of Evolutionary Biology and Environmental Studies, University of Zurich, Zurich, Switzerland
- Kalahari Research Centre, Kuruman River Reserve, Van Zylsrus, 8467 South Africa
| | - Arpat Ozgul
- Department of Evolutionary Biology and Environmental Studies, University of Zurich, Zurich, Switzerland
- Kalahari Research Centre, Kuruman River Reserve, Van Zylsrus, 8467 South Africa
| | - Kamiar Aminian
- School of Engineering, Ecole Polytechnique Fédérale de Lausanne, Lausanne, Switzerland
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118
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Fannjiang C, Mooney TA, Cones S, Mann D, Shorter KA, Katija K. Augmenting biologging with supervised machine learning to study in situ behavior of the medusa Chrysaora fuscescens. ACTA ACUST UNITED AC 2019; 222:jeb.207654. [PMID: 31371399 PMCID: PMC6739807 DOI: 10.1242/jeb.207654] [Citation(s) in RCA: 3] [Impact Index Per Article: 0.6] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [Track Full Text] [Figures] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 06/01/2019] [Accepted: 07/29/2019] [Indexed: 11/20/2022]
Abstract
Zooplankton play critical roles in marine ecosystems, yet their fine-scale behavior remains poorly understood because of the difficulty in studying individuals in situ. Here, we combine biologging with supervised machine learning (ML) to propose a pipeline for studying in situ behavior of larger zooplankton such as jellyfish. We deployed the ITAG, a biologging package with high-resolution motion sensors designed for soft-bodied invertebrates, on eight Chrysaora fuscescens in Monterey Bay, using the tether method for retrieval. By analyzing simultaneous video footage of the tagged jellyfish, we developed ML methods to: (1) identify periods of tag data corrupted by the tether method, which may have compromised prior research findings, and (2) classify jellyfish behaviors. Our tools yield characterizations of fine-scale jellyfish activity and orientation over long durations, and we conclude that it is essential to develop behavioral classifiers on in situ rather than laboratory data. Summary: High-resolution motion sensors paired with supervised machine learning can be used to infer fine-scale in situ behavior of zooplankton over long durations.
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Affiliation(s)
- Clara Fannjiang
- Research and Development, Monterey Bay Aquarium Research Institute, Moss Landing, CA 95039, USA .,Electrical Engineering and Computer Sciences, University of California, Berkeley, Berkeley, CA 94720, USA
| | - T Aran Mooney
- Biology Department, Woods Hole Oceanographic Institution, Woods Hole, MA 02543, USA
| | - Seth Cones
- Biology Department, Woods Hole Oceanographic Institution, Woods Hole, MA 02543, USA
| | | | - K Alex Shorter
- Department of Mechanical Engineering, University of Michigan, Ann Arbor, MI 48109, USA
| | - Kakani Katija
- Research and Development, Monterey Bay Aquarium Research Institute, Moss Landing, CA 95039, USA
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119
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Cheng Y, Fiedler W, Wikelski M, Flack A. "Closer-to-home" strategy benefits juvenile survival in a long-distance migratory bird. Ecol Evol 2019; 9:8945-8952. [PMID: 31462993 PMCID: PMC6706183 DOI: 10.1002/ece3.5395] [Citation(s) in RCA: 29] [Impact Index Per Article: 5.8] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [Track Full Text] [Download PDF] [Figures] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 04/18/2019] [Revised: 05/28/2019] [Accepted: 06/04/2019] [Indexed: 11/28/2022] Open
Abstract
Human-induced changes in the climate and environment that occur at an unprecedented speed are challenging the existence of migratory species. Faced with these new challenges, species with diverse and flexible migratory behaviors may suffer less from population decline, as they may be better at responding to these changes by altering their migratory behavior. At the individual level, variations in migratory behavior may lead to differences in fitness and subsequently influence the population's demographic dynamics. Using lifetime GPS bio-logging data from 169 white storks (Ciconia ciconia), we explore whether the recently shortened migration distance of storks affects their survival during different stages of their juvenile life. We also explore how other variations in migratory decisions (i.e., time, destination), movement activity (measured using overall body dynamic acceleration), and early life conditions influence juvenile survival. We observed that their first autumn migration was the riskiest period for juvenile white storks. Individuals that migrated shorter distances and fledged earlier experienced lower mortality risks. In addition, higher movement activity and overwintering "closer-to-home" (with 84.21% of the tracked individuals stayed Europe or North Africa) were associated with higher survival. Our study shows how avian migrants can change life history decisions over only a few decades, and thus it helps us to understand and predict how migrants respond to the rapidly changing world.
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Affiliation(s)
- Yachang Cheng
- Department of MigrationMax Planck Institute of Animal BehaviorRadolfzellGermany
- Department of BiologyUniversity of KonstanzKonstanzGermany
| | - Wolfgang Fiedler
- Department of MigrationMax Planck Institute of Animal BehaviorRadolfzellGermany
- Department of BiologyUniversity of KonstanzKonstanzGermany
| | - Martin Wikelski
- Department of MigrationMax Planck Institute of Animal BehaviorRadolfzellGermany
- Department of BiologyUniversity of KonstanzKonstanzGermany
- Centre for the Advanced Study of Collective BehaviourUniversity of KonstanzKonstanzGermany
| | - Andrea Flack
- Department of MigrationMax Planck Institute of Animal BehaviorRadolfzellGermany
- Department of BiologyUniversity of KonstanzKonstanzGermany
- Centre for the Advanced Study of Collective BehaviourUniversity of KonstanzKonstanzGermany
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120
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Adam T, Griffiths CA, Leos‐Barajas V, Meese EN, Lowe CG, Blackwell PG, Righton D, Langrock R. Joint modelling of multi‐scale animal movement data using hierarchical hidden Markov models. Methods Ecol Evol 2019. [DOI: 10.1111/2041-210x.13241] [Citation(s) in RCA: 32] [Impact Index Per Article: 6.4] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Indexed: 11/29/2022]
Affiliation(s)
- Timo Adam
- Bielefeld University Bielefeld Germany
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121
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Rast W, Barthel LMF, Berger A. Music Festival Makes Hedgehogs Move: How Individuals Cope Behaviorally in Response to Human-Induced Stressors. Animals (Basel) 2019; 9:ani9070455. [PMID: 31323837 PMCID: PMC6680799 DOI: 10.3390/ani9070455] [Citation(s) in RCA: 10] [Impact Index Per Article: 2.0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [Track Full Text] [Download PDF] [Figures] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 05/15/2019] [Revised: 07/01/2019] [Accepted: 07/09/2019] [Indexed: 11/26/2022] Open
Abstract
Simple Summary Mega-events like concerts or festivals can still impact wildlife even when protective measures are taken. We remotely observed eight hedgehogs in a Berlin city park before and during a music festival using measuring devices attached to their bodies. While the actual festival only lasted two days (with about 70,000 visitors each day), setting the area up and removing the stages and stalls took 17 days in total. Construction work continued around the clock, causing an increase in light, noise and human presence throughout the night. In response, the hedgehogs showed clear changes in their behavior in comparison to the 19-day period just before the festival. We found, however, that different individuals responded differently to these changes in their environment. This individuality and behavioral flexibility could be one reason why hedgehogs are able to live in big cities. Abstract Understanding the impact of human activities on wildlife behavior and fitness can improve their sustainability. In a pilot study, we wanted to identify behavioral responses to anthropogenic stress in an urban species during a semi-experimental field study. We equipped eight urban hedgehogs (Erinaceus europaeus; four per sex) with bio-loggers to record their behavior before and during a mega music festival (2 × 19 days) in Treptower Park, Berlin. We used GPS (Global Positioning System) to monitor spatial behavior, VHF (Very High Frequency)-loggers to quantify daily nest utilization, and accelerometers to distinguish between different behaviors at a high resolution and to calculate daily disturbance (using Degrees of Functional Coupling). The hedgehogs showed clear behavioral differences between the pre-festival and festival phases. We found evidence supporting highly individual strategies, varying between spatial and temporal evasion of the disturbance. Averaging the responses of the individual animals or only examining one behavioral parameter masked these potentially different individual coping strategies. Using a meaningful combination of different minimal-invasive bio-logger types, we were able to show high inter-individual behavioral variance of urban hedgehogs in response to an anthropogenic disturbance, which might be a precondition to persist successfully in urban environments.
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Affiliation(s)
- Wanja Rast
- Department Evolutionary Ecology, Leibniz Institute for Zoo and Wildlife Research (IZW), Alfred-Kowalke-Straße 17, 10315 Berlin, Germany
| | - Leon M F Barthel
- Department Evolutionary Ecology, Leibniz Institute for Zoo and Wildlife Research (IZW), Alfred-Kowalke-Straße 17, 10315 Berlin, Germany
- Berlin Brandenburg Institute of Advanced Biodiversity Research (BBIB), 14195 Berlin, Germany
| | - Anne Berger
- Department Evolutionary Ecology, Leibniz Institute for Zoo and Wildlife Research (IZW), Alfred-Kowalke-Straße 17, 10315 Berlin, Germany.
- Berlin Brandenburg Institute of Advanced Biodiversity Research (BBIB), 14195 Berlin, Germany.
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122
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Mayer M, Natusch D, Frank S. Water body type and group size affect the flight initiation distance of European waterbirds. PLoS One 2019; 14:e0219845. [PMID: 31310637 PMCID: PMC6634859 DOI: 10.1371/journal.pone.0219845] [Citation(s) in RCA: 10] [Impact Index Per Article: 2.0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [MESH Headings] [Track Full Text] [Download PDF] [Figures] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 05/10/2019] [Accepted: 07/03/2019] [Indexed: 11/18/2022] Open
Abstract
Human encroachment on nature grows constantly, increasing human-wildlife interactions. Flight initiation distance (FID, the distance at which animals flee from an approaching threat) is often used to measure antipredator behaviour and establish buffer zones to reduce human impact on wildlife. In this study, we approached 10 waterbird species on larger lakes and narrower rivers using a motorboat. We investigated whether water body type, season (winter/spring), approach starting distance, species body mass, and group size influenced bird FID. Average bird FID was 145 ± 92 m and differed between species. In general, FID of all species was larger on lakes than rivers and increased with increasing group size and approach starting distance. When analysed separately for the two most common species, common goldeneyes (Bucephala clangula) and mallards (Anas platyrhynchos), FID increased with increasing starting distance on rivers, but not lakes, likely because birds on lakes have enough time to evaluate the approaching object and take flight at great distance. Additionally, birds might perform different activities on lakes versus rivers, leading to varying energetic trade-offs between the two habitat types, which may affect the decision when to take flight. Finally, mallards aggregated in larger groups on lakes, which affected FID, likely due to enhanced visibility (i.e., earlier detection of the approaching boat) and detection probability (via increased group size) on lakes. Our results emphasize the importance of accounting for habitat characteristics, such as water body type, when studying waterbird FID, because they can affect the visibility of stimuli, group size and potentially animal behaviour, factors which should be taken into account when planning buffer zones for waterbirds in conservation areas.
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Affiliation(s)
- Martin Mayer
- Department of Bioscience, Aarhus University, Rønde, Denmark
- Department of Natural Sciences and Environmental Health, University of South-Eastern Norway, Bø i Telemark, Norway
| | - Daniel Natusch
- Department of Biological Sciences, Macquarie University, North Ryde, New South Wales, Australia
| | - Shane Frank
- Department of Natural Sciences and Environmental Health, University of South-Eastern Norway, Bø i Telemark, Norway
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123
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Wilson RP, Börger L, Holton MD, Scantlebury DM, Gómez-Laich A, Quintana F, Rosell F, Graf PM, Williams H, Gunner R, Hopkins L, Marks N, Geraldi NR, Duarte CM, Scott R, Strano MS, Robotka H, Eizaguirre C, Fahlman A, Shepard ELC. Estimates for energy expenditure in free-living animals using acceleration proxies: A reappraisal. J Anim Ecol 2019; 89:161-172. [PMID: 31173339 DOI: 10.1111/1365-2656.13040] [Citation(s) in RCA: 95] [Impact Index Per Article: 19.0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 11/06/2018] [Accepted: 04/10/2019] [Indexed: 11/30/2022]
Abstract
It is fundamentally important for many animal ecologists to quantify the costs of animal activities, although it is not straightforward to do so. The recording of triaxial acceleration by animal-attached devices has been proposed as a way forward for this, with the specific suggestion that dynamic body acceleration (DBA) be used as a proxy for movement-based power. Dynamic body acceleration has now been validated frequently, both in the laboratory and in the field, although the literature still shows that some aspects of DBA theory and practice are misunderstood. Here, we examine the theory behind DBA and employ modelling approaches to assess factors that affect the link between DBA and energy expenditure, from the deployment of the tag, through to the calibration of DBA with energy use in laboratory and field settings. Using data from a range of species and movement modes, we illustrate that vectorial and additive DBA metrics are proportional to each other. Either can be used as a proxy for energy and summed to estimate total energy expended over a given period, or divided by time to give a proxy for movement-related metabolic power. Nonetheless, we highlight how the ability of DBA to predict metabolic rate declines as the contribution of non-movement-related factors, such as heat production, increases. Overall, DBA seems to be a substantive proxy for movement-based power but consideration of other movement-related metrics, such as the static body acceleration and the rate of change of body pitch and roll, may enable researchers to refine movement-based metabolic costs, particularly in animals where movement is not characterized by marked changes in body acceleration.
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Affiliation(s)
- Rory P Wilson
- Department of Biosciences, Swansea University, Swansea, UK
| | - Luca Börger
- Department of Biosciences, Swansea University, Swansea, UK
| | - Mark D Holton
- Department of Computing Science, Swansea University, Swansea, UK
| | - D Michael Scantlebury
- School of Biological Sciences, Institute for Global Food Security, Queen's University Belfast, Belfast, UK
| | - Agustina Gómez-Laich
- Instituto de Biología de Organismos Marinos IBIOMAR-CONICET, Puerto Madryn, Argentina
| | - Flavio Quintana
- Instituto de Biología de Organismos Marinos IBIOMAR-CONICET, Puerto Madryn, Argentina
| | - Frank Rosell
- Department of Natural Sciences and Environmental Health, Faculty of Technology, Natural Sciences, and Maritime Sciences, University of South-Eastern Norway, Bø i Telemark, Norway
| | - Patricia M Graf
- Department of Forestry and Renewable Forest Resources, Biotechnical Faculty, University of Ljubljana, Ljubljana, Slovenia.,Institute of Wildlife Biology and Game Management, University of Natural Resources and Life Sciences, Vienna, Vienna, Austria
| | | | - Richard Gunner
- Department of Biosciences, Swansea University, Swansea, UK
| | - Lloyd Hopkins
- Department of Biosciences, Swansea University, Swansea, UK
| | - Nikki Marks
- School of Biological Sciences, Institute for Global Food Security, Queen's University Belfast, Belfast, UK
| | - Nathan R Geraldi
- Red Sea Research Centre and Computational Biology Research Center, King Abdullah University of Science and Technology, Thuwal, Saudi Arabia
| | - Carlos M Duarte
- Red Sea Research Centre and Computational Biology Research Center, King Abdullah University of Science and Technology, Thuwal, Saudi Arabia
| | - Rebecca Scott
- Geomar Helmholz Centre for Ocean Research Kiel, Kiel, Germany
| | - Michael S Strano
- Department of Chemical Engineering, Massachusetts Institute of Technology, Cambridge, Massachusetts, USA
| | | | - Christophe Eizaguirre
- School of Biological and Chemical Sciences, Queen Mary University of London, London, UK
| | - Andreas Fahlman
- Departamento de Investigación, Fundación Oceanogràfic de la Comunidad Valenciana, Valencia, Spain
| | - Emily L C Shepard
- Department of Biosciences, Swansea University, Swansea, UK.,Max Planck Institute for Ornithology, Radolfzell, Germany
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124
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Zhang VY, Williams CT, Theimer TC, Buck CL. Reproductive and Environmental Drivers of Time and Activity Budgets of Striped Skunks. Integr Org Biol 2019; 1:obz013. [PMID: 33791528 PMCID: PMC7671141 DOI: 10.1093/iob/obz013] [Citation(s) in RCA: 8] [Impact Index Per Article: 1.6] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Track Full Text] [Download PDF] [Figures] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Indexed: 01/05/2023] Open
Abstract
The regulation of daily and circannual activity patterns is an important mechanism by which animals may balance energetic requirements associated with both abiotic and biotic variables. Using collar-mounted accelerometers, we assess the relative importance of reproductive stage and environmental conditions on the overall dynamic body acceleration (ODBA) of free-living striped skunks (Mephitis mephitis). We found that activity timing relative to photoperiod varied across seasonal stages for both sexes. Surprisingly, male skunks did not commence activity earlier than females during the mating interval. Moreover, while female skunks began activity before dusk and terminated activity after dawn during mid- through late summer (lactation period), the duration of activity bouts in females during this period was not different from other seasons. Both male and female skunks exhibited high variability and fragmentation in daily activity rhythms except during the lactation period, when females appear to switch to prolonged bouts of nocturnal activity. Overall, ODBA varied by season and sex, with changes in ODBA indicative of seasonal reproductive requirements such as conspecific competition for mates in males and lactation in females. Weather conditions had little effect on skunk activity levels except during the winter season, when snow cover and temperature negatively influenced daily ODBA. Taken together, the activity patterns of striped skunks appear to be primarily driven by seasonal investment in reproduction and secondarily by thermoregulatory constraints during the non-winter months. Our results highlight the importance of considering how environmental and reproductive drivers may interact to affect activity across both the daily and seasonal cycle.
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Affiliation(s)
- V Y Zhang
- Department of Biological Sciences, Northern Arizona University, Flagstaff, AZ 86011, USA
| | - C T Williams
- Institute of Arctic Biology and Department of Biology & Wildlife, University of Alaska Fairbanks, Fairbanks, AK 99775, USA
| | - T C Theimer
- Department of Biological Sciences, Northern Arizona University, Flagstaff, AZ 86011, USA
| | - C Loren Buck
- Department of Biological Sciences, Northern Arizona University, Flagstaff, AZ 86011, USA
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125
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O'Mara MT, Scharf AK, Fahr J, Abedi-Lartey M, Wikelski M, Dechmann DKN, Safi K. Overall Dynamic Body Acceleration in Straw-Colored Fruit Bats Increases in Headwinds but Not With Airspeed. Front Ecol Evol 2019. [DOI: 10.3389/fevo.2019.00200] [Citation(s) in RCA: 7] [Impact Index Per Article: 1.4] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Indexed: 11/13/2022] Open
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126
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Studd EK, Boudreau MR, Majchrzak YN, Menzies AK, Peers MJL, Seguin JL, Lavergne SG, Boonstra R, Murray DL, Boutin S, Humphries MM. Use of Acceleration and Acoustics to Classify Behavior, Generate Time Budgets, and Evaluate Responses to Moonlight in Free-Ranging Snowshoe Hares. Front Ecol Evol 2019. [DOI: 10.3389/fevo.2019.00154] [Citation(s) in RCA: 17] [Impact Index Per Article: 3.4] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Indexed: 11/13/2022] Open
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127
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Gleiss AC, Schallert RJ, Dale JJ, Wilson SG, Block BA. Direct measurement of swimming and diving kinematics of giant Atlantic bluefin tuna ( Thunnus thynnus). ROYAL SOCIETY OPEN SCIENCE 2019; 6:190203. [PMID: 31218059 PMCID: PMC6549966 DOI: 10.1098/rsos.190203] [Citation(s) in RCA: 6] [Impact Index Per Article: 1.2] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [Grants] [Track Full Text] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 02/06/2019] [Accepted: 04/09/2019] [Indexed: 05/24/2023]
Abstract
Tunas possess a range of physiological and mechanical adaptations geared towards high-performance swimming that are of considerable interest to physiologists, ecologists and engineers. Advances in biologging have provided significant improvements in understanding tuna migrations and vertical movement patterns, yet our understanding of the locomotion and swimming mechanics of these fish under natural conditions is limited. We equipped Atlantic bluefin tuna (Thunnus thynnus) with motion-sensitive tags and video cameras to quantify the gaits and kinematics used by wild fish. Our data reveal significant variety in the locomotory kinematics of Atlantic bluefin tuna, ranging from continuous locomotion to two types of intermittent locomotion. The tuna sustained swimming speeds in excess of 1.5 m s-1 (0.6 body lengths s-1), while beating their tail at a frequency of approximately 1 Hz. While diving, some descents were entirely composed of passive glides, with slower descent rates featuring more gliding, while ascents were primarily composed of active swimming. The observed swimming behaviour of Atlantic bluefin tuna is consistent with theoretical models predicting such intermittent locomotion to result in mechanical and physiological advantages. Our results confirm that Atlantic bluefin tuna possess behavioural specializations to increase their locomotory performance, which together with their unique physiology improve their capacity to use pelagic and mesopelagic habitats.
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Affiliation(s)
- Adrian C. Gleiss
- Tuna Research and Conservation Centre, Hopkins Marine Station, Stanford University, 120 Oceanview Boulevard, 93950 Pacific Grove, USA
- Centre for Sustainable Aquatic Ecosystems, Harry Butler Institute, Murdoch University, 90 South Street, Murdoch, Western Australia 6150, Australia
- College of Science, Health, Engineering and Education, Environment and Conservation Sciences, Murdoch University, 90 South Street, Murdoch, Western Australia 6150, Australia
| | - Robert J. Schallert
- Tuna Research and Conservation Centre, Hopkins Marine Station, Stanford University, 120 Oceanview Boulevard, 93950 Pacific Grove, USA
| | - Jonathan J. Dale
- Tuna Research and Conservation Centre, Hopkins Marine Station, Stanford University, 120 Oceanview Boulevard, 93950 Pacific Grove, USA
| | - Steve G. Wilson
- Tuna Research and Conservation Centre, Hopkins Marine Station, Stanford University, 120 Oceanview Boulevard, 93950 Pacific Grove, USA
| | - Barbara A. Block
- Tuna Research and Conservation Centre, Hopkins Marine Station, Stanford University, 120 Oceanview Boulevard, 93950 Pacific Grove, USA
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128
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Hicks O, Burthe SJ, Daunt F, Newell M, Butler A, Ito M, Sato K, Green JA. The energetic cost of parasitism in a wild population. Proc Biol Sci 2019; 285:rspb.2018.0489. [PMID: 29848646 PMCID: PMC5998108 DOI: 10.1098/rspb.2018.0489] [Citation(s) in RCA: 26] [Impact Index Per Article: 5.2] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [Track Full Text] [Download PDF] [Figures] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 03/05/2018] [Accepted: 05/08/2018] [Indexed: 11/21/2022] Open
Abstract
Parasites have profound fitness effects on their hosts, yet these are often sub-lethal, making them difficult to understand and quantify. A principal sub-lethal mechanism that reduces fitness is parasite-induced increase in energetic costs of specific behaviours, potentially resulting in changes to time and energy budgets. However, quantifying the influence of parasites on these costs has not been undertaken in free-living animals. We used accelerometers to estimate energy expenditure on flying, diving and resting, in relation to a natural gradient of endo-parasite loads in a wild population of European shags Phalacrocorax aristotelis. We found that flight costs were 10% higher in adult females with higher parasite loads and these individuals spent 44% less time flying than females with lower parasite loads. There was no evidence for an effect of parasite load on daily energy expenditure, suggesting the existence of an energy ceiling, with the increase in cost of flight compensated for by a reduction in flight duration. These behaviour specific costs of parasitism will have knock-on effects on reproductive success, if constraints on foraging behaviour detrimentally affect provisioning of young. The findings emphasize the importance of natural parasite loads in shaping the ecology and life-history of their hosts, which can have significant population level consequences.
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Affiliation(s)
- Olivia Hicks
- School of Environmental Sciences, University of Liverpool, Liverpool L69 3GP, UK
| | - Sarah J Burthe
- Centre for Ecology and Hydrology, Bush Estate, Penicuik, Midlothian, EH26 0QB, UK
| | - Francis Daunt
- Centre for Ecology and Hydrology, Bush Estate, Penicuik, Midlothian, EH26 0QB, UK
| | - Mark Newell
- Centre for Ecology and Hydrology, Bush Estate, Penicuik, Midlothian, EH26 0QB, UK
| | - Adam Butler
- Biomathematics and Statistics Scotland, James Clerk Maxwell Building, The King's Buildings, Peter Guthrie Tait Road, Edinburgh EH9 3FD, UK
| | - Motohiro Ito
- Department of Applied Biosciences, Faculty of Life Sciences, Tokyo University, 1-1-1 Izumino, Itakura-machi, Ora-gun, Gunma 374-0193, Japan
| | - Katsufumi Sato
- Atmosphere and Ocean Research Institute, The University of Tokyo, 5-1-5 Kashiwanoha, Kashiwa City, Chiba Prefecture, 277-8564, Japan
| | - Jonathan A Green
- School of Environmental Sciences, University of Liverpool, Liverpool L69 3GP, UK
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129
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Chakravarty P, Cozzi G, Ozgul A, Aminian K. A novel biomechanical approach for animal behaviour recognition using accelerometers. Methods Ecol Evol 2019. [DOI: 10.1111/2041-210x.13172] [Citation(s) in RCA: 41] [Impact Index Per Article: 8.2] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Indexed: 11/27/2022]
Affiliation(s)
- Pritish Chakravarty
- Interfaculty Institute of Bioengineering (IBI‐STI)Ecole Polytechnique Fédérale de Lausanne Lausanne Switzerland
| | - Gabriele Cozzi
- Institute of Evolutionary Biology and Environmental StudiesUniversity of Zurich Zurich Switzerland
- Kalahari Research CentreKuruman River Reserve Van Zylsrus South Africa
| | - Arpat Ozgul
- Institute of Evolutionary Biology and Environmental StudiesUniversity of Zurich Zurich Switzerland
- Kalahari Research CentreKuruman River Reserve Van Zylsrus South Africa
| | - Kamiar Aminian
- Interfaculty Institute of Bioengineering (IBI‐STI)Ecole Polytechnique Fédérale de Lausanne Lausanne Switzerland
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130
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Pagano AM, Williams TM. Estimating the energy expenditure of free-ranging polar bears using tri-axial accelerometers: A validation with doubly labeled water. Ecol Evol 2019; 9:4210-4219. [PMID: 31015999 PMCID: PMC6468055 DOI: 10.1002/ece3.5053] [Citation(s) in RCA: 24] [Impact Index Per Article: 4.8] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [Track Full Text] [Download PDF] [Figures] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 11/24/2018] [Revised: 02/13/2019] [Accepted: 02/19/2019] [Indexed: 01/27/2023] Open
Abstract
Measures of energy expenditure can be used to inform animal conservation and management, but methods for measuring the energy expenditure of free-ranging animals have a variety of limitations. Advancements in biologging technologies have enabled the use of dynamic body acceleration derived from accelerometers as a proxy for energy expenditure. Although dynamic body acceleration has been shown to strongly correlate with oxygen consumption in captive animals, it has been validated in only a few studies on free-ranging animals. Here, we use relationships between oxygen consumption and overall dynamic body acceleration in resting and walking polar bears Ursus maritimus and published values for the costs of swimming in polar bears to estimate the total energy expenditure of 6 free-ranging polar bears that were primarily using the sea ice of the Beaufort Sea. Energetic models based on accelerometry were compared to models of energy expenditure on the same individuals derived from doubly labeled water methods. Accelerometer-based estimates of energy expenditure on average predicted total energy expenditure to be 30% less than estimates derived from doubly labeled water. Nevertheless, accelerometer-based measures of energy expenditure strongly correlated (r 2 = 0.70) with measures derived from doubly labeled water. Our findings highlight the strengths and limitations in dynamic body acceleration as a measure of total energy expenditure while also further supporting its use as a proxy for instantaneous, detailed energy expenditure in free-ranging animals.
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Affiliation(s)
- Anthony M. Pagano
- Alaska Science CenterU.S. Geological SurveyAnchorageAlaska
- Present address:
Institute for Conservation ResearchSan Diego Zoo GlobalSan DiegoCalifornia
| | - Terrie M. Williams
- Department of Ecology & Evolutionary BiologyUniversity of California, Santa CruzSanta CruzCalifornia
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131
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Arranz P, Benoit-Bird KJ, Friedlaender AS, Hazen EL, Goldbogen JA, Stimpert AK, DeRuiter SL, Calambokidis J, Southall BL, Fahlman A, Tyack PL. Diving Behavior and Fine-Scale Kinematics of Free-Ranging Risso's Dolphins Foraging in Shallow and Deep-Water Habitats. Front Ecol Evol 2019. [DOI: 10.3389/fevo.2019.00053] [Citation(s) in RCA: 14] [Impact Index Per Article: 2.8] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Indexed: 01/18/2023] Open
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132
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Lescroël A, Ballard G, Massaro M, Dugger K, Jennings S, Pollard A, Porzig E, Schmidt A, Varsani A, Grémillet D, Ainley D. Evidence of age-related improvement in the foraging efficiency of Adélie penguins. Sci Rep 2019; 9:3375. [PMID: 30833598 PMCID: PMC6399253 DOI: 10.1038/s41598-019-39814-x] [Citation(s) in RCA: 12] [Impact Index Per Article: 2.4] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Track Full Text] [Download PDF] [Figures] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 08/06/2018] [Accepted: 01/30/2019] [Indexed: 11/21/2022] Open
Abstract
Age variation in reproductive performance is well-documented but the mechanisms underlying this variation remain unclear. Foraging efficiency is likely to be a key source of demographic variation as it determines the amount of energy that can be invested in fitness-related activities. Evidence of age-related changes in the foraging efficiency of adult seabirds is scarce and inconsistent. We investigated the effects of age on the foraging efficiency of breeding Adélie penguins, a relatively short-lived seabird species, in order to gain a broader perspective on the processes driving variation in ageing rates. We found support for a positive effect of age, either linear or levelling off at old ages, on both our proxies for daily catch rate and catch per unit effort. Across all age classes, males were more performant foragers than females. We found no strong evidence for differing ageing patterns between sexes or individual quality levels, and no evidence for senescence. We infer that continuous individual improvement could be responsible for a larger amount of the variation in foraging efficiency with age at our study site, compared with selective disappearance of underperforming phenotypes. The different results reported by other studies highlight the need to conduct longitudinal studies across a range of species in different environments.
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Affiliation(s)
- Amélie Lescroël
- Point Blue Conservation Science, Petaluma, CA, 94954, USA. .,Centre d'Ecologie Fonctionnelle et Evolutive, UMR 5175, CNRS - Université de Montpellier - Université Paul-Valéry Montpellier - EPHE, Montpellier, France.
| | - Grant Ballard
- Point Blue Conservation Science, Petaluma, CA, 94954, USA
| | - Melanie Massaro
- School of Environmental Sciences, Institute for Land, Water and Society, Charles Sturt University, Albury, NSW, 2640, Australia
| | - Katie Dugger
- U.S. Geological Survey, Oregon Cooperative Fish and Wildlife Research Unit, Department of Fisheries and Wildlife, Oregon State University, Corvallis, Oregon, USA
| | - Scott Jennings
- Point Blue Conservation Science, Petaluma, CA, 94954, USA.,U.S. Geological Survey, Oregon Cooperative Fish and Wildlife Research Unit, Department of Fisheries and Wildlife, Oregon State University, Corvallis, Oregon, USA
| | - Annie Pollard
- Point Blue Conservation Science, Petaluma, CA, 94954, USA
| | | | - Annie Schmidt
- Point Blue Conservation Science, Petaluma, CA, 94954, USA
| | - Arvind Varsani
- The Biodesign Center for Fundamental and Applied Microbiomics, Center for Evolution and Medicine, School of Life sciences, Arizona State University, Tempe, Arizona, USA.,Structural Biology Research Unit, Department of Clinical Laboratory Sciences, University of Cape Town, Observatory, Cape Town, South Africa
| | - David Grémillet
- Centre d'Ecologie Fonctionnelle et Evolutive, UMR 5175, CNRS - Université de Montpellier - Université Paul-Valéry Montpellier - EPHE, Montpellier, France.,FitzPatrick Institute, DST/NRF centre of excellence at the University of Cape Town, Rondebosch, 7701, South Africa
| | - David Ainley
- H.T. Harvey & Associates, Los Gatos, California, USA
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133
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Wilson RP, Holton M, Wilson VL, Gunner R, Tysse B, Wilson GI, Quintana F, Duarte C, Scantlebury DM. Towards informed metrics for examining the role of human-induced animal responses in tag studies on wild animals. Integr Zool 2019; 14:17-29. [PMID: 29851254 DOI: 10.1111/1749-4877.12328] [Citation(s) in RCA: 12] [Impact Index Per Article: 2.4] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Indexed: 10/14/2022]
Abstract
Two prime issues can detrimentally affect animals that have been equipped with tags: (i) the effect of the capture and restraint process; and (ii) the effect of the tag itself. This work examines some of the issues surrounding quantification of tag effects on wild animals for both restrained and free-living animals. A new method to quantify stress effects based on monitoring ventilation rates in relation to activity is suggested for restrained animals which may help improve the practice of handling animals. It is also suggested that various metrics, many derived from accelerometers, can be examined in tagged wild animals to examine the change in behaviors over time with a view to having a better understanding of welfare issues, assuring the quality of recorded data and informing best practice.
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Affiliation(s)
- Rory P Wilson
- Biosciences, Swansea University, Singleton Park, Swansea, Wales, UK
| | - Mark Holton
- Biosciences, Swansea University, Singleton Park, Swansea, Wales, UK
| | - Vianney L Wilson
- Biosciences, Swansea University, Singleton Park, Swansea, Wales, UK
| | - Richard Gunner
- Biosciences, Swansea University, Singleton Park, Swansea, Wales, UK
| | - Brenda Tysse
- Biosciences, Swansea University, Singleton Park, Swansea, Wales, UK
| | - Gwendoline I Wilson
- Department of Geography, Swansea University, Singleton Park, Swansea, Wales, UK
| | - Flavio Quintana
- Instituto de Biología de Organismos Marinos (IBIOMAR), CONICET, Puerto Madryn, Chubut, Argentina
| | - Carlos Duarte
- Red Sea Research Centre, King Abdullah University of Science and Technology, Thuwal, Saudi Arabia
| | - D Michael Scantlebury
- School of Biological Sciences, Institute for Global Food Security, Queen's University Belfast, Belfast, UK
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134
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Forin-Wiart MA, Enstipp MR, LE Maho Y, Handrich Y. Why implantation of bio-loggers may improve our understanding of how animals cope within their natural environment. Integr Zool 2019; 14:48-64. [PMID: 30251470 DOI: 10.1111/1749-4877.12364] [Citation(s) in RCA: 15] [Impact Index Per Article: 3.0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Indexed: 11/27/2022]
Abstract
Bio-loggers are miniaturized autonomous devices that record quantitative data on the state of free-ranging animals (e.g. behavior, position and physiology) and their natural environment. This is especially relevant for species where direct visual observation is difficult or impossible. Today, ongoing technical development allows the monitoring of numerous parameters in an increasing range of species over extended periods. However, the external attachment of devices might affect various aspects of animal performance (energetics, thermoregulation, foraging as well as social and reproductive behavior), which ultimately affect fitness. External attachment might also increase entanglement risk and the conspicuousness of animals, leaving them more vulnerable to predation. By contrast, implantation of devices can mitigate many of these undesirable effects and might be preferable, especially for long-term studies, provided that the many challenges associated with surgical procedures can be mastered. Implantation may then allow us to gather data that would be impossible to obtain otherwise and thereby may provide new and ecologically relevant insights into the life of wild animals. Here, we: (i) discuss the pros and cons of attachment methods; (ii) highlight recent field studies that used implanted bio-loggers to address eco-physiological questions in a wide range of species; and (iii) discuss logger implantation in light of ethical considerations.
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Affiliation(s)
- Marie-Amélie Forin-Wiart
- Université de Strasbourg, CNRS, IPHC, Département Ecologie, Physiologie et Ethologie, UMR 7178, Strasbourg, France
| | - Manfred R Enstipp
- Université de Strasbourg, CNRS, IPHC, Département Ecologie, Physiologie et Ethologie, UMR 7178, Strasbourg, France.,Centre d'Etudes Biologiques de Chizé, CNRS, UMR 7372, Villiers en Bois, France
| | - Yvon LE Maho
- Université de Strasbourg, CNRS, IPHC, Département Ecologie, Physiologie et Ethologie, UMR 7178, Strasbourg, France.,Centre Scientifique de Monaco, Département de Biologie Polaire, Monaco
| | - Yves Handrich
- Université de Strasbourg, CNRS, IPHC, Département Ecologie, Physiologie et Ethologie, UMR 7178, Strasbourg, France
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135
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Watanabe YY, Payne NL, Semmens JM, Fox A, Huveneers C. Swimming strategies and energetics of endothermic white sharks during foraging. J Exp Biol 2019; 222:222/4/jeb185603. [DOI: 10.1242/jeb.185603] [Citation(s) in RCA: 43] [Impact Index Per Article: 8.6] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 05/28/2018] [Accepted: 01/04/2019] [Indexed: 11/20/2022]
Abstract
ABSTRACT
Some fishes and sea turtles are distinct from ectotherms by having elevated core body temperatures and metabolic rates. Quantifying the energetics and activity of the regionally endothermic species will help us understand how a fundamental biophysical process (i.e. temperature-dependent metabolism) shapes animal ecology; however, such information is limited owing to difficulties in studying these large, highly active animals. White sharks, Carcharodon carcharias, are the largest fish with regional endothermy, and potentially among the most energy-demanding fishes. Here, we deployed multi-sensor loggers on eight white sharks aggregating near colonies of long-nosed fur seals, Arctocephalus forsteri, off the Neptune Islands, Australia. Simultaneous measurements of depth, swim speed (a proxy for swimming metabolic rate) and body acceleration (indicating when sharks exhibited energy-efficient gliding behaviour) revealed their fine-scale swimming behaviour and allowed us to estimate their energy expenditure. Sharks repeatedly dived (mean swimming depth, 29 m) and swam at the surface between deep dives (maximum depth, 108 m). Modal swim speeds (0.80–1.35 m s−1) were slower than the estimated speeds that minimize cost of transport (1.3–1.9 m s−1), a pattern analogous to a ‘sit-and-wait’ strategy for a perpetually swimming species. All but one shark employed unpowered gliding during descents, rendering deep (>50 m) dives 29% less costly than surface swimming, which may incur additional wave drag. We suggest that these behavioural strategies may help sharks to maximize net energy gains by reducing swimming cost while increasing encounter rates with fast-swimming seals.
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Affiliation(s)
- Yuuki Y. Watanabe
- National Institute of Polar Research, Tachikawa, Tokyo 190-8518, Japan
- SOKENDAI (The Graduate University for Advanced Studies), Tachikawa, Tokyo 190-8518, Japan
| | - Nicholas L. Payne
- University of Roehampton, Holybourne Avenue, London SW15 4JD, UK
- Trinity College Dublin, Dublin 2, Ireland
| | - Jayson M. Semmens
- Fisheries and Aquaculture Centre, Institute for Marine and Antarctic Studies, University of Tasmania, Private Bag 49, Hobart, Tasmania 7001, Australia
| | - Andrew Fox
- Fox Shark Research Foundation, Adelaide, South Australia 5070, Australia
| | - Charlie Huveneers
- College of Science and Engineering, Flinders University, Bedford Park, South Australia 5042, Australia
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136
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Tennessen JB, Holt MM, Hanson MB, Emmons CK, Giles DA, Hogan JT. Kinematic signatures of prey capture from archival tags reveal sex differences in killer whale foraging activity. J Exp Biol 2019; 222:222/3/jeb191874. [DOI: 10.1242/jeb.191874] [Citation(s) in RCA: 27] [Impact Index Per Article: 5.4] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 09/06/2018] [Accepted: 11/22/2018] [Indexed: 11/20/2022]
Abstract
ABSTRACT
Studies of odontocete foraging ecology have been limited by the challenges of observing prey capture events and outcomes underwater. We sought to determine whether subsurface movement behavior recorded from archival tags could accurately identify foraging events by fish-eating killer whales. We used multisensor bio-logging tags attached by suction cups to Southern Resident killer whales (Orcinus orca) to: (1) identify a stereotyped movement signature that co-occurred with visually confirmed prey capture dives; (2) construct a prey capture dive detector and validate it against acoustically confirmed prey capture dives; and (3) demonstrate the utility of the detector by testing hypotheses about foraging ecology. Predation events were significantly predicted by peaks in the rate of change of acceleration (‘jerk peak’), roll angle and heading variance. Detection of prey capture dives by movement signatures enabled substantially more dives to be included in subsequent analyses compared with previous surface or acoustic detection methods. Males made significantly more prey capture dives than females and more dives to the depth of their preferred prey, Chinook salmon. Additionally, only half of the tag deployments on females (5 out of 10) included a prey capture dive, whereas all tag deployments on males exhibited at least one prey capture dive (12 out of 12). This dual approach of kinematic detection of prey capture coupled with hypothesis testing can be applied across odontocetes and other marine predators to investigate the impacts of social, environmental and anthropogenic factors on foraging ecology.
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Affiliation(s)
- Jennifer B. Tennessen
- Lynker Technologies LLC, Leesburg, VA 20175, USA
- Conservation Biology Division, Northwest Fisheries Science Center, National Marine Fisheries Service, National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration, Seattle, WA 98112, USA
| | - Marla M. Holt
- Conservation Biology Division, Northwest Fisheries Science Center, National Marine Fisheries Service, National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration, Seattle, WA 98112, USA
| | - M. Bradley Hanson
- Conservation Biology Division, Northwest Fisheries Science Center, National Marine Fisheries Service, National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration, Seattle, WA 98112, USA
| | - Candice K. Emmons
- Conservation Biology Division, Northwest Fisheries Science Center, National Marine Fisheries Service, National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration, Seattle, WA 98112, USA
| | - Deborah A. Giles
- Department of Wildlife, Fish, & Conservation Biology, University of California, Davis, CA 95616, USA
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137
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Scacco M, Flack A, Duriez O, Wikelski M, Safi K. Static landscape features predict uplift locations for soaring birds across Europe. ROYAL SOCIETY OPEN SCIENCE 2019; 6:181440. [PMID: 30800386 PMCID: PMC6366234 DOI: 10.1098/rsos.181440] [Citation(s) in RCA: 15] [Impact Index Per Article: 3.0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [Grants] [Track Full Text] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 08/31/2018] [Accepted: 11/30/2018] [Indexed: 05/27/2023]
Abstract
Soaring flight is a remarkable adaptation to reduce movement costs by taking advantage of atmospheric uplifts. The movement pattern of soaring birds is shaped by the spatial and temporal availability and intensity of uplifts, which result from an interaction of local weather conditions with the underlying landscape structure. We used soaring flight locations and vertical speeds of an obligate soaring species, the white stork (Ciconia ciconia), as proxies for uplift availability and intensity. We then tested if static landscape features such as topography and land cover, instead of the commonly used weather information, could predict and map the occurrence and intensity of uplifts across Europe. We found that storks encountering fewer uplifts along their routes, as determined by static landscape features, suffered higher energy expenditures, approximated by their overall body dynamic acceleration. This result validates the use of static features as uplift predictors and suggests the existence of a direct link between energy expenditure and static landscape structure, thus far largely unquantified for flying animals. Our uplift availability map represents a computationally efficient proxy of the distribution of movement costs for soaring birds across the world's landscapes. It thus provides a base to explore the effects of changes in the landscape structure on the energy expenditure of soaring birds, identify low-cost movement corridors and ultimately inform the planning of anthropogenic developments.
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Affiliation(s)
- Martina Scacco
- Department of Migration and Immuno-ecology, Max Planck Institute for Ornithology, Am Obstberg 1, 78315 Radolfzell, Germany
| | - Andrea Flack
- Department of Migration and Immuno-ecology, Max Planck Institute for Ornithology, Am Obstberg 1, 78315 Radolfzell, Germany
| | - Olivier Duriez
- Centre d'Ecologie Fonctionnelle et Evolutive, UMR 5175 CNRS-Université de Montpellier- EPHE-Université Paul Valery, 1919 Route de Mende, 34293 Montpellier cedex 5, France
| | - Martin Wikelski
- Department of Migration and Immuno-ecology, Max Planck Institute for Ornithology, Am Obstberg 1, 78315 Radolfzell, Germany
- Department of Biology, University of Konstanz, Universitätsstr. 10, 78464 Konstanz, Germany
| | - Kamran Safi
- Department of Migration and Immuno-ecology, Max Planck Institute for Ornithology, Am Obstberg 1, 78315 Radolfzell, Germany
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138
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Studd EK, Landry‐Cuerrier M, Menzies AK, Boutin S, McAdam AG, Lane JE, Humphries MM. Behavioral classification of low-frequency acceleration and temperature data from a free-ranging small mammal. Ecol Evol 2019; 9:619-630. [PMID: 30680142 PMCID: PMC6342100 DOI: 10.1002/ece3.4786] [Citation(s) in RCA: 21] [Impact Index Per Article: 4.2] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [Track Full Text] [Download PDF] [Figures] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 06/21/2018] [Revised: 10/10/2018] [Accepted: 10/31/2018] [Indexed: 01/03/2023] Open
Abstract
The miniaturization and affordability of new technology is driving a biologging revolution in wildlife ecology with use of animal-borne data logging devices. Among many new biologging technologies, accelerometers are emerging as key tools for continuously recording animal behavior. Yet a critical, but under-acknowledged consideration in biologging is the trade-off between sampling rate and sampling duration, created by battery- (or memory-) related sampling constraints. This is especially acute among small animals, causing most researchers to sample at high rates for very limited durations. Here, we show that high accuracy in behavioral classification is achievable when pairing low-frequency acceleration recordings with temperature. We conducted 84 hr of direct behavioral observations on 67 free-ranging red squirrels (200-300 g) that were fitted with accelerometers (2 g) recording tri-axial acceleration and temperature at 1 Hz. We then used a random forest algorithm and a manually created decision tree, with variable sampling window lengths, to associate observed behavior with logger recorded acceleration and temperature. Finally, we assessed the accuracy of these different classifications using an additional 60 hr of behavioral observations, not used in the initial classification. The accuracy of the manually created decision tree classification using observational data varied from 70.6% to 91.6% depending on the complexity of the tree, with increasing accuracy as complexity decreased. Short duration behavior like running had lower accuracy than long-duration behavior like feeding. The random forest algorithm offered similarly high overall accuracy, but the manual decision tree afforded the flexibility to create a hierarchical tree, and to adjust sampling window length for behavioral states with varying durations. Low frequency biologging of acceleration and temperature allows accurate behavioral classification of small animals over multi-month sampling durations. Nevertheless, low sampling rates impose several important limitations, especially related to assessing the classification accuracy of short duration behavior.
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Affiliation(s)
- Emily K. Studd
- Department of Natural Resource SciencesMcGill UniversitySainte‐Anne‐de‐BellevueQuebecCanada
| | | | - Allyson K. Menzies
- Department of Natural Resource SciencesMcGill UniversitySainte‐Anne‐de‐BellevueQuebecCanada
| | - Stan Boutin
- Department of Biological SciencesUniversity of AlbertaEdmontonAlbertaCanada
| | - Andrew G. McAdam
- Department of Integrative BiologyUniversity of GuelphGuelphOntarioCanada
| | - Jeffrey E. Lane
- Department of BiologyUniversity of SaskatchewanSaskatoonSaskatchewanCanada
| | - Murray M. Humphries
- Department of Natural Resource SciencesMcGill UniversitySainte‐Anne‐de‐BellevueQuebecCanada
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139
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Flaspohler GE, Caruso F, Mooney TA, Katija K, Fontes J, Afonso P, Shorter KA. Quantifying the swimming gaits of veined squid (Loligo forbesi) using bio-logging tags. J Exp Biol 2019; 222:jeb.198226. [DOI: 10.1242/jeb.198226] [Citation(s) in RCA: 6] [Impact Index Per Article: 1.2] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 12/12/2018] [Accepted: 10/16/2019] [Indexed: 11/20/2022]
Abstract
Squid are mobile, diverse, ecologically important marine organisms whose behavior and habitat use can have substantial impacts on ecosystems and fisheries. However, due in part to the inherent challenges of monitoring squid in their natural marine environment, fine-scale behavioral observations of these free-swimming, soft-bodied animals are rare. Bio-logging tags provide an emerging way to remotely study squid behavior in their natural environments. Here we apply a novel, high-resolution bio-logging tag (ITAG) to seven veined squid Loligo forbesi in a controlled experimental environment to quantify their short-term (24-hr) behavioral patterns. Tag accelerometer, magnetometer and pressure data were used to develop automated gait classification algorithms based on overall dynamic body acceleration, and a subset of the events were assessed and confirmed using concurrently collected video data. Finning, flapping, and jetting gaits were observed, with the low-acceleration finning gaits detected most often. The animals routinely used a finning gait to ascend (climb) and then glide during descent with fins extended in the tank's water column, a possible strategy to improve swimming efficiency for these negatively buoyant animals. Arms and mantle-first directional swimming were observed in approximately equal proportions, and the squid were slightly but significantly more active at night. These tag-based observations are novel for squid and suggest a more efficient mode of movement then suggested by some previous observations. The combination of sensing, classification, and estimation developed and applied here will enable the quantification of squid activity patterns in the wild to provide new biological information, such as in situ identification of behavioral states, temporal patterns, habitat requirements, energy expenditure, and interactions of squid through space-time in the wild.
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Affiliation(s)
- Genevieve E. Flaspohler
- Applied Ocean Physics and Engineering Department, Woods Hole Oceanographic Institution, Woods Hole MA 02543, USA
- Computer Science & Artificial Intelligence Laboratory, Massachusetts Institute of Technology, Cambridge MA 02139, USA
| | - Francesco Caruso
- Biology Department, Woods Hole Oceanographic Institution, Woods Hole, MA 02543, USA
- Marine Mammal and Marine Bioacoustics Laboratory, Institute of Deep-Sea Science and Engineering, Chinese Academy of Sciences, Sanya, 572000, China
| | - T. Aran Mooney
- Biology Department, Woods Hole Oceanographic Institution, Woods Hole, MA 02543, USA
| | - Kakani Katija
- Research and Development, Monterey Bay Aquarium Research Institute, 7700 Sandholdt Road, Moss Landing, CA 95039, USA
| | - Jorge Fontes
- MARE – Marine and Environmental Sciences Centre, R. Frederico Machado, 9901-862 Horta, PT, Portugal
- IMAR- Institute of Marine Research, University of the Azores, 9901-862 Horta, PT, Portugal
- Okeanos - University of the Azores, 9901-862 Horta, PT, Portugal
| | - Pedro Afonso
- MARE – Marine and Environmental Sciences Centre, R. Frederico Machado, 9901-862 Horta, PT, Portugal
- IMAR- Institute of Marine Research, University of the Azores, 9901-862 Horta, PT, Portugal
- Okeanos - University of the Azores, 9901-862 Horta, PT, Portugal
| | - K. Alex Shorter
- Department of Mechanical Engineering, University of Michigan, Ann Arbor, MI 48109, USA
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140
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Geary B, Walter ST, Leberg PL, Karubian J. Condition-dependent foraging strategies in a coastal seabird: evidence for the rich get richer hypothesis. Behav Ecol 2018. [DOI: 10.1093/beheco/ary173] [Citation(s) in RCA: 5] [Impact Index Per Article: 0.8] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Indexed: 12/30/2022] Open
Abstract
Abstract
The degree to which foraging individuals are able to appropriately modify their behaviors in response to dynamic environmental conditions and associated resource availability can have important fitness consequences. Despite an increasingly refined understanding of differences in foraging behavior between individuals, we still lack detailed characterizations of within-individual variation over space and time, and what factors may drive this variability. From 2014 to 2017, we used GPS transmitters and accelerometers to document foraging movements by breeding adult Brown Pelicans (Pelecanus occidentalis) in the northern Gulf of Mexico, where the prey landscape is patchy and dynamic at various scales. Assessments of traditional foraging metrics such as trip distance, linearity, or duration did not yield significant relationships between individuals. However, we did observe lower site fidelity and less variation in energy expenditure in birds of higher body condition, despite a population-level trend of increased fidelity as the breeding season progressed. These findings suggest that high-quality individuals are both more variable and more efficient in their foraging behaviors during a period of high energetic demand, consistent with a “rich get richer” scenario in which individuals in better condition are able to invest in more costly behaviors that provide higher returns. This work highlights the importance of considering behavioral variation at multiple scales, with particular reference to within-individual variation, to improve our understanding of foraging ecology in wild populations.
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Affiliation(s)
- Brock Geary
- Department of Ecology and Evolutionary Biology, Tulane University, New Orleans, LA, USA
| | - Scott T Walter
- Department of Ecology and Evolutionary Biology, Tulane University, New Orleans, LA, USA
- Department of Biology, Texas State University, San Marcos, TX, USA
| | - Paul L Leberg
- Department of Biology, University of Louisiana at Lafayette, Lafayette, LA, USA
| | - Jordan Karubian
- Department of Ecology and Evolutionary Biology, Tulane University, New Orleans, LA, USA
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141
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Beltramino LE, Venerus LA, Trobbiani GA, Wilson RP, Ciancio JE. Activity budgets for the sedentary Argentine sea bassAcanthistius patachonicusinferred from accelerometer data loggers. AUSTRAL ECOL 2018. [DOI: 10.1111/aec.12696] [Citation(s) in RCA: 10] [Impact Index Per Article: 1.7] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Indexed: 11/29/2022]
Affiliation(s)
- Lucas E. Beltramino
- Centro para el Estudio de Sistemas Marinos (CONICET); Edificio CCT CONICET - CENPAT; Blvd. Brown 2915 U9120ACD Puerto Madryn Chubut Argentina
| | - Leonardo A. Venerus
- Centro para el Estudio de Sistemas Marinos (CONICET); Edificio CCT CONICET - CENPAT; Blvd. Brown 2915 U9120ACD Puerto Madryn Chubut Argentina
| | - Gastón A. Trobbiani
- Centro para el Estudio de Sistemas Marinos (CONICET); Edificio CCT CONICET - CENPAT; Blvd. Brown 2915 U9120ACD Puerto Madryn Chubut Argentina
| | - Rory P. Wilson
- Swansea Lab for Animal Movement, Biosciences; College of Science; Swansea University; Swansea Wales UK
| | - Javier E. Ciancio
- Centro para el Estudio de Sistemas Marinos (CONICET); Edificio CCT CONICET - CENPAT; Blvd. Brown 2915 U9120ACD Puerto Madryn Chubut Argentina
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142
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Hicks O, Burthe SJ, Daunt F, Newell M, Chastel O, Parenteau C, Green JA. The role of parasitism in the energy management of a free-ranging bird. ACTA ACUST UNITED AC 2018; 221:jeb.190066. [PMID: 30397174 PMCID: PMC6307876 DOI: 10.1242/jeb.190066] [Citation(s) in RCA: 6] [Impact Index Per Article: 1.0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [Track Full Text] [Figures] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 08/06/2018] [Accepted: 10/17/2018] [Indexed: 12/24/2022]
Abstract
Parasites often prompt sub-lethal costs to their hosts by eliciting immune responses. These costs can be hard to quantify but are crucial to our understanding of the host's ecology. Energy is a fundamental currency to quantify these costs, as energetic trade-offs often exist between key fitness-related processes. Daily energy expenditure (DEE) comprises of resting metabolic rate (RMR) and energy available for activity, which are linked via the energy management strategy of an organism. Parasitism may play a role in the balance between self-maintenance and activity, as immune costs can be expressed in elevated RMR. Therefore, understanding energy use in the presence of parasitism enables mechanistic elucidation of potential parasite costs. Using a gradient of natural parasite load and proxies for RMR and DEE in a wild population of breeding European shags (Phalacrocorax aristotelis), we tested the effect of parasitism on maintenance costs as well as the relationship between proxies for RMR and DEE. We found a positive relationship between parasite load and our RMR proxy in females but not males, and no relationship between proxies for RMR and DEE. This provides evidence for increased maintenance costs in individuals with higher parasite loads and suggests the use of an allocation energy management strategy, whereby an increase to RMR creates restrictions on energy allocation to other activities. This is likely to have fitness consequences as energy allocated to immunity is traded off against reproduction. Our findings demonstrate that understanding energy management strategies alongside fitness drivers is central to understanding the mechanisms by which these drivers influence individual fitness.
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Affiliation(s)
- Olivia Hicks
- School of Environmental Sciences, University of Liverpool, Liverpool L69 3GP, UK
| | - Sarah J Burthe
- Centre for Ecology & Hydrology, Bush Estate, Penicuik, Midlothian, EH26 0QB, UK
| | - Francis Daunt
- Centre for Ecology & Hydrology, Bush Estate, Penicuik, Midlothian, EH26 0QB, UK
| | - Mark Newell
- Centre for Ecology & Hydrology, Bush Estate, Penicuik, Midlothian, EH26 0QB, UK
| | - Olivier Chastel
- Centre d'Etudes Biologiques de Chizé, UMR 7372 - CNRS & Université de La Rochelle, FR-79360 Villiers en Bois, France
| | - Charline Parenteau
- Centre d'Etudes Biologiques de Chizé, UMR 7372 - CNRS & Université de La Rochelle, FR-79360 Villiers en Bois, France
| | - Jonathan A Green
- School of Environmental Sciences, University of Liverpool, Liverpool L69 3GP, UK
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143
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Allan BM, Nimmo DG, Arnould JPY, Martin JK, Ritchie EG. The secret life of possums: data loggers reveal the movement ecology of an arboreal mammal. J Mammal 2018. [DOI: 10.1093/jmammal/gyy154] [Citation(s) in RCA: 3] [Impact Index Per Article: 0.5] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Indexed: 01/12/2023] Open
Affiliation(s)
- Blake M Allan
- School of Life and Environmental Sciences, Centre for Integrative Ecology, Melbourne Burwood Campus, Burwood, Victoria, Australia
| | - Dale G Nimmo
- Institute for Land, Water and Society, Charles Sturt University, Albury, New South Wales, Australia
| | - John P Y Arnould
- School of Life and Environmental Sciences, Centre for Integrative Ecology, Melbourne Burwood Campus, Burwood, Victoria, Australia
| | - Jennifer K Martin
- School of Biosciences, University of Melbourne, Melbourne, Victoria, Australia
| | - Euan G Ritchie
- School of Life and Environmental Sciences, Centre for Integrative Ecology, Melbourne Burwood Campus, Burwood, Victoria, Australia
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144
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Tatler J, Cassey P, Prowse TAA. High accuracy at low frequency: detailed behavioural classification from accelerometer data. ACTA ACUST UNITED AC 2018; 221:jeb.184085. [PMID: 30322979 DOI: 10.1242/jeb.184085] [Citation(s) in RCA: 25] [Impact Index Per Article: 4.2] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 05/03/2018] [Accepted: 10/10/2018] [Indexed: 12/28/2022]
Abstract
Accelerometers are a valuable tool for studying animal behaviour and physiology where direct observation is unfeasible. However, giving biological meaning to multivariate acceleration data is challenging. Here, we describe a method that reliably classifies a large number of behaviours using tri-axial accelerometer data collected at the low sampling frequency of 1 Hz, using the dingo (Canis dingo) as an example. We used out-of-sample validation to compare the predictive performance of four commonly used classification models (random forest, k-nearest neighbour, support vector machine, and naïve Bayes). We tested the importance of predictor variable selection and moving window size for the classification of each behaviour and overall model performance. Random forests produced the highest out-of-sample classification accuracy, with our best-performing model predicting 14 behaviours with a mean accuracy of 87%. We also investigated the relationship between overall dynamic body acceleration (ODBA) and the activity level of each behaviour, given the increasing use of ODBA in ecophysiology as a proxy for energy expenditure. ODBA values for our four 'high activity' behaviours were significantly greater than all other behaviours, with an overall positive trend between ODBA and intensity of movement. We show that a random forest model of relatively low complexity can mitigate some major challenges associated with establishing meaningful ecological conclusions from acceleration data. Our approach has broad applicability to free-ranging terrestrial quadrupeds of comparable size. Our use of a low sampling frequency shows potential for deploying accelerometers over extended time periods, enabling the capture of invaluable behavioural and physiological data across different ontogenies.
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Affiliation(s)
- Jack Tatler
- School of Biological Sciences and Centre for Applied Conservation Science, University of Adelaide, Adelaide, SA 5005, Australia
| | - Phillip Cassey
- School of Biological Sciences and Centre for Applied Conservation Science, University of Adelaide, Adelaide, SA 5005, Australia
| | - Thomas A A Prowse
- School of Mathematical Sciences, University of Adelaide, Adelaide, SA 5005, Australia
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145
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Ladds MA, Salton M, Hocking DP, McIntosh RR, Thompson AP, Slip DJ, Harcourt RG. Using accelerometers to develop time-energy budgets of wild fur seals from captive surrogates. PeerJ 2018; 6:e5814. [PMID: 30386705 PMCID: PMC6204822 DOI: 10.7717/peerj.5814] [Citation(s) in RCA: 14] [Impact Index Per Article: 2.3] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [Track Full Text] [Download PDF] [Figures] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 02/22/2018] [Accepted: 09/22/2018] [Indexed: 11/20/2022] Open
Abstract
Background Accurate time-energy budgets summarise an animal's energy expenditure in a given environment, and are potentially a sensitive indicator of how an animal responds to changing resources. Deriving accurate time-energy budgets requires an estimate of time spent in different activities and of the energetic cost of that activity. Bio-loggers (e.g., accelerometers) may provide a solution for monitoring animals such as fur seals that make long-duration foraging trips. Using low resolution to record behaviour may aid in the transmission of data, negating the need to recover the device. Methods This study used controlled captive experiments and previous energetic research to derive time-energy budgets of juvenile Australian fur seals (Arctocephalus pusillus) equipped with tri-axial accelerometers. First, captive fur seals and sea lions were equipped with accelerometers recording at high (20 Hz) and low (1 Hz) resolutions, and their behaviour recorded. Using this data, machine learning models were trained to recognise four states-foraging, grooming, travelling and resting. Next, the energetic cost of each behaviour, as a function of location (land or water), season and digestive state (pre- or post-prandial) was estimated. Then, diving and movement data were collected from nine wild juvenile fur seals wearing accelerometers recording at high- and low- resolutions. Models developed from captive seals were applied to accelerometry data from wild juvenile Australian fur seals and, finally, their time-energy budgets were reconstructed. Results Behaviour classification models built with low resolution (1 Hz) data correctly classified captive seal behaviours with very high accuracy (up to 90%) and recorded without interruption. Therefore, time-energy budgets of wild fur seals were constructed with these data. The reconstructed time-energy budgets revealed that juvenile fur seals expended the same amount of energy as adults of similar species. No significant differences in daily energy expenditure (DEE) were found across sex or season (winter or summer), but fur seals rested more when their energy expenditure was expected to be higher. Juvenile fur seals used behavioural compensatory techniques to conserve energy during activities that were expected to have high energetic outputs (such as diving). Discussion As low resolution accelerometry (1 Hz) was able to classify behaviour with very high accuracy, future studies may be able to transmit more data at a lower rate, reducing the need for tag recovery. Reconstructed time-energy budgets demonstrated that juvenile fur seals appear to expend the same amount of energy as their adult counterparts. Through pairing estimates of energy expenditure with behaviour this study demonstrates the potential to understand how fur seals expend energy, and where and how behavioural compensations are made to retain constant energy expenditure over a short (dive) and long (season) period.
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Affiliation(s)
- Monique A Ladds
- School of Mathematics and Statistics, Victoria University of Wellington, Wellington, New Zealand.,Marine Predator Research Group, Macquarie University, Sydney, New South Wales, Australia
| | - Marcus Salton
- Marine Predator Research Group, Macquarie University, Sydney, New South Wales, Australia
| | - David P Hocking
- School of Biological Sciences, Monash University, Melbourne, Victoria, Australia
| | - Rebecca R McIntosh
- Marine Predator Research Group, Macquarie University, Sydney, New South Wales, Australia.,Research Department, Phillip Island Nature Parks, Phillip Island, Victoria, Australia
| | | | - David J Slip
- Marine Predator Research Group, Macquarie University, Sydney, New South Wales, Australia.,Taronga Conservation Society Australia, Sydney, New South Wales, Australia
| | - Robert G Harcourt
- Marine Predator Research Group, Macquarie University, Sydney, New South Wales, Australia
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146
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Rotics S, Kaatz M, Turjeman S, Zurell D, Wikelski M, Sapir N, Eggers U, Fiedler W, Jeltsch F, Nathan R. Early arrival at breeding grounds: Causes, costs and a trade-off with overwintering latitude. J Anim Ecol 2018; 87:1627-1638. [DOI: 10.1111/1365-2656.12898] [Citation(s) in RCA: 29] [Impact Index Per Article: 4.8] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 04/30/2018] [Accepted: 08/06/2018] [Indexed: 11/28/2022]
Affiliation(s)
- Shay Rotics
- Movement Ecology Laboratory; Department of Ecology, Evolution and Behaviour; Alexander Silberman Institute of Life Sciences; The Hebrew University of Jerusalem; Jerusalem Israel
| | - Michael Kaatz
- Vogelschutzwarte Storchenhof Loburg e.V.; Loburg Germany
| | - Sondra Turjeman
- Movement Ecology Laboratory; Department of Ecology, Evolution and Behaviour; Alexander Silberman Institute of Life Sciences; The Hebrew University of Jerusalem; Jerusalem Israel
| | - Damaris Zurell
- Geography Department; Humboldt-Universität zu Berlin; Berlin Germany
| | - Martin Wikelski
- Department of Migration and Immuno-Ecology; Max-Planck-Institute for Ornithology; Radolfzell Germany
- Department of Biology; University of Konstanz; Konstanz Germany
| | - Nir Sapir
- The Animal Flight Laboratory; Department of Evolutionary and Environmental Biology; University of Haifa; Haifa Israel
| | - Ute Eggers
- Department of Plant Ecology and Conservation Biology; Institute for Biochemistry and Biology; University of Potsdam; Potsdam Germany
| | - Wolfgang Fiedler
- Department of Migration and Immuno-Ecology; Max-Planck-Institute for Ornithology; Radolfzell Germany
- Department of Biology; University of Konstanz; Konstanz Germany
| | - Florian Jeltsch
- Berlin-Brandenburg Institute of Advanced Biodiversity Research (BBIB); Berlin Germany
| | - Ran Nathan
- Movement Ecology Laboratory; Department of Ecology, Evolution and Behaviour; Alexander Silberman Institute of Life Sciences; The Hebrew University of Jerusalem; Jerusalem Israel
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147
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Oishi K, Himeno Y, Miwa M, Anzai H, Kitajima K, Yasunaka Y, Kumagai H, Ieiri S, Hirooka H. Correcting the Activity-Specific Component of Heart Rate Variability Using Dynamic Body Acceleration Under Free-Moving Conditions. Front Physiol 2018; 9:1063. [PMID: 30131717 PMCID: PMC6091277 DOI: 10.3389/fphys.2018.01063] [Citation(s) in RCA: 6] [Impact Index Per Article: 1.0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [Track Full Text] [Download PDF] [Figures] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 04/25/2018] [Accepted: 07/17/2018] [Indexed: 11/13/2022] Open
Abstract
Heart rate variability (HRV) analysis is a widely used technique to assess sympatho-vagal regulation in response to various internal or external stressors. However, HRV measurements under free-moving conditions are highly susceptible to subjects’ physical activity levels because physical activity alters energy metabolism, which inevitably modulates the cardiorespiratory system and thereby changes the sympatho-vagal balance, regardless of stressors. Thus, researchers must simultaneously quantify the effect of physical activity on HRV to reliably assess sympatho-vagal balance under free-moving conditions. In the present study, dynamic body acceleration (DBA), which was developed in the field of animal ecology as a quantitative proxy for activity-specific energy expenditure, was used as a factor to correct for physical activity when evaluating HRV in freely moving subjects. Body acceleration and heart inter-beat intervals were simultaneously measured in cattle and sheep, and the vectorial DBA and HRV parameters were evaluated at 5-min intervals. Next, the effects of DBA on the HRV parameters were statistically analyzed. The heart rate (HR) and most of the HRV parameters were affected by DBA in both animal species, and the inclusion of the effect of DBA in the HRV analysis greatly influenced the frequency domain and nonlinear HRV parameters. By removing the effect of physical activity quantified using DBA, we could fairly compare the stress levels of animals with different physical activity levels under different management conditions. Moreover, we analyzed and compared the HRV parameters before and after correcting for the mean HR, with and without inclusion of DBA. The results were somewhat unexpected, as the effect of DBA was a highly significant source of HRV also in parameters corrected for mean HR. In conclusion, the inclusion of DBA as a physical activity index is a simple and useful method for correcting the activity-specific component of HRV under free-moving conditions.
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Affiliation(s)
- Kazato Oishi
- Laboratory of Animal Husbandry Resources, Division of Applied Biosciences, Graduate School of Agriculture, Kyoto University, Kyoto, Japan
| | - Yukiko Himeno
- Department of Bioinformatics, College of Life Sciences, Ritsumeikan University, Shiga, Japan
| | - Masafumi Miwa
- Laboratory of Animal Husbandry Resources, Division of Applied Biosciences, Graduate School of Agriculture, Kyoto University, Kyoto, Japan.,Division of Grassland Farming, Institute of Livestock and Grassland Science, National Agriculture and Food Research Organization (NARO), Tochigi, Japan
| | - Hiroki Anzai
- Laboratory of Animal Husbandry Resources, Division of Applied Biosciences, Graduate School of Agriculture, Kyoto University, Kyoto, Japan.,Department of Animal and Grassland Sciences, Faculty of Agriculture, University of Miyazaki, Miyazaki, Japan
| | - Kaho Kitajima
- Laboratory of Animal Husbandry Resources, Division of Applied Biosciences, Graduate School of Agriculture, Kyoto University, Kyoto, Japan
| | - Yudai Yasunaka
- Laboratory of Animal Husbandry Resources, Division of Applied Biosciences, Graduate School of Agriculture, Kyoto University, Kyoto, Japan
| | - Hajime Kumagai
- Laboratory of Animal Husbandry Resources, Division of Applied Biosciences, Graduate School of Agriculture, Kyoto University, Kyoto, Japan
| | - Seiji Ieiri
- Department of Animal and Grassland Sciences, Faculty of Agriculture, University of Miyazaki, Miyazaki, Japan
| | - Hiroyuki Hirooka
- Laboratory of Animal Husbandry Resources, Division of Applied Biosciences, Graduate School of Agriculture, Kyoto University, Kyoto, Japan
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148
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Brownscombe JW, Lennox RJ, Danylchuk AJ, Cooke SJ. Estimating fish swimming metrics and metabolic rates with accelerometers: the influence of sampling frequency. JOURNAL OF FISH BIOLOGY 2018; 93:207-214. [PMID: 29931782 DOI: 10.1111/jfb.13652] [Citation(s) in RCA: 8] [Impact Index Per Article: 1.3] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [MESH Headings] [Track Full Text] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 07/19/2017] [Accepted: 05/09/2018] [Indexed: 06/08/2023]
Abstract
Accelerometry is growing in popularity for remotely measuring fish swimming metrics, but appropriate sampling frequencies for accurately measuring these metrics are not well studied. This research examined the influence of sampling frequency (1-25 Hz) with tri-axial accelerometer biologgers on estimates of overall dynamic body acceleration (ODBA), tail-beat frequency, swimming speed and metabolic rate of bonefish Albula vulpes in a swim-tunnel respirometer and free-swimming in a wetland mesocosm. In the swim tunnel, sampling frequencies of ≥ 5 Hz were sufficient to establish strong relationships between ODBA, swimming speed and metabolic rate. However, in free-swimming bonefish, estimates of metabolic rate were more variable below 10 Hz. Sampling frequencies should be at least twice the maximum tail-beat frequency to estimate this metric effectively, which is generally higher than those required to estimate ODBA, swimming speed and metabolic rate. While optimal sampling frequency probably varies among species due to tail-beat frequency and swimming style, this study provides a reference point with a medium body-sized sub-carangiform teleost fish, enabling researchers to measure these metrics effectively and maximize study duration.
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Affiliation(s)
- Jacob W Brownscombe
- Fish Ecology and Conservation Physiology Laboratory, Ottawa-Carleton Institute for Biology, Carleton University, Ottawa, Canada
| | - Robert J Lennox
- Fish Ecology and Conservation Physiology Laboratory, Ottawa-Carleton Institute for Biology, Carleton University, Ottawa, Canada
| | - Andy J Danylchuk
- Department of Environmental Conservation, University of Massachusetts Amherst, Amherst, Massachusetts
| | - Steven J Cooke
- Fish Ecology and Conservation Physiology Laboratory, Ottawa-Carleton Institute for Biology, Carleton University, Ottawa, Canada
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149
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Brouwer AM, van Dam E, van Erp JBF, Spangler DP, Brooks JR. Improving Real-Life Estimates of Emotion Based on Heart Rate: A Perspective on Taking Metabolic Heart Rate Into Account. Front Hum Neurosci 2018; 12:284. [PMID: 30061818 PMCID: PMC6054929 DOI: 10.3389/fnhum.2018.00284] [Citation(s) in RCA: 16] [Impact Index Per Article: 2.7] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [Track Full Text] [Download PDF] [Figures] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 03/16/2018] [Accepted: 06/25/2018] [Indexed: 11/23/2022] Open
Abstract
Extracting information about emotion from heart rate in real life is challenged by the concurrent effect of physical activity on heart rate caused by metabolic need. “Non-metabolic heart rate,” which refers to the heart rate that is caused by factors other than physical activity, may be a more sensitive and more universally applicable correlate of emotion than heart rate itself. The aim of the present article is to explore the evidence that non-metabolic heart rate, as it has been determined up until now, indeed reflects emotion. We focus on methods using accelerometry since these sensors are readily available in devices suitable for daily life usage. The evidence that non-metabolic heart rate as determined by existing methods reflect emotion is limited. Alternative possible routes are explored. We conclude that for real-life cases, estimating the type and intensity of activities based on accelerometry (and other information), and in turn use those to determine the non-metabolic heart rate for emotion is most promising.
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Affiliation(s)
- Anne-Marie Brouwer
- Department of Perceptual & Cognitive Systems, Netherlands Organisation for Applied Scientific Research (TNO), Soesterberg, Netherlands
| | | | - Jan B F van Erp
- Department of Perceptual & Cognitive Systems, Netherlands Organisation for Applied Scientific Research (TNO), Soesterberg, Netherlands.,Human Media Interaction, The University of Twente, Enschede, Netherlands
| | - Derek P Spangler
- Human Research and Engineering Directorate, US Army Research Laboratory, Adelphi, MD, United States
| | - Justin R Brooks
- Human Research and Engineering Directorate, US Army Research Laboratory, Adelphi, MD, United States
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150
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Pagano AM, Carnahan AM, Robbins CT, Owen MA, Batson T, Wagner N, Cutting A, Nicassio-Hiskey N, Hash A, Williams TM. Energetic costs of locomotion in bears: is plantigrade locomotion energetically economical? ACTA ACUST UNITED AC 2018; 221:221/12/jeb175372. [PMID: 29921569 DOI: 10.1242/jeb.175372] [Citation(s) in RCA: 27] [Impact Index Per Article: 4.5] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 12/02/2017] [Accepted: 04/21/2018] [Indexed: 02/05/2023]
Abstract
Ursids are the largest mammals to retain a plantigrade posture. This primitive posture has been proposed to result in reduced locomotor speed and economy relative to digitigrade and unguligrade species, particularly at high speeds. Previous energetics research on polar bears (Ursus maritimus) found locomotor costs were more than double predictions for similarly sized quadrupedal mammals, which could be a result of their plantigrade posture or due to adaptations to their Arctic marine existence. To evaluate whether polar bears are representative of terrestrial ursids or distinctly uneconomical walkers, this study measured the mass-specific metabolism, overall dynamic body acceleration, and gait kinematics of polar bears and grizzly bears (Ursus arctos) trained to rest and walk on a treadmill. At routine walking speeds, we found polar bears and grizzly bears exhibited similar costs of locomotion and gait kinematics, but differing measures of overall dynamic body acceleration. Minimum cost of transport while walking in the two species (2.21 J kg-1 m-1) was comparable to predictions for similarly sized quadrupedal mammals, but these costs doubled (4.42 J kg-1 m-1) at speeds ≥5.4 km h-1 Similar to humans, another large plantigrade mammal, bears appear to exhibit a greater economy while moving at slow speeds.
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Affiliation(s)
- Anthony M Pagano
- US Geological Survey, Alaska Science Center, 4210 University Dr., Anchorage, AK 99508, USA .,Department of Ecology & Evolutionary Biology, University of California, Santa Cruz, CA 95060, USA
| | - Anthony M Carnahan
- School of the Environment and School of Biological Sciences, Washington State University, Pullman, WA 99164, USA
| | - Charles T Robbins
- School of the Environment and School of Biological Sciences, Washington State University, Pullman, WA 99164, USA
| | - Megan A Owen
- Institute for Conservation Research, San Diego Zoo Global, San Diego, CA 92027, USA
| | | | - Nate Wagner
- San Diego Zoo Global, San Diego, CA 92027, USA
| | | | | | - Amy Hash
- Oregon Zoo, Portland, OR 97221, USA
| | - Terrie M Williams
- Department of Ecology & Evolutionary Biology, University of California, Santa Cruz, CA 95060, USA
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