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Creeping in the night: What might ecologists be missing?

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dc.contributor.authorNichols, Carol Anneen
dc.contributor.authorAlexander, Kathleen A.en
dc.contributor.departmentFish and Wildlife Conservationen
dc.date.accessioned2019-06-04T16:57:38Zen
dc.date.available2019-06-04T16:57:38Zen
dc.date.issued2018-06-13en
dc.description.abstractWildlife activity patterns tend to be defined by terms such as diurnal and nocturnal that might not fully depict the complexity of a species' life history strategy and behavior in a given system. These activity pattern categories often influence the methodological approaches employed, including the temporal period of study (daylight or nighttime). We evaluated banded mongoose (Mungos mungo) behavior in Northern Botswana through the use of remote sensing cameras at active den sites in order to characterize early morning behavior for this diurnal species. Our approach, however, provided the facility to capture unexpected nocturnal activity in a species that had otherwise only been studied during daylight hours. Camera traps were deployed for 215 trap days (24 hour data capture period) at den sites, capturing 5,472 photos over all events. Nocturnal activity was identified in 3% of trap days at study den sites with both vigilant and non-vigilant nocturnal behaviors identified. While vigilant behaviors involved troop fleeing responses, observations of non-vigilant behaviors suggest nonresident mongoose may investigate den sites of other troops during nocturnal time periods. There was no association between the occurrence of nocturnal activity and lunar phase (Fisher's exact test, n = 215, p = 0.638) and thus, increased moonlight was not identified as a factor influencing nocturnal behavior. The drivers and fitness consequences of these nocturnal activities remain uncertain and present intriguing areas for future research. Our findings highlight the need for ecological studies to more explicitly address and evaluate the potential for temporal variability in activity periods. Modifying our approach and embracing variation in wildlife activity patterns might provide new insights into the interaction between ecological phenomenon and species biology that spans the diurnal-nocturnal spectrum.en
dc.description.notesThis work was funded by the National Science Foundation (Grant Number #1518663) (KA) as part of the joint NSF-NIH-USDA Ecology and Evolution of Infectious Diseases program. The funders had no role in study design, data collection and analysis, or the decision to submit the work for publication, or preparation of the manuscript. https://www.nsf.gov/.en
dc.description.sponsorshipNational Science Foundation as part of the joint NSF-NIH-USDA Ecology and Evolution of Infectious Diseases program [1518663]en
dc.format.mimetypeapplication/pdfen
dc.identifier.doihttps://doi.org/10.1371/journal.pone.0198277en
dc.identifier.eissn1932-6203en
dc.identifier.issue6en
dc.identifier.othere0198277en
dc.identifier.pmid29897948en
dc.identifier.urihttp://hdl.handle.net/10919/89740en
dc.identifier.volume13en
dc.language.isoenen
dc.publisherPLOSen
dc.rightsCreative Commons Attribution 4.0 Internationalen
dc.rights.urihttp://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/en
dc.titleCreeping in the night: What might ecologists be missing?en
dc.title.serialPLOS ONEen
dc.typeArticle - Refereeden
dc.type.dcmitypeTexten
dc.type.dcmitypeStillImageen

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