Biotelemetry system for quantifying the non-consumptive effects of predators on prey

我们正在请求最先进的全球定位系统(GPS)遥测设备和生物记录仪，用于监测雪鞋兔的行为和生理/能量，雪鞋兔是北方森林中的关键物种。用于小型哺乳动物的微型GPS发射器和生物记录仪的开发代表着一项最新的技术进步，我们将使用该设备来记录野兔的活动、运动、栖息地选择和相应的生理反应，其规模比使用标准研究设备传统上可能实现的分辨率要精细得多。具体地说，这种新设备将使我们能够准确地量化野兔对感知捕食风险(PPR)的反应，PPR越来越被认为是可能影响动物种群的重要力量。精确的参数估计将被用于填充PPR在雪鞋兔种群周期中所起作用的生物能量和人口统计学模型。然而，由于对PPR的一系列潜在反应的测试非常少，特别是在野外环境中，我们的工作在理解关键物种对环境条件变化(即捕食风险增加)随时间的变化方面可能具有变革性。此外，这台设备将使我们能够将当代方法和最先进的数据添加到我们对育空地区克鲁恩湖雪鞋兔的长期研究中(40年)，该研究区域已经出版了100本同行评议的出版物和一本书，但到目前为止，我们完全依赖于甚高频遥测和有限的生理学和能量学工作。

We are requesting state-of-the-art Global Positioning System (GPS) telemetry equipment and biologgers for monitoring behaviour and physiology/energetics in snowshoe hares, a keystone species in the boreal forest. Development of minituarized GPS transmitters and biologgers for small mammals represents a very recent technological advance and we will use the equipment to document hare activity, movements, habitat selection, and corresponding physiological responses at a much finer scale than the resolution that has traditionally been possible using standard research equipment. Specifically, this new equipment will allow us to precisely quantify how hares respond to perceived predation risk (PPR), which is increasingly recognized as an important force likely shaping animal populations. Precise parameter estimates will be used to populate bioenergetic and demographic models of the role of PPR on the snowshoe hare population cycle. However, because there have been so few tests of the suite of potential responses to PPR, especially in a field setting, our work could be transformational in terms of understanding keystone species responses to changes in environmental conditions (i.e., increased predation risk) through time. Further, this equipment will allow us to add contemporary methodology and state-of-the-art data to our long-term (40-year) study of snowshoe hares in our Kluane Lake, Yukon, study area, which has produced >100 peer-reviewed publications and a book but to date has relied exclusively on VHF telemetry and limited physiology and energetics work.