RAPID: Deploying Unmanned Aerial Vehicles for In-situ Studies of Collective Migration

在自然界中，动物进行长途迁徙，这需要惊人的导航能力。在这些迁徙物种中，集体行为如学校教育、群居和放牧是普遍存在的。越来越多的研究预测，通过群体迁徙，这些动物可能会提高它们的寻路能力。然而，尽管集体航行和迁徙之间有很强的联系，但在自然界中对这种影响的测试却很少。迁徙的驯鹿在危险的海冰上寻求安全通道，不仅具有重要的生态和社会意义，而且代表了一个探索自然界集体航行的优秀系统。在这个项目中，研究人员将利用无人机和计算机视觉技术的最新进展，获得驯鹿群中单个驯鹿的运动轨迹。利用这些轨迹，他们将确定社会互动在驯鹿迁徙动态中的作用，并调查气候变化和增加的航运交通对这些动物及其迁徙的风险。2015年11月，RAPID资助将允许该团队加入政府主导的北美驯鹿调查，这将提供关键的后勤支持和基本数据。通过这种合作，结果将直接传达给决策者，改善驯鹿的保护，改善依靠这些动物获得营养和传统生活方式的土著人的福祉。所开发的技术将广泛应用于其他系统，并为原位动物行为的研究提供重大进展。与该研究相关的外展活动将为努纳武特和新墨西哥州代表性不足的个人提供课外STEM教育，通过将尖端技术应用于重要的科学问题，激发他们的想象力。尽管动物运动具有明显的生态重要性，但人们对动物群体如何在其自然栖息地集体做出运动决定知之甚少。这项研究的目的是建立一个完整的、最先进的、开源的遥感系统的原型，该系统能够捕捉野生动物群体的高清视频，并将这些视频转换为轨迹数据，并利用这项技术研究驯鹿的社会迁徙动态。研究人员将使用轨迹数据来验证驯鹿在迁徙过程中受益于集体导航的假设，并揭示驱动这种影响的具体机制。除了为其他研究原地动物行为的小组提供有用的工具外，这项研究还将有助于拓宽导航和迁徙研究的重点，从个体到明确包括社会背景的观点。轨迹数据将发布在Dryad和MoveBank的公开网站（http://movebank.org/）上。

Throughout the natural world, animals make long distance migrations that involve astounding feats of navigation. Collective behavior such as schooling, flocking, and herding is ubiquitous in these migratory species. A growing body of research predicts that by migrating in groups, these animals may be increasing their ability to find their way. However, despite the strong connection between collective navigation and migration, tests for such effects in nature are rare. Migratory caribou, seeking safe passage across treacherous sea ice, are not only of significant ecological and social importance, but also represent an excellent system in which to explore collective navigation in nature. In this project, the researchers will leverage recent advances in Unmanned Aerial Vehicles (drones) and computer vision technology, to obtain movement trajectories of individual caribou within a herd. Using these trajectories they will determine the role of social interactions on the migratory dynamics of caribou, and investigate the risks of climate change and increased shipping traffic on these animals and their migration. RAPID funding will allow the team to join a government-led caribou survey, in November 2015, which would provide crucial logistical support and essential data. Through this collaboration, results will be disseminated directly to policy makers, improving caribou conservation and the well-being of the Aboriginal people relying on these animals for nutrition and traditional lifestyle. The technology developed will be widely applicable to other systems and provide a significant advance for the study of in situ animal behavior. Outreach associated with the research will provide extracurricular STEM education for underrepresented individuals in both Nunavut and New Mexico by engaging their imagination through the application of cutting-edge technology to important scientific questions.Despite the clear ecological importance of animal movement, little is known about how animal groups collectively make movement decisions in their natural habitats. The purpose of this research is to prototype a holistic, state-of-the-art, open-source, remote sensing system with the capacity to capture high-definition video of animal groups in the wild and convert this footage into trajectory data, and deploy this technology to study social migration dynamics in caribou. The researchers will use the trajectory data to test the hypothesis that caribou benefit from collective navigation during their migration and uncover the specific mechanisms driving such effects. In addition to providing a tool useful for other groups studying in situ animal behavior, this research will help broaden the focus of research on navigation and migration, from the individual, to a view that explicitly includes the social context. Trajectory data will be posted on Dryad and the publicly accessible MoveBank website (http://movebank.org/).