Seismic information transfer in African Elephants - CASE Project

非洲象的地震信息传输 - CASE 项目

• 批准号: 2440388
• 金额: --
• 依托单位: University of Oxford
• 依托单位国家: 英国
• 项目类别: Studentship
• 财政年份: 2020
• 资助国家: 英国
• 起止时间: 2020 至 无数据
• 项目状态: 未结题
• 来源: https://gtr.ukri.org/projects?ref=studentship-2440388
• 关键词: Seismic; information; transfer; African; Elephants

Seismic information transfer in African ElephantsInformation encoded in seismic vibrations: How do African elephants perceive seismic vibrations? How do they use them as an information source and for information transfer? Can this be used for elephant conservation? Are other animals participating in biotremology networks?Growing human populations, particularly in developing countries, are increasingly causing human-wildlife conflict. Elephants in particular, are often associated with human-wildlife conflict due to crop raiding and are additionally faced with severe poaching threats.Combining biotremology-based experiments and GPS tracking offers a particularly promising interdisciplinary approach to discover novel ways to reduce human-elephant conflict while at the same time increasing our understanding of elephant behaviour and ecology as well as other seismic interactions in the savannah ecosystem.Detecting and using vibrations that travel through substrates is a largely ignored sensory mode in typical studies of behaviour and ecology (Cocroft et al., 2014). Yet it emerges that such vibrations are used by a wide range of animals (Hill & Wessel, 2016; Mortimer 2017), the study of which is known as biotremology. These include African elephants with O'Connell-Rodwell (2007) demonstrating that elephants can transfer apparently detailed information via infrasonic vibrations through the ground. Specifically, elephants can distinguish between the seismic components of alarm calls generated by familiar and unfamiliar individuals. In theory, these substrate-borne vibrations attenuate less rapidly than comparable air-borne vibrations, and models suggest that elephants can use seismic vibrations to communicate over distances of several kilometres (Mortimer et al., 2018). Importantly for an understanding of biotremology in savannah ecosystems; elephants are apparently not the only large mammals that generate substantial seismic signals for which seismic communication has been hypothesised (O'Connell-Rodwell et al., 2001). Specifically, O'Connell-Rodwell et al. (2001) suggest that black rhino may use seismic signals to form loose groups that coordinate a synchronised arrival at watering holes at night. Advances in technology have made the study of seismic communication more tractable and we propose to use this modus operandi to update our image, using elephants as a focal animal of the savannah ecosystem and its mammals. For this we will use a combination GPS tracking, biotremology techniques, and in-situ observation and experiments.GPS tracking technology provides unique insight into the spatial distribution of elephants and can consequently remotely indicate interactions between individuals. Observations of tracked male elephants moving in parallel over several hours but kilometres apart suggest that they communicate probably via the ground (Douglas-Hamilton and Vollrath unpublished observations). However, the ability of GPS data to conclusively demonstrate interactions will rely on novel biotremology technology to demonstrate cause and effect based on a combination of experiments and observation (Mortimer et al., 2018).

非洲象的地震信息传递地震振动中编码的信息：非洲象如何感知地震振动？他们如何将其用作信息来源和信息传递？这可以用来保护大象吗？其他动物是否也参与了生物震动学网络？人口增长，特别是在发展中国家，正日益造成人与野生动物的冲突。尤其是大象，通常与人类与野生动物的冲突有关，因为作物掠夺，此外还面临着严重的偷猎威胁。将基于生物振动学的实验与GPS跟踪相结合，提供了一种特别有前途的跨学科方法，以发现减少人类活动的新方法。大象冲突，同时增加我们对大象行为和生态以及萨凡纳上其他地震相互作用的了解在行为和生态学的典型研究中，检测和使用穿过基底的振动是一种很大程度上被忽视的感觉模式（Cocroft等人，2014年）。然而，人们发现，这种振动被广泛的动物使用（Hill & Wessel，2016; Mortimer 2017），其研究被称为生物振动学。其中包括非洲大象，O 'Connell-Rodwell（2007）证明大象可以通过地面的次声振动传递明显详细的信息。具体来说，大象可以区分熟悉和不熟悉的个体发出的警报声的地震分量。从理论上讲，这些基底传播的振动比类似的空气传播的振动衰减得慢，模型表明大象可以使用地震振动在几公里的距离上进行通信（Mortimer等人，2018年）。对于理解萨凡纳生态系统中的生物震动学来说很重要;大象显然不是唯一产生大量地震信号的大型哺乳动物，地震通信已经被假设（O 'Connell-Rodwell等人，2001年）的报告。具体来说，O 'Connell-Rodwell等人（2001年）认为黑犀牛可能利用地震信号形成松散的群体，协调夜间同步到达水坑。技术的进步使地震通信的研究更加容易处理，我们建议使用这种方法来更新我们的图像，使用大象作为萨凡纳生态系统及其哺乳动物的焦点动物。为此，我们将结合使用GPS跟踪，生物震动学技术，以及现场观察和实验。GPS跟踪技术提供了对大象空间分布的独特见解，因此可以远程指示个体之间的相互作用。对被跟踪的雄象在几个小时内平行移动但相距几公里的观察表明，它们可能通过地面进行交流（道格拉斯-汉密尔顿和沃尔拉斯未发表的观察）。然而，GPS数据最终证明相互作用的能力将依赖于新的生物震动学技术，以基于实验和观察的组合来证明因果关系（Mortimer等人，2018年）。