Exercise 1: Direct deer observations

Question 1

Aims

Answer 1

Train building ethograms

Train collecting live observations of animals and their natural environment

Investigate time budgets

Compare the various scoring methods and understand their advantages and disadvantages

Question 2

Fallow deer

Answer 2

Size dimorphic (males > 50% heavier than females)

Long lived species

Highly polygynous species, highly skewed reproductive success (5 most dominant males get 70% of reproductive success)

Rut: late september to early november

Palmed shaped antlers

Question 3

Protocol

Answer 3

Identify a group of fallow deer composed of (ideally) at least 6 individuals and describe it

• 20 min continuous ad-libitum sampling of all visible deer in the group –> establish an ethogram of most common behaviors with definition
• 20 min live focal animal sampling either continuous or at intervals (1 min) (instantaneous or continuous sampling)
• Then repeat after changing method
• create time budget for deer: time allocated to different behavior

Question 4

continuous sampling

Answer 4

% time spent performing behaviors

Question 5

Instantaneous sampling

Answer 5

% of instances of behaviors

Question 6

Among the behaviour scoring methods that you used, which one(s) did you find the most useful?

Answer 6

We determined that while the continuous sampling method was the most useful for collecting detailed data on the deer, which would be useful for further analysis, the instantaneous method was more useful considering the sampling situation, where the individuals observed were free-roaming and part of a large group, making them hard to track.

Question 7

Do you observe marked differences in the time budget resulting from the continuous vs time sampling methods?

Answer 7

We get a better picture of the deers movements with the continuous one, as a lot of behaviour
can happen in the span of a minute (the time in between our intervals).
The interval sampling, especially with the short interval “time”, does give a “satisfying”
result, with the adult deers. The proportion of movements are comparable, and only very
short term behaviours were missed

Question 8

Instantaneous: advantages and disadvantages

Answer 8

Advantage:
- Easier and less taxing for the observer, as observations are made at regular intervals (e.g., every 1-2 minutes).
- Reduces the risk of observer fatigue, making it more manageable over long periods.
- Simpler data collection process, which can be quicker to analyze and summarize.

Disadvantage:
- May miss short-duration behaviors that occur between intervals, leading to less accurate time budgets.
- Behaviors that happen briefly or infrequently could be underrepresented or completely overlooked.
- Provides a more generalized dataset, which might not capture the full complexity of the animals’ behaviors.

Question 9

Continuous: advantages and disadvantages

Answer 9

Advantages:
- Captures every behavior as it occurs, providing a detailed and comprehensive dataset.
- Useful for recording rare or short-duration behaviors that might be missed with interval-based methods.
- Provides accurate time allocation to each behavior, giving a precise time budget.