期刊
WILDLIFE BIOLOGY
卷 18, 期 2, 页码 202-214出版社
WILDLIFE BIOLOGY
DOI: 10.2981/10-096
关键词
Animal Locator; error estimation; home range; spatial data collection; territorial behaviour
资金
- European Union
- Autonomous Region Aosta Valley
- Italian Ministry of Work and Social Previdence
- University of Pavia (Italy)
- Bourse d'excellence pour les cycles superieurs de l'Universite du Quebec a Montreal (Canada)
Ranging behaviour is one of the most important aspects of the life history of many species. Spatial distributions of individuals in the wild is linked to factors such as foraging, mating, population density, availability of resources and competition. Accurate data on the spatial location of individuals over time is often difficult to collect. Here, we propose a new simple, non-invasive and economic method for collecting accurate spatial data usable for many different species of free-ranging animals. Our instrument for collecting animal locations consists of three elements: a laser range finder, a laser tilt sensor and a protractor. This instrument can obtain three-dimensional parameters of the space from a fixed point allowing the user to collect geographical locations of the animals and, in general, of any point of interest. The device we tested showed a very low average error among (1.76 +/- 0.643 m) and within (1.79 +/- 0.058 m) observers, and the locations we obtained were all within the 95% probability of the tolerance intervals for the 20 positions which we measured repeatedly with a Global Position System for each of 10 different test locations. We tested a range of different distances to the target points (from 20 to 222 m), and we propose formulas to calculate precision of the instrument inside this interval. Precision of estimated locations was between 0.32 to 3.55 m from the real location and it was slightly related to distance of the target point (r = 0.38, P = 0.054). As an example of its practical application, we present data on the use of the instrument within the framework of a study on a population of free-ranging individually taped alpine marmots Marmota marmota.
作者
我是这篇论文的作者
点击您的名字以认领此论文并将其添加到您的个人资料中。
推荐
暂无数据