Constructing a social-behavioral association network to study management impact on waterbird community ecology using digital video recording cameras

Studying social behavior and species associations in ecological communities is challenging because it is difficult to observe the interactions in the field. Animal behavior is especially difficult to observe when selection of habitat and activities are linked to energy costs of long-distance movement. Migrating communities tend to be resource specific and prefer environments that offer more suitability for coexisting in a shared space and time. Given the recent advances in digital technologies, digital video recording systems are gaining popularity in wildlife research and management. We used digital video recording cameras to study social interactions and species-habitat linkages for wintering waterbird communities in shared habitats. Examining over 8,640 hours of video footages, we built tetrapartite social behavioral association network of wintering waterbirds over habitat (n=5) selection events in sites with distinct management regimes. We analyzed these networks to identify hub spe...