ANIMA (Accelerometer Network Integrator for Mobile Animals), a New Instrument Package for Integrating Behavior, Physiology and Ecology of Wild Mammals

近年来，由于GPS技术在生物项圈中的广泛应用，对野生陆生哺乳动物的研究取得了很大进展。这些设备为调查人员提供了每小时关于动物位置的信息，这些信息可以用来了解从动物迁徙到栖息地偏好的各种模式。然而，目前的生物学技术提供的关于动物行为和生理学的信息很少，而这些对于理解陆生哺乳动物如何对不同的刺激（如气候、与其他生物的相互作用以及人类发展等景观影响）作出反应至关重要。最近在传感器小型化和功耗方面取得的突破，使得将低成本的加速度计和磁力计（如iphone和任天堂Wii等消费类应用中的加速度计和磁力计）集成到连续测量行为和能量的生物项圈中成为可能。该项目将开发、校准和测试一个项圈（ANIMA），该项圈可用于评估自由放养的陆地哺乳动物（如美洲狮、狼和大象）的连续时间-能量预算、运动模式、行为日记和每日能量消耗。项圈开发：为陆生野生动物设计并建造一个长寿命项圈，将连续采样的加速度计和磁力计数据存档存储，用于精确重建能量学，动物运动路径的行为和航位推算，基于动物足部跌倒频率的GPS采样间隔车载控制，以及通过行为代码远程下载GPS位置。利用代谢室和/或经验导出的能量模型，对多种物种的行走、跑步和进食等行为进行项圈校准，以确定能量成本。在圣克鲁斯山脉的野生美洲狮身上进行项圈测试，以测试项圈的功能和耐用性。ANIMA的开发利用了来自计算机工程、环境研究、生态学和进化生物学等部门的独特跨学科团队的技能。该项目的成功完成将为科学研究、监测和管理生活在不同陆地生态系统中的各种哺乳动物带来重大的技术进步。ANIMA项圈是为整个生物界设计的，并将提供给整个生物界，有可能在大型哺乳动物生态学、保护和管理方面取得重大突破。此外，由于这些项圈是为天生具有魅力的巨型动物设计的，因此这些见解可能会大大提高公众对大型哺乳动物行为和保护的认识和看法。外联活动包括在专业会议上作报告、公开演讲、为小学和高中科学课程编制课程、建立一个互动网站和由各种媒体进行报道。有关在哪里以及如何购买ANIMA领圈的详细信息，请访问我们的网站http://people.ucsc.edu/~cwilmers/index.html。

The study of wild terrestrial mammals has been greatly advanced in recent years by the wide spread adoption of GPS technology into biologging collars. These devices provide investigators with hour-by-hour information about animal location that can be used to understand a wide variety of patterns ranging from animal migration to habitat preferences. Current biologging technologies provide little information, however, about animal behavior and physiology which are critical to understanding how terrestrial mammals respond to different stimuli such as climate, interactions with other organisms, and landscape influences such as human development. Recent breakthroughs in sensor miniaturization and power consumption now make it possible to incorporate low cost accelerometers and magnetometers, such as those found in consumer applications like the iphone and Nintendo Wii, into a biologging collar that continuously measures behavior and energetics. The project will develop, calibrate and test a collar (the ANIMA) that can be used to assess continuous time-energy budgets, movement patterns, behavioral diaries, and daily energetic costs of free-ranging terrestrial mammals such as mountain lion, wolves and elephants:i. Collar development: Design and build a long life collar for terrestrial wildlife with archival storage of continuously sampled accelerometer and magnetometer data for precise reconstruction of energetics, behavior and dead reckoning of animal movement path, onboard control of GPS sampling interval based on animal foot fall frequency, and remote download of GPS locations with behavioral codes.ii. Collar calibration to behaviors such as walking, running and feeding for a variety of species to determine energetic costs using metabolic chambers and/or empirically derived energetic models.iii. Collar testing on wild mountain lions in the Santa Cruz Mountains, in order to test functionality and durability. The development of the ANIMA leverages the skills of a unique interdisciplinary team from the departments of Computer Engineering, Environmental Studies, and Ecology and Evolutionary biology. Successful completion of the project will result in a major technological advancement for the scientific study, monitoring and management of a wide range of mammals living in diverse terrestrial ecosystems. The ANIMA collars are designed for and will be made available to the biological community at large, potentially leading to significant breakthroughs in large mammal ecology, conservation and management. In addition, as these collars are designed for megafauna that are naturally charismatic, insights are likely to greatly inform public knowledge and opinion of large mammal behavior and conservation. Outreach activities include presentations at professional conferences, public lectures, curricula development for elementary and high school science classes, an interactive web site and coverage by various media. Details on where and how to purchase ANIMA collars will be made available on our website at http://people.ucsc.edu/~cwilmers/index.html.