P000012, Animal movements - from free ranging to restricted indoor environments, 3.0 Hp
Skriv ut kursplan

Kursplan

Fastställd av: FUN, 2022-08-23
Giltig från och med : Första halvår 2023 (2023-01-01)

Nivå

Forskarnivå

Betygsskala

Kraven för kursens olika betygsgrader framgår av betygskriterier, som ska finnas tillgängliga senast vid kursstart.

Kursspråk

Engelska

Behörighetskrav

Mål

On completion of the course, the student should be able to

1. describe and explain how to analyse and quantify animal movement data from free-ranging (wild) animals, semi-natural pastures, and indoor environments

2. use relevant R-packages (amt- move- etc..) for analysis of animal movement data,

3. reason around group dynamics in herd living animals

4. interpret results from social network analysis

Innehåll

The aim of this course is to learn method approaches to analyse movement data on animals in natural, semi-natural or indoor environments. The focus will be on using existing R packages for movement analysis evaluating, how animals are affected by their environments and what drives their behavioural decisions. The course will also deal with animal social interactions both from the individual perspective, ie how agonistic behaviour in a group affect individual performance, and from a group interaction perspective i.e. how group members are dependent on each other in their behavioural decisions. We will exemplify these behaviours and decisions to three different systems 1) free-ranging reindeer use of natural pastures, 2) horses/cows in semi-natural pastures, and 3) cows in an indoor environment. GPS-data, local locational data systems (e.g., ultra-wideband), and movement data from drone imagery will be used during the course.

Examinationsformer

Oral presentation of course-project at the end of the course week, where it is clearly shown that the student can handle locational data using R, quantify animal movement in either free-ranging or indoor environment. In a course report handed in after the course week the student should explain and motivate the methods used along with results from the analysis. In discussion seminars during the course week the student should also be able to explain concepts on animal social behaviour and group dynamics with special emphasis on large herbivores.

Ansvarig institution eller motsvarande

Institutionen för husdjurens utfodring och vård

Kompletterande uppgifter

Övrig information

The course consists of five whole-day meetings in Sweden (Uppsala or Ekenäs herrgård) with lectures and computer exercises. In addition, the students are expected to do individual work before and after the course. In total the course corresponds to 3 weeks full time. The students will bring their own computers to work on. We will encourage students to bring their own movement data to work on during the course.

The course will not be available online, instead we will emphasize in person attendance for active learning and participation in lectures, discussion seminars and course exercises where the students will be given help and can discuss own data analysis. In person attendance will also give the possibility to have informal discussions in between lectures and seminars, and will help building the student’s future scientific network.