Using motion-detection cameras to monitor foraging behaviour of individual butterflies

The activity of many animals follows recurrent patterns and foraging is one of the most important processes in their daily activity. Determining movement in the search for resources and understanding temporal and spatial patterns in foraging has therefore long been central in behavioural ecology. However, identifying and monitoring animal movements is often challenging. In this study we assess the use of camera traps to track a very specific and small-scale interactions focused on the foraging behaviour of Heliconiini butterflies. Data on floral visitation was recorded using marked individuals of three pollen-feeding species of Heliconius (H. erato, H. melpomene and H. sara), and two closely related, non-pollen feeding species (Dryas iulia and Dryadula phaetusa) in a large outdoor insectary. We demonstrate that camera traps efficiently capture individual flower visitation over multiple times and locations and use our experiments to describe some features of their spatial and temporal fo..., Experimental cage
The experimental cage consisted of a circular dome of approximately 12 m in diameter and 10 m in height covered with black mesh and located outdoors (Figure 1A). Inside the dome, motion-activated cameras (Mini Wildlife Trail Camera Version 18022, K&F Concept ©, Shenzhen, China) were positioned 30 cm away from a floral resource to be able to detect the small body of a butterfly (Figure 1B). To permit adequate focus at close proximity, extra external lens (half frame of +3.00 glasses, Figure 1B and Supp Figure 1) were added in front of the camera lenses, an adjustment which provided a clear image of a marked butterfly (Figure 1C and Video 1). Cameras were set to have a 0.2 sec trigger time, maximum motion sensitivity, and to record 20 sec videos between 8 am and 4 pm, the period of highest activity for Heliconius.
Each camera was pointed towards one flower in each plant cluster, created by tightly clumping a group of potted plants inside the dome using Palicourea tom..., , # Using motion-detection cameras to monitor foraging behaviour of individual butterflies

[https://doi.org/10.5061/dryad.gmsbcc2wg](https://doi.org/10.5061/dryad.gmsbcc2wg)

## Description of the data and file structure

Software used: R.

Files description:

*Script_Camera_traps.R*

This file contains all the packages, statistical models and graphs used in the manuscript. It is divided per analysis in the same order as the published article.

To use the script, you need to add the .txt files:

*camera_1trial_03AUG2023.txt*

This file contains data from camera traps in the 1st trial. Head: \"RootFolder\" (name of the folder with camera trap files), \"File\" (name of the video file), \"RelativePath\" (name of the sub folder with camera trap files), \"Date\" (date of the videos), \"Time\" (time of the videos), \"TimeT\" (time transformed in number), \"DeleteFlag\" (if true, video has no animal detection and should be deleted, if false video has butterfly detection, in this case all of it is false), \"Ra...

多数动物的活动均遵循周期性规律，而觅食是其日常活动中最为重要的过程之一。因此，探明动物搜寻资源的运动模式，解析觅食行为的时空格局，长期以来都是行为生态学（behavioural ecology）的核心研究议题。然而，识别并监测动物的运动往往极具挑战性。本研究评估了触发式相机（camera traps）在追踪釉蛱蝶族（Heliconiini）蝴蝶觅食行为这一特定小型交互过程中的应用效果。研究在大型室外昆虫繁育场中，通过标记个体采集了3种取食花粉的釉蛱蝶属（Heliconius）物种（H. erato、H. melpomene及H. sara），以及2个近缘的非花粉取食物种（Dryas iulia与Dryadula phaetusa）的访花数据。研究证实，触发式相机可在多个时间与地点高效捕获单个个体的访花行为，并通过本实验描述了其时空分布的部分特征……实验笼舍
实验笼舍为直径约12 m、高约10 m的圆形穹顶结构，外覆黑色网纱，设置于室外（图1A）。穹顶内部，运动触发式相机（迷你野外追踪相机18022版，K&F Concept ©，中国深圳）被安置在距花源30 cm处，以确保能够捕捉到体型小巧的蝴蝶（图1B）。为实现近距离清晰对焦，我们在相机镜头前方加装了外置附加镜头（+3.00屈光度眼镜的半幅镜片，图1B及补充图1），该调整可使标记蝴蝶的成像清晰锐利（图1C及视频1）。相机参数设置为：触发时延0.2秒、运动灵敏度拉满，并在上午8时至下午4时（釉蛱蝶属物种活动高峰期）录制20秒时长的视频。
每台相机均对准每丛植物中的一朵花，该植物丛由多盆盆栽植物紧密簇集于穹顶内部，所用植物为九节属（Palicourea）物种……# 利用运动检测相机监测单个蝴蝶的觅食行为
https://doi.org/10.5061/dryad.gmsbcc2wg
数据与文件结构说明
所用软件：R语言（R）
文件说明：
*Script_Camera_traps.R*
该文件包含本研究手稿中所用的全部软件包、统计模型与绘图代码，其章节划分与已发表论文的分析顺序保持一致。使用该脚本前，需导入以下.txt格式数据文件：
*camera_1trial_03AUG2023.txt*
该文件包含第1次试验的触发相机监测数据，表头字段依次为：RootFolder（触发相机文件所在文件夹名称）、File（视频文件名）、RelativePath（触发相机文件所在子文件夹名称）、Date（视频录制日期）、Time（视频录制时间）、TimeT（转换为数值型的时间）、DeleteFlag（若取值为真，则该视频未检测到动物，应予删除；若取值为假，则该视频存在蝴蝶检测结果，此类结果均为误检）、Ra……