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

我们正在请求提供最先进的全球定位系统遥测设备和生物记录仪，以监测北方森林的关键物种雪鞋兔的行为和生理/能量。小型哺乳动物的微型GPS发射器和生物记录器的发展代表了一个非常新的技术进步，我们将使用该设备来记录野兔活动，运动，栖息地选择和相应的生理反应，其规模比传统上使用标准研究设备的分辨率要精细得多。具体来说，这种新设备将使我们能够精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塑造动物种群的重要力量。精确的参数估计将用于填充生物能量和人口模型的作用PPR的雪鞋野兔人口周期。然而，由于对PPR的一系列潜在反应的测试很少，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的反应方面可能是变革性的（即，增加捕食风险）。此外，该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卢恩湖雪鞋野兔的长期（40年）研究中，该研究已经产生了超过100份同行评审的出版物和一本书，但迄今为止仅依赖于VHF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.