Collaborative Research: EAGER-NEON: NEON Sites as a Platform for Transformative Wildlife Research

合作研究：EAGER-NEON：NEON 站点作为变革性野生动物研究的平台

• 批准号: 1550628
• 负责人: Larry Conner
• 金额: $ 16.71万
• 依托单位: Ichauway, Inc.
• 依托单位国家: 美国
• 项目类别: Standard Grant
• 财政年份: 2015
• 资助国家: 美国
• 起止时间: 2015-10-01 至 2018-09-30
• 项目状态: 已结题
• 来源: https://www.nsf.gov/awardsearch/showAward?AWD_ID=1550628&HistoricalAwards=false
• 关键词: Collaborative; Research; EAGER; NEON; Sites

Knowing where animals choose to spend their time and why they may have chosen those areas is fundamental to conserving our nation's wildlife. For decades, ecologists have been studying animal movement behaviors using radio-telemetry and more recently global positioning systems (GPS). GPS technology has recently advanced such that many smaller animals can now be accurately and intensively tracked. Additionally, the National Ecological Observatory Network (NEON) has begun collecting detailed environmental data at sites throughout North America. The NEON platform and new GPS technologies offer an unprecedented opportunity to merge highly accurate animal movement data with equally accurate environmental data to better understand how animals interact with their environment and predict how they may do so into the future. In this project, researchers propose to use the southeastern fox squirrel (Sciurus niger) as a model for demonstrating how linking NEON and animal movement data can transform wildlife research by allowing scientists to obtain a detailed look into how animals are influenced by, and interact with their environment. Researchers hope to use lessons learned from this project to provide guidance for broader implementation of these technologies across NEON sites, ultimately increasing the capacity of scientists to better understand how organisms interact with their environment. Additionally, the researchers plan to share information and develop educational tools (e.g., web sites showing southeastern fox squirrel movements, videos of simulated animal movement paths, classroom presentations of tools and techniques, etc.) for use in public school systems via local science education initiatives. Investigators will affix small GPS receivers to southeastern fox squirrels to monitor fine-scaled spatiotemporal movements at NEON sites in southwestern Georgia and central Florida. Environmental data will be obtained from NEON for each of these sites. Fox squirrel locations and movements will be modeled as functions of predictor variables obtained from NEON. These efforts will provide an example of linking highly accurate spatial data to address how animals move and interact with their environment at fine scales and across broad areas. The goals of the project are to provide: (1) proof of concept, (2) assessment of the current NEON data collection schedule relative to animal movements, and (3) suggestions for implementation of high-resolution animal movement studies across NEON domains. Researchers will archive data associated with this project at the University of Florida where it will be available for public access and use.

知道动物选择在哪里度过自己的时间以及为什么他们选择那些地区对于保护我们国家的野生动植物至关重要。几十年来，生态学家一直在使用无线电 - 最近的全球定位系统（GPS）研究动物运动行为。 GPS技术最近已经进步，因此现在可以准确地跟踪许多较小的动物。 此外，国家生态天文台网络（NEON）已开始在整个北美地区收集详细的环境数据。霓虹灯平台和新的GPS技术提供了前所未有的机会，可以将高度准确的动物运动数据与同样准确的环境数据合并，以更好地了解动物如何与环境相互作用并预测它们如何在未来中进行。 在该项目中，研究人员建议将东南福克斯松鼠（Sciurus Niger）用作一种模型，以证明连接霓虹灯和动物运动数据如何通过允许科学家获得详细的探讨如何受到动物的影响并与环境相互作用来改变野生动植物的研究。研究人员希望使用从该项目中学到的经验教训，以提供指导，以更广泛地实施这些技术，最终提高了科学家更好地了解生物如何与环境相互作用的能力。此外，研究人员计划共享信息并开发教育工具（例如，显示东南福克斯松鼠运动，模拟动物运动路径的视频，工具和技术的课堂演示等），以通过本地科学教育计划在公立学校中使用。调查人员将将小的GPS接收器贴在东南福克斯松鼠上，以监测乔治亚州西南部和佛罗里达州中部的霓虹灯地点的缩放时空运动。这些站点中的每个站点都将从霓虹灯获得环境数据。 Fox松鼠位置和运动将被建模为从霓虹灯获得的预测变量的功能。这些努力将提供一个示例，即将高度准确的空间数据联系起来，以解决动物如何在细大范围内和跨广阔区域与环境进行移动和互动。该项目的目标是提供：（1）概念验证，（2）评估当前的霓虹灯数据收集时间表相对于动物运动，以及（3）实施跨霓虹灯领域的高分辨率动物运动研究的建议。研究人员将在佛罗里达大学归档与该项目相关的数据，在那里可以公开访问和使用。