scholarly journals Decision-making by a soaring bird: time, energy and risk considerations at different spatio-temporal scales

2016 ◽  
Vol 371 (1704) ◽  
pp. 20150397 ◽  
Author(s):  
Roi Harel ◽  
Olivier Duriez ◽  
Orr Spiegel ◽  
Julie Fluhr ◽  
Nir Horvitz ◽  
...  
Keyword(s):  
Decision Making ◽  
Long Range ◽  
Spatial Scales ◽  
Movement Ecology ◽  
Accelerometer Data ◽  
Temporal Scales ◽  
Gyps Fulvus ◽  
Trade Offs ◽  
Gliding Flight ◽  
Spatio Temporal

Natural selection theory suggests that mobile animals trade off time, energy and risk costs with food, safety and other pay-offs obtained by movement. We examined how birds make movement decisions by integrating aspects of flight biomechanics, movement ecology and behaviour in a hierarchical framework investigating flight track variation across several spatio-temporal scales. Using extensive global positioning system and accelerometer data from Eurasian griffon vultures ( Gyps fulvus ) in Israel and France, we examined soaring–gliding decision-making by comparing inbound versus outbound flights (to or from a central roost, respectively), and these (and other) home-range foraging movements (up to 300 km) versus long-range movements (longer than 300 km). We found that long-range movements and inbound flights have similar features compared with their counterparts: individuals reduced journey time by performing more efficient soaring–gliding flight, reduced energy expenditure by flapping less and were more risk-prone by gliding more steeply between thermals. Age, breeding status, wind conditions and flight altitude (but not sex) affected time and energy prioritization during flights. We therefore suggest that individuals facing time, energy and risk trade-offs during movements make similar decisions across a broad range of ecological contexts and spatial scales, presumably owing to similarity in the uncertainty about movement outcomes. This article is part of the themed issue ‘Moving in a moving medium: new perspectives on flight’.

scholarly journals Ecosystem-based adaptation in Lake Victoria Basin; synergies and trade-offs

2021 ◽  
Vol 8 (6) ◽  
pp. 201847
Author(s):  
Dorice Agol ◽  
Hannah Reid ◽  
Florence Crick ◽  
Hausner Wendo
Keyword(s):  
Climate Change ◽  
Lake Victoria ◽  
Spatial Scales ◽  
Analytical Framework ◽  
Lake Victoria Basin ◽  
Adaptation To Climate Change ◽  
Group Discussions ◽  
Temporal Scales ◽  
Spatial And Temporal Scales ◽  
Trade Offs

Healthy ecosystems such as forests and wetlands have a great potential to support adaptation to climate change and are the foundation of sustainable livelihoods. Ecosystem-based adaptation (EbA) can help to protect and maintain healthy ecosystems providing resilience against the impacts of climate change. This paper explores the role of EbA in reconciling socio-economic development with the conservation and restoration of nature in Lake Victoria Basin, Kenya, East Africa. Using selected ecosystems in the Lake region, the paper identifies key EbA approaches and explores trade-offs and synergies at spatial and temporal scales and between different stakeholders. The research methods used for this study include site visits, key informant interviews, focus group discussions, participatory workshops and literature reviews. An analytical framework is applied to advance the understanding of EbA approaches and how they lead to synergies and trade-offs between ecosystem services provision at spatial and temporal scales and multiple stakeholders. Our results show that EbA approaches such as ecosystem restoration have the potential to generate multiple adaptation benefits as well as synergies and trade-offs occurring at different temporal and spatial scales and affecting various stakeholder groups. Our paper underscores the need to identify EbA trade-offs and synergies and to explore the ways in which they are distributed in space and time and between different stakeholders to design better environmental and development programmes.

scholarly journals Marine ecosystem acoustics (MEA): quantifying processes in the sea at the spatio-temporal scales on which they occur

2014 ◽  
Vol 71 (8) ◽  
pp. 2357-2369 ◽  
Author(s):  
Olav Rune Godø ◽  
Nils Olav Handegard ◽  
Howard I. Browman ◽  
Gavin J. Macaulay ◽  
Stein Kaartvedt ◽  
...  
Keyword(s):  
Spatial Scales ◽  
Marine Ecosystem ◽  
Single Species ◽  
Fish Stock ◽  
Temporal Scales ◽  
Flexible Tool ◽  
Ecosystem Research ◽  
Spatial And Temporal Scales ◽  
Fisheries Resources ◽  
Spatio Temporal

Abstract Sustainable management of fisheries resources requires quantitative knowledge and understanding of species distribution, abundance, and productivity-determining processes. Conventional sampling by physical capture is inconsistent with the spatial and temporal scales on which many of these processes occur. In contrast, acoustic observations can be obtained on spatial scales from centimetres to ocean basins, and temporal scales from seconds to seasons. The concept of marine ecosystem acoustics (MEA) is founded on the basic capability of acoustics to detect, classify, and quantify organisms and biological and physical heterogeneities in the water column. Acoustics observations integrate operational technologies, platforms, and models and can generate information by taxon at the relevant scales. The gaps between single-species assessment and ecosystem-based management, as well as between fisheries oceanography and ecology, are thereby bridged. The MEA concept combines state-of-the-art acoustic technology with advanced operational capabilities and tailored modelling integrated into a flexible tool for ecosystem research and monitoring. Case studies are presented to illustrate application of the MEA concept in quantification of biophysical coupling, patchiness of organisms, predator–prey interactions, and fish stock recruitment processes. Widespread implementation of MEA will have a large impact on marine monitoring and assessment practices and it is to be hoped that they also promote and facilitate interaction among disciplines within the marine sciences.

scholarly journals Scalar Mismatches and Underlying Factors for Underutilization of Climate Information: Perspectives From Farmers and Ranchers

2021 ◽  
Vol 3 ◽  
Author(s):  
Ada P. Smith ◽  
Laurie Yung ◽  
Adam J. Snitker ◽  
R. Kyle Bocinsky ◽  
Elizabeth Covelli Metcalf ◽  
...  
Keyword(s):  
Decision Making ◽  
Focus Groups ◽  
Source Credibility ◽  
Spatial Scales ◽  
End Users ◽  
Climate Projections ◽  
Climate Information ◽  
Temporal Scales ◽  
Agricultural Producers ◽  
Information Providers

Growing demand for water resources coupled with climate-driven water scarcity and variability present critical challenges to agriculture in the Western US. Despite extensive resources allocated to downscaling climate projections and advances in understanding past, current, and future climatic conditions, climate information is underutilized in decisions made by agricultural producers. Climate information providers need to understand why this information is underutilized and what would better meet the needs of producers. To better understand how agricultural producers perceive and utilize climate information, we conducted five focus groups with farmers and ranchers across Montana. Focus groups revealed that there are fundamental scalar issues (spatial and temporal) that make climate information challenging for producers to use. While climate information is typically produced at regional, national, or global spatial scales and at a seasonal and mid- to end-of-century temporal scales, producers indicated that decision-making takes place at multiple intermediate and small temporal and spatial scales. In addition, producers described other drivers of decision-making that have little to do with climate information itself, but rather aspects of source credibility, past experience, trust in information, and the politics of climate change. Through engaging directly with end-users, climate information providers can better understand the spatial and temporal scales that align with different types of agricultural producers and decisions, as well as the limitations of information provision given the complexity of the decision context. Increased engagement between climate information providers and end-users can also address the important tradeoffs that exist between scale and uncertainty.

scholarly journals A hierarchical framework for segmenting movement paths

2019 ◽  
Author(s):  
Wayne M. Getz
Keyword(s):  
Time Series ◽  
Time Series Data ◽  
Animal Movement ◽  
Spatial Scales ◽  
Process Models ◽  
Series Data ◽  
Temporal Scales ◽  
Environmental Covariates ◽  
Spatio Temporal ◽  
State And Local

AbstractComparative applications of animal movement path analyses are hampered by the lack of a comprehensive framework for linking structures and processes conceived at different spatio-temporal scales. Although many analyses begin by generating step-length (SL) and turning-angle (TA) distributions from relocation time-series data—some of which are linked to ecological, landscape, and environmental covariates—the frequency at which these data are collected may vary from sub-seconds to several hours, or longer. The kinds of questions that may be asked of these data, however, are very much scale-dependent. It thus behooves us to clarify how the scale at which SL and TA data are collected and relate to one another, as well as the kinds of ecological questions that can be asked. Difficulties arise because the information contained in SL and TA time series is not semantically aligned with the physiological, ecological, and sociological factors that influence the structure of movement paths. I address these difficulties by classifying movement types at salient temporal scales using two different kinds of vocabularies. The first is the language derived from behavioral and ecological concepts. The second is the language derived from mathematically formulated stochastic walks. The primary tools for analyzing these walks are fitting time-series and stochastic-process models to SL and TA statistics (means, variances, correlations, individual-state and local environmental covariates), while paying attention to movement patterns that emerge at various spatial scales. The purpose of this paper is to lay out a more coherent, hierarchical, scale-dependent, appropriate-complexity framework for conceptualizing path segments at different spatio-temporal scales and propose a method for extracting a simulation model, referred to as M3, from these data when at a relatively high frequencies (ideally minute-by-minute). Additionally, this framework is designed to bridge biological and mathematical movement ecology concepts; thereby stimulating the development of conceptually-rooted methods that facilitates the formulation of our M3 model for simulating theoretical and analyzing empirical data, which can then be used to test hypothesis regarding mechanisms driving animal movement and make predications of animal movement responses to management and global change.

Renewable energy selection based on a new entropy and dissimilarity measure on an interval-valued neutrosophic set

2021 ◽  
pp. 1-18
Author(s):  
ShuoYan Chou ◽  
Truong ThiThuy Duong ◽  
Nguyen Xuan Thao
Keyword(s):  
Decision Making ◽  
Renewable Energy ◽  
Membership Function ◽  
Fossil Fuels ◽  
Multiple Criteria Decision Making ◽  
Clean Energy ◽  
Dissimilarity Measure ◽  
Neutrosophic Set ◽  
Trade Offs ◽  
And Performance

Energy plays a central part in economic development, yet alongside fossil fuels bring vast environmental impact. In recent years, renewable energy has gradually become a viable source for clean energy to alleviate and decouple with a negative connotation. Different types of renewable energy are not without trade-offs beyond costs and performance. Multiple-criteria decision-making (MCDM) has become one of the most prominent tools in making decisions with multiple conflicting criteria existing in many complex real-world problems. Information obtained for decision making may be ambiguous or uncertain. Neutrosophic is an extension of fuzzy set types with three membership functions: truth membership function, falsity membership function and indeterminacy membership function. It is a useful tool when dealing with uncertainty issues. Entropy measures the uncertainty of information under neutrosophic circumstances which can be used to identify the weights of criteria in MCDM model. Meanwhile, the dissimilarity measure is useful in dealing with the ranking of alternatives in term of distance. This article proposes to build a new entropy and dissimilarity measure as well as to construct a novel MCDM model based on them to improve the inclusiveness of the perspectives for decision making. In this paper, we also give out a case study of using this model through the process of a renewable energy selection scenario in Taiwan performed and assessed.

scholarly journals Imaging Spectroscopy for Conservation Applications

2021 ◽  
Vol 13 (2) ◽  
pp. 292
Author(s):  
Megan Seeley ◽  
Gregory P. Asner
Keyword(s):  
Remote Sensing ◽  
Decision Making ◽  
Case Studies ◽  
Spatial Scales ◽  
Imaging Spectroscopy ◽  
Remote Sensing Data ◽  
Decision Makers ◽  
High Spectral Resolution ◽  
Conservation Areas ◽  
Broad Array

As humans continue to alter Earth systems, conservationists look to remote sensing to monitor, inventory, and understand ecosystems and ecosystem processes at large spatial scales. Multispectral remote sensing data are commonly integrated into conservation decision-making frameworks, yet imaging spectroscopy, or hyperspectral remote sensing, is underutilized in conservation. The high spectral resolution of imaging spectrometers captures the chemistry of Earth surfaces, whereas multispectral satellites indirectly represent such surfaces through band ratios. Here, we present case studies wherein imaging spectroscopy was used to inform and improve conservation decision-making and discuss potential future applications. These case studies include a broad array of conservation areas, including forest, dryland, and marine ecosystems, as well as urban applications and methane monitoring. Imaging spectroscopy technology is rapidly developing, especially with regard to satellite-based spectrometers. Improving on and expanding existing applications of imaging spectroscopy to conservation, developing imaging spectroscopy data products for use by other researchers and decision-makers, and pioneering novel uses of imaging spectroscopy will greatly expand the toolset for conservation decision-makers.

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