Effect of a total solar eclipse on the surface crowding of zooplankton in a freshwater lake ecosystem

Adhikari, Shuvadip; Goswami, Abhishek; Roy, Utpal Singha; Aich, Anulipi; Datta, Kanad; Mukhopadhyay, Sajal

doi:10.1007/s10201-018-0540-8

Cited by 3 publications

(1 citation statement)

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“…Though occasionally bizarre, modern studies have lent support to the idea that at least some individuals of certain species display altered behavior during these events. In addition to further observations on birds [8,9], the list of investigated species includes insects [10,11,12,13,14], aquatic invertebrates [15,16,17,18,19], primates [20,21,22,23], fish [24,25], rodents [26,27], bats [28,29], and lizards [30,31], as well as larger mammals like blue bull antelope [32] and dairy cattle [33]. However, conclusions vary by study and species.…”

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Comparing Social Media Observations of Animals During a Solar Eclipse to Published Research

Ritson

Ranglack

Bickford

2019

Animals

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A wide variety of environmental stimuli can influence the behavior of animals including temperature, weather, light, lunar and seasonal cycles, seismic activity, as well as other perturbations to their circadian rhythm. Solar eclipses offer a unique opportunity to evaluate the relative influence of unexpected darkness on behavior of animals due to their sudden interference with local light levels and meteorology. Though occasionally bizarre, modern studies have lent support to the idea that at least some individuals of certain species display altered behavior during these events. A comparison of informal observations of animal behavior during solar eclipse from social media (i.e., March for Science Facebook discussion) to those conducted scientifically (published literature) can elucidate how well this topic is being covered. Describing which species and behaviors are covered in each source can reveal gaps in the literature which can emphasize areas for future research. We enumerated a total of 685 observations of approximately 48 different types of animals reacting to the 2017 Great American Solar Eclipse from over 800 posts on the discussion. The animals most frequently reported on social media as reacting to the eclipse were invertebrates (40% of social media observations) and birds (35% of social media observations). A total of 26 published studies recorded 169 behavior observations of approximately 131 different animal species. The group with the highest number of observations in the literature were birds with 62 records (37% of literature observations). Most observations reported decreases in activity (38.7% of bird observations) followed by increases in vocalization (24.2% of bird observations). There were approximately 30 different species of invertebrate observed (24% of literature observations), most frequently reported of which were zooplankton (14.6% of invertebrate observations).

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