The Ornithodolite as a tool to quantify animal space use and habitat selection: a case study with birds diving in tidal waters

Integrative Zoology
Emma-Louise ColeEmily L C Shepard

Abstract

Animal-attached technologies can be powerful means to quantify space use and behavior; however, there are also ethical implications associated with capturing and instrumenting animals. Furthermore, tagging approaches are not necessarily well-suited for examining the movements of multiple individuals within specific, local areas of interest. Here, we assess a method of quantifying animal space use based on a modified theodolite with an inbuilt laser rangefinder. Using a database of >4200 tracks of migrating birds, we show that detection distance increases with bird body mass (range 5 g to >10 kg). The maximum distance recorded to a bird was 5500 m and measurement error was ≤5 m for targets within this distance range: a level comparable to methods such as GPS tagging. We go on to present a case study where this method was used to assess habitat selection in seabirds operating in dynamic coastal waters close to a tidal turbine. Combining positional data with outputs from a hydrographic model revealed that great cormorants (Phalacrocorax carbo) appeared to be highly selective of current characteristics in space and time, exploiting areas where mean current speeds were <0.8 m·s-1 and diving at times when turbulent energy levels were...Continue Reading

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Citations

Dec 28, 2018·Integrative Zoology·Yvon Le Maho, Marcel Holyoak

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