Behavior as a rapid indicator of reintroduction and translocation success for a cryptic mammal, the New England Cottontail (Sylvilagus transitionalis)
| Autor: | Drew V Eline, Jonathan B Cohen, Thomas J McGreevy, Christopher M Whipps, Amanda E Cheeseman |
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| Rok vydání: | 2023 |
| Předmět: | |
| Zdroj: | Journal of Mammalogy. |
| ISSN: | 1545-1542 0022-2372 |
| Popis: | Interactions between animals and their environments are reflected in behavior, which is an indicator of perceived risk and habitat quality. Behavioral studies can therefore provide a rapid assessment of conservation actions. We evaluated the behavior of reintroduced and translocated New England cottontails (Sylvilagus transitionalis)– a species for which the benefits of habitat management, reintroductions, and translocations have been difficult to demonstrate via demographic studies. We first used a random forests model to create a behavioral library for the species using triaxial accelerometers deployed on captive animals that were also monitored with video. We then applied our library to compare time-activity budgets among wild catch-and-release rabbits, wild-caught translocated rabbits, and rabbits introduced into the wild from a captive population. Our library included six behaviors (feeding, grooming, vigilant, movement, resting, and investigating) with an overall classification accuracy of 96.63% and class error rates |
| Databáze: | OpenAIRE |
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