First known satellite collaring of a viverrid species: preliminary performance and implications of GPS tracking Malay civets (Viverra tangalunga)

Abstract Background The migration patterns of land birds can generally be divided into those species that migrate principally during the day and those that migrate during the night. Some species may show individual plasticity in the use of day or night flight, particularly when crossing large, open-water or desert barriers. However, individual plasticity in circadian patterns of migratory flights in diurnally migrating songbirds has never been investigated. Methods We used high precision GPS tracking of a diurnal, migratory swallow, the purple martin (Progne subis), to determine whether individuals were flexible in their spring migration strategies to include some night flight, particularly at barrier crossing. Results Most (91%) of individuals made large (sometimes > 1000 km), open-water crossings of the Caribbean Sea and the Gulf of Mexico that included the use of night flight. 32% of all water crossings were initiated at night, demonstrating that night flight is not only used to complete large crossings but may confer other advantages for diurnal birds. Birds were not more likely to initiate crossings with supportive winds, however crossings were more likely when they reduced travel distances. Our results are consistent with diurnal birds using night flight to help achieve time- and energy-savings through ‘short cuts’ at barrier crossings, at times and locations when foraging opportunities are not available. Conclusions Overall, our results demonstrate the use of nocturnal flight and a high degree of individual plasticity in migration strategies on a circadian scale in a species generally considered to be a diurnal migrant. Nocturnal flights at barrier crossing may provide time and energy savings where foraging opportunities are low in an otherwise diurnal strategy. Future research should target how diel foraging and refueling strategies support nocturnal flights and barrier crossing in this and other diurnal species.

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Vegetation Response to Goats Grazing Intensity in Semiarid Hilly Grassland of the Loess Plateau, Lanzhou, China

Sustainability ◽

10.3390/su13063569 ◽

2021 ◽

Vol 13 (6) ◽

pp. 3569

Author(s):

Hua Cheng ◽

Baocheng Jin ◽

Kai Luo ◽

Jiuying Pei ◽

Xueli Zhang ◽

...

Keyword(s):

Growth Rate ◽

Community Structure ◽

Plant Growth ◽

Loess Plateau ◽

Grazing Intensity ◽

Gps Tracking ◽

Growth Stages ◽

The Loess Plateau ◽

Vegetation Community ◽

Natural Grasslands

Quantitatively estimating the grazing intensity (GI) effects on vegetation in semiarid hilly grassland of the Loess Plateau can help to develop safe utilization levels for natural grasslands, which is a necessity of maintaining livestock production and sustainable development of grasslands. Normalized difference vegetation index (NDVI), field vegetation data, and 181 days (one goat per day) of GPS tracking were combined to quantify the spatial pattern of GI, and its effects on the vegetation community structure. The spatial distribution of GI was uneven, with a mean value of 0.50 goats/ha, and 95% of the study area had less than 1.30 goats/ha. The areas with utilization rates of rangeland (July) lower than 45% and 20% made up about 95% and 60% of the study area, respectively. Grazing significantly reduced monthly aboveground biomass, but the grazing effects on plant growth rate were complex across the different plant growth stages. Grazing impaired plant growth in general, but the intermediate GI appeared to facilitate plant growth rate at the end of the growing seasons. Grazing had minimal relationship with vegetation community structure characteristics, though Importance Value of forbs increased with increasing GI. Flexibility in the number of goats and conservatively defining utilization rate, according to the inter-annual variation of utilization biomass, would be beneficial to achieve ecologically healthy and economically sustainable GI.

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Mobile application to optimize care for STEMI patients in a large healthcare system, STEMIcathAID. Rationale and design

European Heart Journal - Digital Health ◽

10.1093/ehjdh/ztab010 ◽

2021 ◽

Author(s):

Parasuram Krishnamoorthy ◽

Andriy Vengrenyuk ◽

Brian Wasielewski ◽

Nitin Barman ◽

Jeffrey Bander ◽

...

Keyword(s):

Healthcare System ◽

Mobile Application ◽

Performance Metrics ◽

Clinical Status ◽

Coronary Intervention ◽

Mobile App ◽

Gps Tracking ◽

St Segment Elevation ◽

Catheterization Laboratory ◽

Cardiac Catheterization Laboratory

Abstract Technological advancements have transformed healthcare. System delays in transferring patients with ST- segment elevation myocardial infarction (STEMI) to a primary percutaneous coronary intervention (PCI) center are associated with worse clinical outcomes. Our aim was to design and develop a secure mobile application, STEMIcathAID, streamlining communication and coordination between the STEMI care teams to reduce ischemia time and improve patient outcomes. The app was designed for transfer of patients with STEMI to a cardiac catheterization laboratory (CCL) from an emergency department (ED) of either a PCI capable or a non-PCI capable hospital. When a suspected STEMI arrives to a non-PCI hospital ED, the ED physician uploads the EKG and relevant patient information. An instant notification is simultaneously sent to the on-call CCL attending and transfer center. The attending reviews the information, makes a video call and decides to either accept or reject the transfer. If accepted, on-call CCL team members receive an immediate push notification and begin communicating with the ED team via a HIPPA compliant chat. The app provides live GPS tracking of the ambulance and frequent clinical status updates of the patient. In addition, it allows for screening of STEMI patients in cardiogenic shock. Prior to discharge important data elements have to be entered to close the case. In conclusion, we developed a novel mobile app to optimize care for STEMI patients and facilitate electronic extraction of relevant performance metrics to improve allocation of resources and reduction of costs.

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Foraging niche partitioning in sympatric seabird populations

Scientific Reports ◽

10.1038/s41598-021-81583-z ◽

2021 ◽

Vol 11 (1) ◽

Author(s):

Christina Petalas ◽

Thomas Lazarus ◽

Raphael A. Lavoie ◽

Kyle H. Elliott ◽

Mélanie F. Guigueno

Keyword(s):

Interspecific Competition ◽

Niche Partitioning ◽

Niche Differentiation ◽

Sympatric Species ◽

Foraging Strategies ◽

Gps Tracking ◽

Seabird Species ◽

Foraging Range ◽

Common Murre ◽

Prey Items

AbstractSympatric species must sufficiently differentiate aspects of their ecological niche to alleviate complete interspecific competition and stably coexist within the same area. Seabirds provide a unique opportunity to understand patterns of niche segregation among coexisting species because they form large multi-species colonies of breeding aggregations with seemingly overlapping diets and foraging areas. Recent biologging tools have revealed that colonial seabirds can differentiate components of their foraging strategies. Specifically, small, diving birds with high wing-loading may have small foraging radii compared with larger or non-diving birds. In the Gulf of St-Lawrence in Canada, we investigated whether and how niche differentiation occurs in four incubating seabird species breeding sympatrically using GPS-tracking and direct field observations of prey items carried by adults to chicks: the Atlantic puffin (Fratercula arctica), razorbill (Alca torda), common murre (Uria aalge), and black-legged kittiwake (Rissa tridactyla). Although there was overlap at foraging hotspots, all species differentiated in either diet (prey species, size and number) or foraging range. Whereas puffins and razorbills consumed multiple smaller prey items that were readily available closer to the colony, murres selected larger more diverse prey that were accessible due to their deeper diving capability. Kittiwakes compensated for their surface foraging by having a large foraging range, including foraging largely at a specific distant hotspot. These foraging habitat specialisations may alleviate high interspecific competition allowing for their coexistence, providing insight on multispecies colonial living.

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Animal-Borne Instrumentation Systems and the Animals that Bear Them: Then (1939) and Now (2007)

Marine Technology Society Journal ◽

10.4031/002533207787441935 ◽

2007 ◽

Vol 41 (4) ◽

pp. 6-8 ◽

Cited By ~ 5

Author(s):

Gerald Kooyman

Keyword(s):

Loggerhead Turtle ◽

Video Camera ◽

Weddell Seal ◽

Gps Tracking ◽

Major Step ◽

Mcmurdo Sound ◽

Weddell Seals ◽

History Of ◽

Archival Systems ◽

Microprocessor Technology

The history of animal-borne instrumentation is reviewed from the first basic depth gauge invented in the late 1800s, to the complex animal-borne imagery and archival systems of the present day. A major breakthrough occurred in 1964 when the first time-depth recorder was deployed on a Weddell Seal in McMurdo Sound, Antarctica. The next phase in the study of animals at sea was the use of microprocessors as archival recorders in the mid-1980s. These also were first attached to Weddell seals in McMurdo Sound. Microprocessor technology made possible the next major step of attaching a video camera housed in a submersible case (Crittercam) to a loggerhead turtle. Since the 1990s the field of “Biologging” has flourished, with new additions of satellite and GPS tracking, and resulted in three major international symposiums in the past four years (2003-2007).

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