The effect of sampling schedule on assessment of dietary measures: Evidence from blue monkeys (Cercopithecus mitis stuhlmanni)

Accurately assessing primate diets is important in studies of behavioral ecology and evolution. While previous research has compared sampling methods (scan, focal), we compiled a data set to examine how sampling schedule influences accuracy of dietary measures. We define sampling schedule as the combined distribution (random vs. consecutive) and frequency of sampling days within a given month. Under field conditions, time may be required to locate a study group, and we therefore also subtracted 1, 2, or 3 hours from the beginning of all non-consecutive days in each sampling schedule to mimic observation time lost to search. From a dense (near daily) 5-year record of feeding behavior derived from focal animal follows of adult females in five wild blue monkey (C. m. stuhlmanni) groups, we created data subsets matching various sampling schedules, and compared monthly dietary measures calculated from each subset to those based on the full dataset. These measures included (1) the proportion ..., Data were collected from 2012-2016 through field observation of 5 groups of wild blue monkeys (Cercopithcus mitis stuhlmanni) in Kakamega Forest, Kenya. On a near daily schedule, trained observers conducted 30 minute focal follows of adult females, balancing observation time across individuals and time of day (morning, midday, and afternoon periods). During follows, observers made instantaneous records (on the beep of a timer) of the subject’s activity at 1-minute intervals. Observers recorded a subject as feeding only when she put a food item in her mouth within 2 sec of the beep. Further details can be found in the methods section of the associated publication., , # Data from: The effect of sampling schedule on assessment of dietary measures: Evidence from blue monkeys (Cercopithecus mitis stuhlmanni)

[https://doi.org/10.5061/dryad.rbnzs7hm3](https://doi.org/10.5061/dryad.rbnzs7hm3)

## Usage Notes:

The dataset derives from focal animal follows of all adult females in five blue monkey groups from 01/01/2012 - 12/31/2016 and expresses the amount of sampling time that these subjects engaged in feeding vs. other behavior, as well as what foods (item, and plant species for plant-foods) were consumed. Each record indicates a unique combination of values in the N columns of the data set, which are as follows:

* **group**: identity code of social group from which the record came. Data came from five groups observed throughout the observation period of five years.
* **date**: calendar date (yyyy-mm-dd) on which the observations were made
* **start_time**: time of day when focal follow started, expressed as hour of day using decimal notation. For examp...

精准评估非人灵长类的食性，是行为生态学与进化研究的重要内容。既往研究已对不同采样方法（扫描取样法（scan sampling）、焦点取样法（focal sampling））开展过对比，本研究构建数据集以探究采样计划对食性指标评估准确性的影响。本研究将采样计划定义为：给定月份内采样日期的分布模式（随机分布vs连续分布）与采样频率的组合。野外条件下，定位研究种群往往需要耗费时间，因此我们在每种采样计划的非连续采样日起始时段扣除1、2或3小时，以模拟因搜寻种群而损失的观测时长。

本研究基于5个野生青猴（blue monkey）斯图尔曼亚种（Cercopithecus mitis stuhlmanni）种群成年雌性的焦点动物取样法（focal animal sampling）数据，构建了近每日采样的5年取食行为完整数据集；随后针对不同采样计划生成数据子集，并将各子集计算得到的月度食性指标与完整数据集的结果进行对比。本次对比的食性指标包括（1）占比……

研究数据采集于2012年至2016年间，地点为肯尼亚卡卡梅加森林（Kakamega Forest），观测对象为5个野生青猴斯图尔曼亚种种群。研究采用近乎每日的采样计划，由经过培训的观测者对成年雌性个体开展30分钟的焦点追踪，确保对不同个体以及一天中不同时段（上午、正午、下午）的观测时长均衡。追踪过程中，观测者以计时器蜂鸣作为触发信号，每隔1分钟即时记录目标个体的行为状态；仅当目标个体在蜂鸣触发后2秒内将食物送入口中时，才将其行为记为取食。更多细节可参见相关已发表论文的方法部分。

# 数据集来源：《采样计划对食性指标评估的影响：来自青猴斯图尔曼亚种的证据》（The effect of sampling schedule on assessment of dietary measures: Evidence from blue monkeys (Cercopithecus mitis stuhlmanni)）
[https://doi.org/10.5061/dryad.rbnzs7hm3](https://doi.org/10.5061/dryad.rbnzs7hm3)

## 使用说明：
本数据集源自2012年1月1日至2016年12月31日期间对5个青猴种群所有成年雌性个体的焦点动物追踪数据，记录了这些观测个体用于取食与其他行为的采样时长，同时记录了其所取食的食物种类（具体食物项，以及植物源性食物对应的植物物种）。

数据集的每一条记录对应N个字段的唯一取值组合，各字段说明如下：
* **group（种群编号）**：记录所属社会种群的身份编码。本研究的观测覆盖5个种群，观测周期为5年。
* **date（观测日期）**：开展观测的公历日期，格式为yyyy-mm-dd
* **start_time（追踪起始时间）**：焦点追踪开始的当日时刻，以十进制小时数表示，例如……