Using advanced tri-axial accelerometer data to improve behavioral time budgets and bioenergetic estimates of wintering Lesser Scaup

Wildlife behavior studies have provided vital information towards understanding the natural histories of wildlife species and identified crucial components regarding their habitat and metabolic needs. For many species, typical behavioral data is collected using diurnal scan sampling techniques that have limitations in both when and where the data can be collected, ultimately leading to biases in behavioral patterns. With technological and analytical advancements of radiotechnology, behavior data can be collected more often and over larger spatial scales than with traditional methods. This study compares the behavioral time budget estimates between two different observational methods: ground-truthed diurnal scanning observations and 24-hr tri-axial accelerometer (ACC) GPS/GSM transmitter data that were classified using machine learning. We used the time budgets produced from the two methodologies and calculated the daily energy expenditure (DEE) for wintering Lesser Scaup (Aythya affinis..., , # Calculating and comparing daily energy expenditure of Lesser Scaup using observational scanning samples and tri-axial accelerometer readings from GPS/GSM transmitters

Author List

Hannah L. Schley, Department of Entomology and Wildlife Ecology, University of Delaware, Newark, Delaware, USA

Christopher K. Williams, Entomology and Wildlife Ecology, University of Delaware, Newark, Delaware, USA

Josh Homyack, Maryland Department of Natural Resources, Cambridge, Maryland, USA

William F. Harvey (ret), Maryland Department of Natural Resources, Cambridge, Maryland, USA

Glenn H. Olsen, U.S. Geological Survey, Eastern Ecological Science Center, Laurel, Maryland, USA

Sharon Johnson, U.S. Geological Survey, Eastern Ecological Science Center, Laurel, Maryland, USA

Funding for this research was provided by the Maryland Department of Natural Resources and Ducks Unlimited. Additional funding was provided by the U.S. Department of Agriculture Hatch (DEL00774) and the University of Delaware Wat...,