2024-03-28T18:39:52Zhttps://research-repository.st-andrews.ac.uk/oai/requestoai:research-repository.st-andrews.ac.uk:10023/6672019-03-29T10:16:20Zcom_10023_45com_10023_17com_10023_165com_10023_39com_10023_95com_10023_28col_10023_661col_10023_664col_10023_662
Designing a shipboard line transect survey to estimate cetacean abundance off the Azores Archipelago, Portugal
Faustino, Cláudia Estevinho Santos
Thomas, Len
Marques, Tiago Andre Lamas Oliveira
Silva, Monica Almeida
Atlantic ocean
Automated survey design
Cetacean density and abundance
Distance sampling
Distance 6.0
Statistical ecology
Revised version November 2008. MRes in Marine Mammal Science
Management schemes dedicated to the conservation of wildlife populations rely on the effective monitoring of population size, and this requires the accurate and precise estimation of abundance. The accuracy and precision of estimates are determined to a large extent by the survey design. Line transect surveys are commonly applied to wildlife population assessments in which the primary purpose of a survey design is to ensure that the critical distance sampling assumptions are met.
Little information is available regarding cetacean abundance in the Archipelago of the Azores (Portugal). This study aims to design a line transect shipboard survey that allows the collection of data required to provide abundance estimates for such species. Several aspects must be taken into consideration when designing a survey to estimate cetacean abundance. This is an iterative process, and there is a constant trade off between the logistic constraints and the desired statistical robustness. Information on this process is provided to aid policy makers and environmental managers, such as the criteria used for the choices made when defining the elements of a survey design.
Three survey effort scenarios are provided to illustrate the range of possibilities between statistical robustness and logistic/ management restrictions. A survey is designed for the more economical scenario (L=5000Km), although the second scenario is the one recommended to be implemented (L=17,600Km) given it provides robust estimates of
abundance (CV<=0.2).
2008
2009-04-14T16:16:04Z
2009-04-14T16:16:04Z
Thesis
Masters
MRes
http://hdl.handle.net/10023/667
en
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41 p.
The University of St Andrews
oai:research-repository.st-andrews.ac.uk:10023/250912022-03-25T03:02:05Zcom_10023_45com_10023_17col_10023_661
Rhythmically repeated patterns of pulsed vocalizations in wild narwhals (Monodon monoceros)
Walmsley, Sam
Rendell, Luke
Marcoux, Marianne
Sequences of vocalizations are indicative of communicative complexity. However, relative to
birds and terrestrial mammals, the extent to which marine mammals use vocal sequences is not
well understood. I provide the first investigation into vocal sequences in narwhals (Monodon
monoceros), a gregarious Arctic cetacean.
Eight female narwhals were fitted with animal-borne recording devices, resulting in one
of the largest datasets of narwhal acoustic behaviour to date. I used a combination of visual and
quantitative classification procedures to rigorously demonstrate stereotyped organizational
properties of subjectively defined sequence types. Next, acoustic characteristics were used to
generate coarse inferences regarding patterns of sequence use across individuals. Finally, I used
generalized linear models (GLMs) to assess the behavioural and acoustic contexts under which
sequences were produced.
I identified two types of sequences: “paired” patterns, consisting of combinations of two
stereotyped click-based calls, the pair of which were often repeated in rapid succession. While
these calls were rare, I found multiple subtypes that were predominantly associated with
recordings from specific tags. I secondly identified “burst pulse series”, temporally stereotyped
sets of short burst-pulses which themselves were combined into repetitive vocalization events. I
found few links between sequence use and behaviour, though burst-pulse series were more likely
to be produced in periods when other vocalizations were heard, suggesting possible use in social
contexts.
These findings extend the set of odontocetes which are known to use sequences of
vocalizations. Both sequence types show rhythmic repetition of lower-level patterns, suggestive
of hierarchical organizational principles. Furthermore, paired patterns constitute the first evidence
of multi-unit sequences in the family Monodontidae. I propose that further inquiry into vocal
sequences in narwhals and other understudied marine mammals is warranted.
2018-12-06
2022-03-24T11:10:51Z
2022-03-24T11:10:51Z
Thesis
Masters
MSc Master of Science
http://hdl.handle.net/10023/25091
en
application/pdf
vi, 46, [3] p.
The University of St Andrews
oai:research-repository.st-andrews.ac.uk:10023/6692019-03-29T10:16:21Zcom_10023_45com_10023_17com_10023_95com_10023_28col_10023_661col_10023_662
Density estimation and time trend analysis of large herbivores in Nagarhole, India
Gangadharan, Aditya
Thomas, Len
Line transect
Distance sampling
Estimating density and abundance
Wildlife population size
Tiger prey
Large ungulates
Tropical forest
Forward truncation
Q
QA
QH
QL
MRes in Environmental Biology
Density estimates for six large herbivore species were obtained through
analysis of line transect data from Nagarhole National Park, south-western India,
collected between 1989 and 2000. These species were Chital (Axis axis), Sambar
(Cervus unicolor), Gaur (Bos gaurus), Wild Pig (Sus scrofa), Muntjac (Muntiacus
muntjak) and Asian Elephant (Elephas maximus). Multiple Covariate Distance
Sampling (MCDS) models were used to derive these density estimates. The distance
histograms showed a relatively large spike at zero, which can lead to problems when
fitting MCDS models. The effects of this spike were investigated and remedied by
forward truncation. Density estimates from unmodified dataset were 10-15% higher
than estimates from the forward truncated data, with this going up to 37% for
Muntjac. These could possibly be over estimates. Empirical trend models were then
fit to the density estimates. Overall trends were stable, though there were intra-habitat
differences in trends for some species. The trends were similar both in cases where
forward truncation was done as well as in those where they were not.
2005
2009-04-16T09:08:04Z
2009-04-16T09:08:04Z
Thesis
Masters
MRes
http://hdl.handle.net/10023/669
en
598063 bytes
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82 p.
The University of St Andrews
oai:research-repository.st-andrews.ac.uk:10023/254012022-05-19T02:03:38Zcom_10023_45com_10023_17col_10023_661
Social plasticity within and across generations : testing the role of plasticity in rapid evolution in field cricket Teleogryllus oceanicus
Sturiale, Samantha Leigh
Bailey, Nathan W.
The field of evolutionary biology lacks a full understanding of how phenotypic plasticity influences
adaptive evolution, despite over a century of research effort. One under-studied question within this topic
is whether plastic responses occurring within the lifetime of an individual (within-generational plasticity or
WGP) versus across generations (transgenerational plasticity or TGP) produce different evolutionary
outcomes. To understand how these two forms of plasticity interact, I investigated to what extent an
individual’s phenotype is shaped by its own social environment and the social environment experienced by
its mother using a field cricket model, Teleogryllus oceanicus. Crickets in the Hawaiian Islands are targeted
by acoustically orienting parasitoid flies, and a mutant form of silent male (‘flatwing’) recently invaded and
rapidly spread under this pressure. Some populations have undergone a full shift from all normal, singing
males to all flatwing, silent males, dramatically changing the social environment, and providing the
opportunity to explore the hypothesis that both WGP and TGP play a role in adaptive evolution following
abrupt environmental change. First, I explored what variation exists in the juvenile morphology and
behavior of individuals carrying normal-wing vs. flatwing genotypes, prior to maternal social manipulation.
At multiple juvenile stages, flatwing-carrying individuals exhibit greater locomotive activity than normalwing individuals, suggesting a co-evolved genetic response or the prior genetic coupling of locomotor
activity with flatwing variants. Second, I tested consequences of social plasticity for the fitness traits of
reproductive investment and mating behavior in adult females carrying the flatwing genotype, which might
permit them to adjust to the absence of song in their environment. This demonstrated that females
homozygous for flatwing raised in silence exhibit reduced body condition and reproductive investment
compared to those raised in song, as predicted. Mating behavior, in contrast, was not sensitive to social
environment in these females. Third, I tested whether maternal acoustic environment affects juvenile
offspring behavior and morphology, whether effects of maternal acoustic environment persist through
offspring development into adulthood, and how the adult social environment of offspring interacts with
transgenerational plasticity induced by their mothers’ social environment. Unexpectedly, adult, but not
juvenile, offspring of mothers raised in different social environments exhibit differences in several
ecologically relevant characteristics such as pronotum length, somatic condition, and reproductive
investment. Taken together, these results illustrate that genetic and plastic responses may jointly influence
the dynamics of rapid adaptive evolution. Further, when exploring the effects of plasticity in adaptive
evolution, it is important to consider how WGP and TGP may act simultaneously, and in a non-additive
nature, to influence an individual’s phenotype.
2021-06-30
2022-05-18T11:52:36Z
2022-05-18T11:52:36Z
Thesis
Masters
MSc (Res) Master of Science
http://hdl.handle.net/10023/25401
https://doi.org/10.17630/10023-25401
en
Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial-NoDerivatives 4.0 International
http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc-nd/4.0/
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[5], 73 p.
The University of St Andrews
oai:research-repository.st-andrews.ac.uk:10023/53422019-03-29T10:16:22Zcom_10023_45com_10023_17col_10023_661
Factors influencing growth and spore germination of species of boletus
Watson, Margaret L. P.
Macdonald, James Alexander, 1908-
QK629.P7
Boletus--Scotland--Tentsmuir (Fife)
Studies in the genus Boletus have been in progress in the Botany Department of St Andrews University for a considerable number of years. Several species can be found nearby at Tentsmuir, Fife, in an area bordering the Nature Reserve. Some of these grow at quite a distance from trees in the regions of the sand dunes. Much of the work being undertaken is directed towards investigating the reasons for the species growing in such diverse habitats, and it is hoped that the researches recorded here may contribute something useful to the work of the department. The twofold objective of this research was to isolate mycelium from freshly harvested fruit bodies in order to carry out tests on the nitrogen and carbon utilisation of these species and to attempt to find out the conditions necessary for the germination of Boletus spores. The extensive studies of Fries (1941, 1943, 1949, 1966) have shown the latter to be a difficult problem. The nutritional tests were planned as a first step in studying the relationship between roots of pine and the fungi concerned, which are all mycorrhizal.
1971
2014-09-04T10:15:07Z
2014-09-04T10:15:07Z
Thesis
Masters
MSc Master of Science
http://hdl.handle.net/10023/5342
en
application/pdf
129
The University of St Andrews
University of St Andrews. Department of Botany
oai:research-repository.st-andrews.ac.uk:10023/6652019-03-29T10:16:22Zcom_10023_45com_10023_17com_10023_165com_10023_39com_10023_181com_10023_95com_10023_28col_10023_661col_10023_664col_10023_666col_10023_662
Behavioural changes of a long-ranging diver in response to oceanographic conditions
Photopoulos, Theoni
Thomas, Len
Biuw, Martin
Elephant seal
Conductivity-temperature-depth satellite relay data logger
Behavioural study of deep-diving marine mammal
Q
QL
BL 5019 Research project. MRes Environmental Biology
The development of an animal-borne instrument that can record oceanographic measurements (CTD-SRDL) has enabled the collection of oceanographic data at a scale relevant to the counterpart behavioural data, both in time and 3-dimensional space. This has advanced the potential for studies of the behaviour of deep-diving marine animals and the way in which they respond to their environment, yet the nature of the data delivered by CTD-SRDLs presents substantial analytical challenges and places constraints on its biological interpretation. Behavioural and environmental data, collected using CTD-SRDLs deployed on southern elephant seals (Mirounga leonina) from the South Georgia subpopulation in 2004 and 2005, are analysed for 13 females and 4 males (21,015 dives). Compressed dive profiles are used to classify individual dives into six distinct types based on their 2-dimensional time-depth characteristics using random forest classification. The relationship between dive type and environmental variables, derived from oceanographic data recorded on board the animals, is investigated in the context of regression analysis, employing a multinomial model, as well as independently fitted Generalized Linear Models (GLM) and Generalized Additive Models (GAM) for each dive type. Regression is not found to be an appropriate method for analysing abstracted behavioural dive data, and other methods are suggested. We show that functional specializations can be manifested within a dive type, using square bottom dives (SQ) as an example. The usefulness of dive classification is discussed in the context of behavioural interpretation, and validity of the ecological functions attached to each class. Preliminary analyses are important drivers of further research into improving the interpretability of abstracted behavioural data, and developing efficient, standardized methods for widespread application to this type of data, which is obtained in abundance via satellite telemetry.
2007
2009-04-14T15:24:46Z
2009-04-14T15:24:46Z
Thesis
Masters
MRes
http://hdl.handle.net/10023/665
en
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iv, 76 p.
The University of St Andrews