To understand how energy budgets compel species to inhabit certain environments, or behave in specific ways, it is necessary to determine the relationships between activity and energy expenditure. However, contemporary techniques for estimating energy expenditure in free-ranging animals, such as the doubly labelled water (DLW) technique, integrate costs of all behaviours over a period of time and do not allow specific costs to be assigned to specific behaviours. Provisional trials with multi-channel data-loggers have shown great promise in overcoming this challenge by providing estimates of overall dynamic body acceleration, a proxy for energy expenditure. The initial goal of this work will be to validate data-logger output against doubly labelled water estimates of energy expenditure for a range of mammalian species (predators and prey). This will enable the deployment of data-loggers in isolation to derive time and energy budgets. Once validations are complete, data-loggers will be deployed in the field to: (1) estimate the costs of prey acquisition within varying foraging strategies; (2) explore evasive strategies in fast-moving prey species; (3) resolve energetic costs of specific behaviours to specific times and locations thereby providing an integrated picture of behaviour, energy expenditure and habitat/environment.
Funding Notes
DEL funded (Department for Employment and Learning Studentships)
For further information on eligibility for the above funding, please visit the following website:
http://www.delni.gov.uk
For further information, please visit the School of Biological Sciences website:
http://www.qub.ac.uk/bb
Funding Notes
DEL funded (Department for Employment and Learning Studentships)
For further information on eligibility for the above funding, please visit the following website:
http://www.delni.gov.uk
For further information, please visit the School of Biological Sciences website:
http://www.qub.ac.uk/bb
*Please DO NOT attach a CV if contacting supervisor with enquiry*