The study of parental food provisioning is essential for understanding the breeding ecology of birds.We conducted the first study using accelerometry to detect food provisioning in birds,using Support Vector Machine(S...The study of parental food provisioning is essential for understanding the breeding ecology of birds.We conducted the first study using accelerometry to detect food provisioning in birds,using Support Vector Machine(SVM)models to identify when adults feed chicks of three different age classes.Accelerometers were attached to the head of adult female Imperial Shags(Leucocarbo atriceps),and various attributes derived from the acceleration signals were used to train SVM models for each chick age class.Model performance improved with chick age class,with SVM models achieving high overall accuracy(>88%)and highest sensitivity in older chick categories(>91%).However,precision values,especially for younger chicks,remained relatively low(between 26%and 45%).The application of a time filter based on the minimum duration of the observed food provisioning behaviours for each chick age category,improved model performance by reducing false provisioning behaviours,particularly in the model for older chicks,which showed the highest precision(72.4%).This study highlights the effectiveness of accelerometry and machine learning in studying parental food provisioning in birds,providing a rapid and accurate data collection method to complement traditional techniques.The described methodology can be applied to any bird species that exhibits distinctive movements while feeding its offspring and has suitable characteristics for attaching an accelerometer to the body part that best captures this movement.Finally,it is hoped that the results of this study will contribute to future research on key questions in parental investment theory and reproductive strategies in birds.展开更多
Two prime issues can detrimentally affect animals that have been equipped with tags:(i)the effect of the cap-ture and restraint process;and(ii)the effect of the tag itself.This work examines some of the issues surroun...Two prime issues can detrimentally affect animals that have been equipped with tags:(i)the effect of the cap-ture and restraint process;and(ii)the effect of the tag itself.This work examines some of the issues surround-ing 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 an-imals 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 in-forming best practice.展开更多
基金supported by a grant from the National Agency for the Promotion of Science and Technology of Argentina(grant PICT,2017-1996 to AGL)by two awards,one from the Association of Field Ornithologists and the other from Aves Argentinas to MDC。
文摘The study of parental food provisioning is essential for understanding the breeding ecology of birds.We conducted the first study using accelerometry to detect food provisioning in birds,using Support Vector Machine(SVM)models to identify when adults feed chicks of three different age classes.Accelerometers were attached to the head of adult female Imperial Shags(Leucocarbo atriceps),and various attributes derived from the acceleration signals were used to train SVM models for each chick age class.Model performance improved with chick age class,with SVM models achieving high overall accuracy(>88%)and highest sensitivity in older chick categories(>91%).However,precision values,especially for younger chicks,remained relatively low(between 26%and 45%).The application of a time filter based on the minimum duration of the observed food provisioning behaviours for each chick age category,improved model performance by reducing false provisioning behaviours,particularly in the model for older chicks,which showed the highest precision(72.4%).This study highlights the effectiveness of accelerometry and machine learning in studying parental food provisioning in birds,providing a rapid and accurate data collection method to complement traditional techniques.The described methodology can be applied to any bird species that exhibits distinctive movements while feeding its offspring and has suitable characteristics for attaching an accelerometer to the body part that best captures this movement.Finally,it is hoped that the results of this study will contribute to future research on key questions in parental investment theory and reproductive strategies in birds.
文摘Two prime issues can detrimentally affect animals that have been equipped with tags:(i)the effect of the cap-ture and restraint process;and(ii)the effect of the tag itself.This work examines some of the issues surround-ing 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 an-imals 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 in-forming best practice.
