Tallian Aimee, Mattisson Jenny, Stenbacka Fredrik, Neumann Wiebke, Johansson Anders, Støen Ole Gunnar, Kindberg Jonas
Norwegian Institute for Nature Research Trondheim Norway.
Department of Wildlife, Fish, and Environmental Studies Swedish University of Agricultural Sciences Umeå Sweden.
Ecol Evol. 2023 Dec 11;13(12):e10750. doi: 10.1002/ece3.10750. eCollection 2023 Dec.
Although the advent of high-resolution GPS tracking technology has helped increase our understanding of individual and multispecies behavior in wildlife systems, detecting and recording direct interactions between free-ranging animals remains difficult. In 2023, we deployed GPS collars equipped with proximity sensors (GPS proximity collars) on brown bears () and moose () as part of a multispecies interaction study in central Sweden. On 6 June, 2023, a collar on an adult female moose and a collar on an adult male bear triggered each other's UHF signal and started collecting fine-scale GPS positioning data. The moose collar collected positions every 2 min for 89 min, and the bear collar collected positions every 1 min for 41 min. On 8 June, field personnel visited the site and found a female neonate moose carcass with clear indications of bear bite marks on the head and neck. During the predation event, the bear remained at the carcass while the moose moved back and forth, moving toward the carcass site about five times. The moose was observed via drone with two calves on 24 May and with only one remaining calf on 9 June. This case study describes, to the best of our knowledge, the first instance of a predation event between two free ranging, wild species recorded by GPS proximity collars. Both collars successfully triggered and switched to finer-scaled GPS fix rates when the individuals were in close proximity, producing detailed movement data for both predator and prey during and after a predation event. We suggest that, combined with standard field methodology, GPS proximity collars placed on free-ranging animals offer the ability for researchers to observe direct interactions between multiple individuals and species in the wild without the need for direct visual observation.
尽管高分辨率GPS跟踪技术的出现有助于增进我们对野生动物系统中个体及多物种行为的理解,但检测和记录自由放养动物之间的直接互动仍然困难。2023年,作为瑞典中部多物种互动研究的一部分,我们在棕熊( )和驼鹿( )身上部署了配备接近传感器的GPS项圈(GPS接近项圈)。2023年6月6日,一只成年雌性驼鹿身上的项圈和一只成年雄性熊身上的项圈触发了彼此的超高频信号,并开始收集精细尺度的GPS定位数据。驼鹿项圈每2分钟收集一次位置数据,共收集了89分钟,熊项圈每1分钟收集一次位置数据,共收集了41分钟。6月8日,野外工作人员前往该地点,发现了一具雌性新生驼鹿尸体,其头部和颈部有明显的熊咬痕。在捕食事件中,熊留在尸体旁,而驼鹿来回移动,朝尸体地点移动了约五次。5月24日通过无人机观察到这只驼鹿带着两只幼崽,6月9日只剩下一只幼崽。据我们所知本案例研究描述了首次通过GPS接近项圈记录的两种自由放养野生动物之间的捕食事件。当个体靠近时,两个项圈都成功触发并切换到更精细尺度的GPS定位率,在捕食事件期间及之后为捕食者和猎物都生成了详细的移动数据。我们建议,结合标准的野外方法,放置在自由放养动物身上的GPS接近项圈使研究人员有能力在野外观察多个个体和物种之间的直接互动,而无需直接目视观察。