Large scale questions in the study of mammalian biology: limitations and oppurtunities

Mammalian biology is a field important to many conservationists and the public, with large mammals such as the giant panda being at the forefront of publicly funded conservation campaigns. Despite this interest there seems to be an uncertainty in the exact mechanisms for the decline of certain species, particularly large carnivores such as the Bengal tiger.

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The seminar given by Dr Phil Stevens highlighted the need for changes in the way the field is studied as the traditional long term study is no longer the most effective option. This is despite the fact that it has remained the “gold standard” for data collection on population dynamics and environmental influences, fitness of known individuals and selection and heritability.

The drawbacks of the long term study are it’s reliance on basic data which can take years to accumulate, the narrowness of it’s findings which do no necessarily apply to other populations or species and the difficulty of applying for funding in the modern age when fast results are expected.

So what alternatives to the long term study are available? One example given by Dr Stephens is the use of hunting records to examine the changing reproductive effort in Alpine chamois (Rupicapra rupicapra) over time. These chamois are capital breeders whereby they do not eat during the rutting season which takes place every autumn, as this would waste valuable breeding time. This means they can lose up to 30% of their mass during the rut and this body mass loss can be used as an indication of reproductive effort. The fact that the data was taken from hunting records meant that thirty one years of data could be analysed with minimal time and effort which allows for faster results and therefore a greater chance of successful application for funding.

Alpine chamois

Another alternative to long term data collection would be the use of technology such as Movebank, Camera base and a mammalian equivalent of the Pan-European Common Bird Monitoring Scheme (PECBMS). Technology and the internet has the potential to drastically improve the way in which data is collected and shared around the world and it would be unwise to not take advantage of the technological resources we now have at our disposal.

Software such as camera base collects hundreds of photos from camera traps around the world and allows for a number of different data analysis. Obviously a tool such as this is a dream for modern conservationists as it allows large amounts of data to be collected with ease and in a relatively short amount of time, I believe ideas like this and the PECBMS are undoubtedly the future of studying mammals as sharing information always leads to greater advances.

Using Movebank to track and share animal movement data

I found the seminar by Dr Stephens to be very useful to my degree and contained relevant and interesting case studies which expanded my knowledge on the subject of mammalian biology and ecology.

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