The difference between night and day: The nocturnal and diurnal activity budget of gray seals (<i>Halichoerus grypus</i>) during the breeding season

Culloch, Ross M.; Pomeroy, Patrick P.; Twiss, Sean D.

doi:10.1111/mms.12259

Cited by 6 publications

(13 citation statements)

References 34 publications

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“…Furthermore, there was evidence of BS traces in the seismic record during the 370 nighttime; although, observational confirmation of these was not possible. If the visual component is used 371 at all, it is likely to be most effective at very short range and only during daylight (Culloch et al 2014). conditions (Quinn, Adkinson, & Ward, 1996;Smith, 2007).…”

Section: Discussion 308mentioning

confidence: 99%

Good vibrations by the beach boys: magnitude of substrate vibrations is a reliable indicator of male grey seal size

et al. 2015

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magnitude of substrate vibrations is a reliable indicator of male grey seal size.', Animal behaviour., 100 . pp. 74-82.Further information on publisher's website:http://dx.doi.org/10.1016/j.anbehav. 2014.11.008 Publisher's copyright statement: NOTICE: this is the author's version of a work that was accepted for publication in Animal Behaviour. Changes resulting from the publishing process, such as peer review, editing, corrections, structural formatting, and other quality control mechanisms may not be re ected in this document. Changes may have been made to this work since it was submitted for publication. A de nitive version was subsequently published in Animal Behaviour, 100, 1 February 2015, 10.1016/j.anbehav.2014.11.008. Additional information:Use policyThe full-text may be used and/or reproduced, and given to third parties in any format or medium, without prior permission or charge, for personal research or study, educational, or not-for-pro t purposes provided that:• a full bibliographic reference is made to the original source • a link is made to the metadata record in DRO • the full-text is not changed in any way The full-text must not be sold in any format or medium without the formal permission of the copyright holders.Please consult the full DRO policy for further details.

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Section: Discussion 308mentioning

confidence: 99%

Good vibrations by the beach boys: magnitude of substrate vibrations is a reliable indicator of male grey seal size

et al. 2015

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“…Activity budgets were summarized by consecutive day and night period, split by the timing of civil twilight in order to match previous efforts to study activity (e.g. Murie and Lavigne 1991;Harris et al 2001;Culloch et al 2016); day light hours included civil twilight at both ends of what constituted a day.…”

Section: Accelerometer-derived Activity Budgetsmentioning

confidence: 99%

“…We focus on three behavioural states (Resting, Alert and Presenting/Nursing) where trade-offs in timeactivity likely exist in lactating grey seals as they make up most of a mother's daily activity budget (typically > 90% time). Likely extrinsic drivers of behavioural trade-offs include pup sex (Anderson and Fedak 1987), conspecific density (Pomeroy et al 2000a;Twiss et al 2003), ambient temperature (Twiss et al 2002), local topography (access to water; Twiss et al 2000;Redman et al 2001;Stewart et al 2014), and diurnal-nocturnal changes in activity (Culloch et al 2016;Fraser et al 2019). Previously, various intrinsic predictors have been found to influence maternal behaviour (maternal mass and length, Pomeroy et al 1999; phase of lactation and pup developmental stage, Bowen et al 1992).…”

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Coping styles in capital breeders modulate behavioural trade-offs in time allocation: assessing fine-scale activity budgets in lactating grey seals (Halichoerus grypus) using accelerometry and heart rate variability

Shuert

Pomeroy

Twiss

2019

Behav Ecol Sociobiol

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Balancing time allocation among competing behaviours is an essential part of energy management for all animals. However, trade-offs in time allocation may vary according to the sex of the individual, their age, and even underlying physiology. During reproduction, higher energetic demands and constrained internal resources place greater demand on optimizing these trade-offs insofar that small adjustments in time-activity may lead to substantial effects on an individual's limited energy budget. The most extreme case is found in animals that undergo capital breeding, where individuals fast for the duration of each reproductive episode. We investigated potential underlying drivers of time-activity and describe aspects of trade-offs in time-activity in a wild, capital breeding pinniped, the grey seal Halichoerus grypus, during the lactation period. For the first time, we were able to access full 24-h activity budgets across the core duration of lactation as well as characterize how aspects of stress-coping styles influence time allocation through the use of animal-borne accelerometers and heart rate monitors in situ. We found that there was a distinct trade-off in time activity between time spent Resting and Alert (vigilance). This trade-off varied with the pup's development, date, and maternal stress-coping style as indicated by a measure of heart rate variability, rMSSD. In contrast, time spent Presenting/ Nursing did not vary across the duration of lactation given the variables tested. We suggest that while mothers balance time spent conserving resources (Resting) against time expending energy (Alert), they are also influenced by the inherent physiological drivers of stress-coping styles. Significance statement How animals apportion their time among different behaviours is key to their success. These trade-offs should be finely balanced to avoid unnecessary energy expenditure. Here, we examine how grey seal mothers balance their activity patterns during the short, but energetically demanding, period of pup-rearing. Animal-borne accelerometers provided a uniquely detailed and continuous record of activity during pup-rearing for 38 mothers. We also used heart rate monitors to provide measures of each individual's stress-coping style. We found that mothers balance time Resting against remaining Alert while time Presenting/ Nursing was largely independent of all factors measured. Stress-coping styles were found to drive the balancing and variation of all behaviours. This novel indication that differences in personality-like traits may drive whole activity budgets should be considered when assessing trade-offs in time allocation across a much wider variety of species.

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“…Quantitative observational studies have been used to understand behaviour in a wide range of contexts, such as individual-or population-level foraging decisions [2,3] and investigating the mechanisms for conflict and conflict-avoidance [4]. Comparative observations also allow examination of how behaviour may vary over time such as differences between day and night activities [5,6] or across individuals, including personality types and consistent individual differences [7][8][9]. With the advancement of animal-borne data loggers, researchers have been able to extend the application of behavioural studies to species that have typically been very difficult to observe in the wild, such as marine mammals.…”

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

“…Accelerometry-derived activity will also allow not only for the assessment of behaviour overnight, an area of research that is largely either ignored or inaccessible (e.g. [5]), but also will overcome the limitations of visual focal sampling by recording data continuously and simultaneously over many individuals, free from observer biases.…”

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Assessing the utility and limitations of accelerometers and machine learning approaches in classifying behaviour during lactation in a phocid seal

2018

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Background: Classifying behaviour with animal-borne accelerometers is quickly becoming a popular tool for remotely observing behavioural states in a variety of species. Most accelerometry work in pinnipeds has focused on classifying behaviour at sea often quantifying behavioural trade-offs associated with foraging and diving in income breeders. Very little work to date has been done to resolve behaviour during the critical period of lactation in a capital breeder. Capital breeding phocids possess finite reserves that they must allocate appropriately to maintain themselves and their new offspring during their brief nursing period. Within this short time, fine-scale behavioural trade-offs can have significant fitness consequences for mother and offspring and must be carefully managed. Here, we present a case study in extracting and classifying lactation behaviours in a wild, breeding pinniped, the grey seal (Halichoerus grypus). Results: Using random forest models, we were able to resolve 4 behavioural states that constitute the majority of a female grey seals' activity budget during lactation. Resting, alert, nursing, and a form of pup interaction were extracted and classified reliably. For the first time, we quantified the potential confounding variance associated with individual differences in a wild context as well as differences due to sampling location in a largely inactive model species. Conclusions: At this stage, the majority of a female grey seal's activity budget was classified well using accelerometers, but some rare and context-dependent behaviours were not well captured. While we did find significant variation between individuals in behavioural mechanics, individuals did not differ significantly within themselves; inter-individual variability should be an important consideration in future efforts. These methods can be extended to other efforts to study grey seals and other pinnipeds who exhibit a capital breeding system. Using accelerometers to classify behaviour during lactation allows for fine-scale assessments of time and energy trade-offs for species with fixed stores.

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The difference between night and day: The nocturnal and diurnal activity budget of gray seals (Halichoerus grypus) during the breeding season

Cited by 6 publications

References 34 publications

Good vibrations by the beach boys: magnitude of substrate vibrations is a reliable indicator of male grey seal size

Good vibrations by the beach boys: magnitude of substrate vibrations is a reliable indicator of male grey seal size

Coping styles in capital breeders modulate behavioural trade-offs in time allocation: assessing fine-scale activity budgets in lactating grey seals (Halichoerus grypus) using accelerometry and heart rate variability

Assessing the utility and limitations of accelerometers and machine learning approaches in classifying behaviour during lactation in a phocid seal

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