The analytical method, described in this paper, is part of ongoing research regarding a system capable of detecting behaviour of conflict species, such as barnacle goose (Branta leucopsis), and adjust its selleck chemical Tofacitinib scaring stimuli based on the detected behaviour in order to avoid habituation.2.?Materials and MethodsThis section describes the chosen study species, the location of recording and the methods applied.2.1. Study SpeciesWe chose the Russian/Baltic population of barnacle geese as our study subject. The dramatic increase in this population over the past few decades has led to serious conflict between agriculture and geese throughout the wintering range. In Denmark, the large flocks of barnacle geese, which occur along the west coast until late spring, are causing damage to both winter cereals and pastures.
Moreover, barnacle geese, like other goose species, are vocal and Inhibitors,Modulators,Libraries therefore suitable for studying the relationships Inhibitors,Modulators,Libraries between vocalisations and behaviour. Although various methods have been employed to scare barnacle geese off agricultural land, to date, no successful long-term, cost-effective scaring method has been found.2.2. Study SiteVest Stadil Fjord is situated on the west coast of Jutland (56��11��26.23��N, 8��7��39.07��E) surrounded by cereal fields, pastures, marsh and reed beds. Vest Stadil Fjord is an important staging and wintering area for both the Svalbard-breeding population of pink-footed geese (Anser brachyrhyncus) and the Russian-breeding barnacle geese.The recordings took place in April 2011, when up to 10,000 barnacle geese staged in the area.2.3.
EquipmentA combination of Inhibitors,Modulators,Libraries a shielded shotgun microphone Inhibitors,Modulators,Libraries (Sennheiser MKE 400) and a machine vision camera (uEye UI-1245LE-C) with a field of view (FOV) of 45�� connected to a laptop were used for recordings. A multiple-shielded audio extension cable was used to minimise loss in fidelity. The camera and laptop were placed in a box at the edge of the field, whereas the microphone was placed 10 m in front of the camera, closer to the geese. The system was powered by two 12 V 92 Ah deep cycling car batteries and data were stored on 3 TB external hard drive. An overview is seen in Figure 2 (a detailed description can be found in Steen et al. [30]).Figure 2.Sketch of the equipment used for data collection. The camera captures a video stream for later inspection of behaviour.
Both audio and video data are stored on an external hard drive. The dashed lines indicate microphone range and camera field of view. …2.4. Data CollectionThe vocalisations where recorded with a sample rate at 44.1 kHz. An uncompressed audio file (wave) was saved every five minutes during Cilengitide daylight hours.The synchronised audio and video recordings were stored on an external hard drive for later processing. In order to capture selleck bio the movements of the geese, the video stream was recorded at a frame rate of 20 frames per second.