Wlf 315 Wildlife Ecology I Lab
Fall 2009
Sampling Methods for the Study of Animal Behavioral Ecology
Lab Objectives:
1.
Introduce field methods for sampling animal behavior.
2.
Gain an understanding of how behavioral research is conducted.
3.
Gather behavioral data in the field to test hypotheses and associated predictions.
In any study of behavior that involves watching the animals, selecting the appropriate method(s) of
sampling behavior is important. In most field studies of animal behavior, it is impossible to observe and
record every behavior of every animal in the group. Therefore, you need to make decisions about which
animals to observe and which behaviors are of interest. Those decisions will form the basis for selection
of specific behavioral sampling methods. Whether you are interested in behavioral states (e.g., lying,
standing, walking) or behavioral events (e.g., grooming, nursing, fighting) also will affect the sampling
method you choose.
Table 1: Example Behaviors
Behavioral States (General Categories of Activity – often measured as amount of time in each state):
Standing
S
Animal is standing, not moving forward, and not feeding
Walking/running
W
Animal is moving forward
Feeding
F
Animal is feeding (browsing or grazing)
Lying
L
Body is in contact with the ground
I
Interacting
Includes any interactions between 2 or more individuals
Behavior usually exhibited by young animals, and usually defined relative to
P
Playing
the species being studied
Behavioral Events (Behaviors that are shorter duration and usually counted rather than timed):
Examples of Behavioral Events between 2 or more individuals:
Allo-grooming
Sparring/fighting
Nursing (or attempting to suckle)
Approaching/retreating
Courtship behaviors/copulating
Examples of Individual Behavioral Events:
Vocalizing
Urinating/defecating
Scratching (grooming)
Flehmen (lip-curl)
Pawing/scraping
For Behavioral State data, we are often interested in the amount of time that an animal spends doing
different activities. So, data are usually collected and analyzed to represent the proportion of time
during which animals were observed that they were doing a particular activity (e.g, feeding, walking,
etc.). In contrast, Behavioral Event data are usually recorded as a frequency (number of times the event
occurred over the time that the animals were observed). Some behaviors might fit in both categories
(e.g., nursing) because we might be interested in how both long and how often such behaviors are
performed.
Sampling methods for behaviors:
1. Ad-libitum Sampling: The researcher records the behaviors of individuals or groups s/he
encounters, with little or no reference to specific, well-defined methods. This is a good method
for initial observations and question formation for later research, but is limited in the quantity
and quality of data produced.
2. Focal Animal Sampling: The researcher selects one individual to be the primary focus of
observation. The researcher records either 1) all behaviors of that individual, or 2) all
occurrences of specific behaviors of interest that the focal animal exhibits, during a set period of
time. Individuals may be chosen randomly from all members of the population, or may be
chosen with some specific criteria in mind (by age, sex, or reproductive status). This technique is
useful for providing data on specific behaviors and is more reproducible than ad-libitum
sampling.
3. All-Occurrences Sampling: The researcher selects one or a few specific behavioral events and
records every occurrence of that (those) behavior(s) within the animal group (every occurrence
of grooming, chasing, etc.). This technique is especially useful in determining the rate,
frequency, or synchrony of occurrence of specific behaviors.
4. One-Zero Sampling: The researcher records whether specific behaviors did (1) or did not (0)
occur during a given time interval. It does not matter whether the behavior occurred once or
several times during the time interval. Either individuals or groups can be observed with this
method. The time interval is usually short (15 seconds) and samples are usually taken
frequently. This method is somewhat limited in its usefulness because information is lost by
categorizing the occurrence of behaviors so rigidly. However, this method may have less
observer bias.
5. Scan Sampling: The researcher records the instantaneous activity or behavioral state of all
animals in the group at predetermined time intervals (e.g., once per minute). It is impossible to
record the behavior of all individuals instantaneously, but the researcher attempts to do so in as
short a time period as possible. The behaviors should be well defined so that scanning is made
easier. This method is useful for understanding the frequency with which all animals in the
group display certain behaviors or behavioral states.
Ungulates: Vigilance Behavior and Foraging Efficiency
In this exercise, you will gather behavioral data from wildlife species at the Bison Range and use those
data to test a hypothesis about vigilance by ungulates. Vigilance for predators potentially is affected by
several factors, including group size (why would this be so?), position within a group, sex and age,
season, group composition (adults or young), etc. Also, different species might be more or less
vulnerable to predators. Individuals that are vigilant are likely to spend less time feeding as a result of
spending more time looking around for predators. So, it is logical to conclude that factors that increase
vigilance behavior might also reduce foraging efficiency. One measure of foraging efficiency is to
examine how much active time (i.e., time when an animal is active and not lying down) that is spent
feeding versus vigilant. The reason for considering active time will be discussed before you begin the
field observations (but can you think about why?).
Assigned reading: (available on the lab web-site)
Childress, M.J. and M.A. Lung. 2003. Predation risk, gender and the group-size effect: does elk vigilance
depend on the behaviour of conspecifics? Animal Behaviour. 66:389-398.
Exercise Expectations:
1. Understand how each selected sampling method works, the differences between the methods,
and the advantages & disadvantages of each method.
2. Plan a hypothesis and predictions about vigilance. You will need to turn this in by Sept. 22. We
will discuss this in class. Make sure that your hypothesis is approved by the TA or instructor.
3. Gather behavioral data at the Bison Range, and share your data with the class.
4. Complete a lab report using the shared class data to evaluate predictions and test the hypothesis
of your choice.
Methods:
1. Form groups of 3-4 students for the behavioral observations. The lab write-up must be
completed individually (even though you will collect data with your group and share data with
others in the class)!!
2. Develop one hypothesis and prediction about vigilance that you will test. You can make
hypotheses about the differences between males and females, or species, or group size or
composition (groups with vs. those without calves or fawns). You should be able to observe
bison, pronghorn, elk, mule deer, white-tailed deer, and maybe big horn sheep (but no
guarantee on the sheep).
Examples: (What is the difference between hypotheses and predictions?) Think about this.
Hypothesis: Bison are less vulnerable to predators than pronghorn because of their larger body
size.
Prediction 1: Bison will spend less active time vigilant than pronghorn.
Prediction 2: Bison will spend more active time feeding than pronghorn.
Hypothesis: Animals in larger groups will be less vulnerable to predators.
Prediction 1: Vigilance behavior will be negatively correlated with group size for a given species.
Prediction 2: Group size will be positively associated with proportion of active time spent feeding.
3. Use scan-sampling methods to record activity (state) of groups of ungulates at 5-min intervals.
4. You can combine all-occurrences sampling for a specific behavioral event (like grooming or
sparring) with scan-sampling for activity by watching the animals continuously between your 5min. scans. These data can be used to support your ideas or test a second hypothesis.
5. Agree with your team members on which individual animals to observe (the whole group, a
subset of the whole group, or a particular individual). Before beginning observations, spend
some time watching your study animals. Make sure all members of the group agree on the
definitions of the behavioral states/activities (examples are listed in Table 1).
6. Observe each group for at least 20 minutes, and record data. You may want to have one person
observe and dictate to a recorder. Be sure to switch roles for the next group observed.
Cautions:
1. Use well-defined behaviors. The data will be more consistent and there is less chance of bias.
2. You may need to select a sub-group of all the animals in a group if the group size is too large to
complete a scan sample in a short period of time. Talk this over with your group members
before you start.
3. You may not be able to watch the same individual or group for the entire period planned. For
the purposes of the lab exercise, if your group goes out of sight, stop recording data.
Written Assignment
Your lab report should include the following sections:
Draft Lab Report Due Oct 5/6
Title
Final Version
Due Oct 19/20
Introduction
Hypothesis & Predictions
Methods
Results (include at least 1 figure or table with your data). Do not repeat information in the text if it is
provided in the figure or table. Also, note that figures should have a figure legend and tables should
have a table caption that explains the data presented in the figure/table). You should be able to
calculate mean values and 95% confidence intervals (or standard error values) to evaluate
predictions. We will not expect a statistical treatment of the data for this lab.
Discussion (Did you support your hypothesis or not? What assumptions did you make? What other
factors might also influence your results? What problems did you encounter?)
Some more information …
 Use 11 point font, and double space the lab report. Max. page limit = 4-5 pages for text and 1 or
2 pages for your figure(s) and/or table(s).
 See information on the lab web-site about how to write the different sections of a paper/lab
report. There are short (few pages each) chapters from:
Robert A. Day. 1998. How to Write and Publish a Scientific Paper, 5th edition.



You will not need to do a literature review for this lab report, so you might have only a few
references. If you do reference any published literature (like published papers, field guides, your
text, etc.), you should include the citations in a References section.
Be sure to list the other members of your observation team on your lab report.
Be sure to do the writing individually, even though you shared data!