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Leveraging machine learning and accelerometry to classify animal behaviors with uncertainty

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Animal-worn sensors, especially accelerometers, are increasingly used with machine-learning models to identify animal behaviors. These tools often struggle with uneven training data, uncertain predictions, and noisy results. To address these issues, Dr. Rafiq and Dr. Abrahms, with their collaborators, developed an open-source method that combines machine learning and statistical techniques to improve behavior classification and to provide “prediction sets,” which […]

A mother gray whale and calf spy-hopping.

What gray whales are telling us about ecosystem change in the Pacific Arctic

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Gray whales in the eastern North Pacific have been shrinking in number for the past six years — and the decline seems to be getting worse. This is surprising because gray whales had made a big comeback after being hunted almost to extinction. But now, warming oceans are changing their Arctic feeding areas. Less sea ice and shifts in ocean

An African wild dog looks towards the camera through green leaves.

Wild canids and felids differ in their reliance on reused travel routeways

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Dr. Briana Abrahms and Dr. Kasim Rafiq, along with many collaborators, published this study in PNAS earlier this fall. Animals move through their environments in many different ways, and these movement patterns affect things like hunting, finding mates, and spreading diseases. This study looked at GPS data from over 1,200 wild carnivores—16 canid (dog-like) and 18 felid (cat-like) species from

A wet Magellanic chick stands in a flooded burrow.

Interacting climatic and biotic drivers of population responses to climate change

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Full title: Comparative life-cycle analyses reveal interacting climatic and biotic drivers of population responses to climate change Dr. Briana Abrahms and Dr. Dee Boersma collaborated on this study, published in PNAS Nexus in September. The study looked at long-term data from 41 plant and animal species to understand how climate change and other factors together affect survival and reproduction. The

Perceived and observed biases within scientific communities

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Full title: Perceived and observed biases within scientific communities: a case study in movement ecology From the abstract: “Although the survey indicated most conference participants as bias-aware, conversations only covered a subset of biases. We discuss potential causes of bias (parachute-science, fieldwork accessibility), solutions and the need to evaluate mitigatory action effectiveness. Undertaking data-driven analysis of bias within sub-disciplines can

A humpback whale breaching in a graceful arc.

Identifying climate refugia and bright spots for highly mobile species

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From the abstract: “We present a framework to facilitate climate change adaptation planning by identifying where highly migratory species habitats will persist (climate refugia), emerge (bright spots), disappear (dark spots), or remain unsuitable based on model analysis by 2100. When applied to eight species in the California Current System, we found that, on average, 37% of habitats are expected to

Intraguild competition mediates human avoidance in an endangered African large carnivore

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Excerpt from the abstract: Here, we examined the spatial behaviour of two sympatric large carnivore species exhibiting intense intraguild competition—lions and African wild dogs—to investigate whether intraguild competition mediates large carnivore responses to human disturbance in support of the anthropogenic refuge hypothesis. We found that lions consistently avoided human-dominated areas. Similarly, we found that wild dogs generally avoided human-dominated areas,

Humpback whale breaching

Culture and conservation in baleen whales

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From the abstract: Here, as part of the UNEP CMS Expert Group on Animal Culture and Social Complexity, we first evaluate key evidence for social learning and culture in baleen whales through several case studies. We then suggest key indicators by behavioural context to assist in identifying potential cases of social learning in more elusive species generating a practical guide

Strategic planning could reduce farm-scale mariculture impacts on marine biodiversity while expanding seafood production

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From the abstract:“Here we estimate local cumulative environmental impacts from current and future (2050) mariculture production on marine biodiversity (20,013 marine fauna), while accounting for species range shifts under climate change. […] Our results reveal where and how much mariculture impacts could change in the coming decades and identify pathways for countries to minimize risks under expansion of mariculture and

Generative AI as a tool to accelerate the field of ecology

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This paper summarizes the potential generative artificial intelligence (AI) has to aid ecological research. With access to more and more data, like genetic information and animal movement data, generative AI could augment data-scarce datasets, extend observations of ecological patterns, and increase the accessibility of ecological data. The paper also covers the challenges to using generative AI such as privacy concerns,

Plasticity syndromes in wild vertebrates: Patterns and consequences of individual variation in plasticity across multiple behaviours

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From abstract:“Using a 40-year dataset on free-ranging Magellanic penguins, we find evidence of both positively and negatively correlated behavioural plasticities. Plasticity did not strongly affect lifetime reproductive success, but its effect on interannual performance varied significantly by environmental context: plasticity reduced success in average oceanic conditions, increased success in anomalously productive conditions and, contrary to expectation, did not buffer against

Ship collision risk threatens whales across the world’s oceans

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Excerpt from UW News: “Thousands of whales are injured or killed each year after being struck by ships, particularly the large container vessels that ferry 80% of the world’s traded goods across the oceans. Collisions are the leading cause of death worldwide for large whale species. Yet global data on ship strikes of whales are hard to come by —

Removing institutional barriers to long-term fieldwork is critical for advancing ecology

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Abstract: Long-term fieldwork is essential for ecology and conservation, but is hindered by institutional barriers, such as the publish-or-perish culture of academia, and funding limitations. Here, we discuss these challenges and propose strategies to overcome them, such as broadening evaluation metrics and supporting inclusivity, to advance scientific insight and societal equity. Authors: Kasim Rafiq, Neil R. Jordan, Weldon McNutt, John

Maximizing biological insights from instruments attached to animals

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From the highlights section: “Biologging sensors enable broad-scale, high-resolution measurements of the physiological, behavioral, demographic, social, and environmental interactions underpinning patterns in nature. We present a framework, case studies, and outstanding questions for integrating biologging data with theoretical concepts to facilitate process explanation and prediction.” Authors: Roxanne S. Beltran, A. Marm Kilpatrick, Simona Picardi, Briana Abrahms, Gabriel M. Barrile, William

Foot darkening with age in Spheniscus penguins: applications and functions

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From the abstract: “We found that Spheniscus penguins have pale feet at hatching and the feet become darker with age throughout the lives of individuals. We showed that we can accurately predict the age structure of a colony of Magellanic penguins Spheniscus magellanicus, but not the ages of individual penguins, based on a sample of foot colors.” Authors: Ginger Rebstock,

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