Ethogram animal

link to video gives an important briefing to this assignment https://youtu.be/AwAtaLKDqTo The aim of the ethologist is to understand the biological significance of animal behavior. The founders of ethology, Konrad Lorenz and his student Nikolaas Tinbergen, were the first modern scientists to place animal behavior in its biological context through careful observation and experimental manipulation under field conditions. While communicating with comparative psychologists who worked in artificial settings to identify general behavioral mechanics, Lorenz was continually frustrated by these psychologists’ lack of knowledge about what animals actually do in the wild. Lorenz believed that scientists cannot proceed toward complete understanding of why animals do what they do until they have described how they carry out their normal activities. An ethogram is an organized catalogue of a species’ behavior distilled from field notes that has both qualitative and quantitative descriptive elements. The importance of an ethogram, again, is to provide a database for framing “ultimate” hypotheses about behavior that can be later tested in field experiments at the next level of analysis. Your assignment is to observe a species of your choice for a total of 6 hours and to construct an ethogram from your field notes. “We tend to forget that description is the foundation of all science. I do not mean to question the value of experiments, but observation must come first, in order to generate questions for experimentation to answer. The emphasis on blind, quantitative experimentation without prior observation is based on the erroneous assumption that scientists already know the questions to ask about the natural world.” -Konrad Lorenz Subjects Choose a species that is feasible to observe. You will need to observe at least three different individuals, so keep this requirement in mind as you select your species. A domesticated species may be acceptable for this assignment if you run it by me first. Make sure you can observe at least three, and do not include their interactions with people. Observations of dogs at dog parks can work well for this assignment as long as you follow these guidelines. You could also watch free-ranging gray squirrels or Canada geese, or you could watch zoo animals in person or via a live-streaming web cam. Field Notes At the beginning of each data collection session, record the date, time, and weather conditions. Include also a physical description of the area where you are collecting your data, and note any factors that you think may affect the behavior of your animals. If you are observing animals in an enclosure (or captive animals via a web cam), thoroughly describe the enclosure and record the number (and sexes and ages, if known) in it. After you have completed an hour or so of reconnaissance observations, think of “functional” categories of behaviors that will help you structure your ethogram. Examples of such categories might be: “feeding”, “grooming”, “locomotion”, “social interactions”, etc. Within each of these functional categories, describe each behavior operationally. In other words, record physical and quantified descriptions of each (“head held at 45 degree angle to longitudinal body axis and parallel to ground…etc”). Bring a timing device so that you can estimate durations of behaviors. Additionally, pay attention to sequences of behavior, and of course, the identity of the individual observed…that is, if you can distinguish males from females and juveniles from adults. Another component of your ethogram will be a time budget. A time budget is simply an estimate of how the average individual divides up its time among various activities. To construct your time budget, you may follow one individual and record the time when it changes activities, or you may note which activity the individual is engaged in at predetermined intervals. An alternative approach is to scan a group of individuals at predetermined intervals (e.g. every 30 seconds) and record how many are engaged in each activity. You will turn in your field notes with your ethogram, which I will evaluate for completeness. To meet requirements, you must describe ten different behaviors falling within at least four behavioral categories. (YOU WILL NOT RECEIVE EXTRA CREDIT FOR DESCRIBING MORE THAN TEN BEHAVIORS.) Also, you must divide your six hours of observation into at least three separate bouts. Examples of Animal Cams: https://nationalzoo.si.edu/webcams/elephants https://www.montereybayaquarium.org/animals-and-exhibits/live-web-cams/sea-otter-cam?gclid=EAIaIQobChMI4ePVocib4gIVBYTICh1RxwuREAAYASAAEgJ5m_D_BwEPlay media comment. https://zoo.sandiegozoo.org/live-cams The Write-up Your report will consist of a summary of your field observations, some background information on the species, and your interpretation of what you saw. You should write your report in scientific format, with the usual sections that make up a scientific paper. Use 12-point font, double space the text, and use 1-inch margins on all sides. Avoid passive voice throughout your report! Tips: Avoid starting sentences with “There” and using “it” when you are not using it as a pronoun. Both are indicators that you are using passive voice. Introduction – Provide a brief description of your study species’ natural history. Conclude with a description of your objective. (In an experimental paper, you would state your hypothesis and predictions that you tested, but an ethogram is descriptive). When you first mention your species, follow its common name with its scientific name in parentheses. Just use the common name from that point on. Methods – In active, first-person voice, describe how, when, and where you collected your data. Describe the weather, study site, study subjects (e.g. number observed, ages and sexes if known, etc.), observation and sampling methods, etc. Provide enough detail so that someone else could replicate your observations. You may include a sketched map and/or photograph of typical places where you watched your animals. Provide figure captions below for photos, maps, and other diagrams, and number them sequentially in the order that you mention them in the text (Figure 1, Figure 2, etc.). This rule applies also to graphs and illustrations of animals’ behaviors in your results section. A handy way to present your observational methods information is a table with headings: dates, times, weather conditions (use Celsius degrees), number of subjects observed, etc. Your table should be labeled “Table 1” above, followed by a descriptive heading. Results – This section is the heart of your paper where you lay out the inventory of behaviors distilled from your field notes. Summarize only what you observed, and save interpretation for the discussion section. Also, include one figure (graph) that displays your time budget ( a “pie chart” is a straightforward time budget display). The text of your results section should include a brief verbal summary of the general trends shown in your figure. Cite the figure within this summary. Use one consistent simple verb tense throughout (e.g. your operational definitions should not contain the words“will” or “would”). Your graph should not have a title above, but should be accompanied by a thorough caption below. Discussion – In this section, state your conclusions and interpret what you saw. Also describe any factors that you think may have affected your results. For example, if you observed that females spent more time feeding than males, speculate about why. If you watched your animals on campus, you may feel that their behavior may have been heavily influenced by the heavier pedestrian traffic that occurs between classes. Additionally, this section is where you compare your observations with what others have documented. Finally, you can suggest areas for further research at the end of your discussion. Literature Cited – Complete a list of references that you cited in your paper in usual scientific format (CSE format). Cite sources within your text by author and year. “Jones and Smith (2015) found that birds prefer nest boxes with entrance holes.” Or “Previous research has supported the hypothesis that birds prefer nest boxes with entrance holes (Jones and Smith 2015)” Examples of citation formats (for your Literature Citation Section): Paper: Hamilton, W.D. 1971. Geometry for the selfish herd. J. Theor. Biol. 31:295-311. Book: Catchpole, C.K. and P.J.B. Slater. 1995. Bird song: biological themes and variations. Cambridge University Press. Cambridge. Web site: Levatich T, Padilla F. 2017. EOD – eBird Observation Dataset. Cornell Lab of Ornithology. Occurrence dataset https://doi.org/10.15468/aomfnb accessed via GBIF.org on 2019-02-28.  

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