Download
Share
NOT PEER-REVIEWED
"PeerJ Preprints" is a venue for early communication or feedback before peer review. Data may be preliminary.

Balancing under the high wire; a study into PTT antenna effects on the Common Guillemot Uria aalge

, , , , ,
1 Biosciences, Swansea University, Swansea, United Kingdom
2 Wildlife Department, Royal Society for the Prevention of Cruelty to Animals, Horsham, West Sussex, United Kingdom
3 Mallydams Wood Wildlife Centre, Royal Society for the Prevention of Cruelty to Animals, Fairlight, East Sussex, United Kingdom
4 Centre for Fish and Fisheries Research, Murdoch University, Perth, Australia
DOI
10.7287/peerj.preprints.2035v1
Published
Accepted
Subject Areas
Animal Behavior, Ecology, Marine Biology, Ethical Issues
Keywords
transmitter, aerial, bird, impact, drag, behaviour
Copyright
© 2016 Vandenabeele et al.
Licence
This is an open access article distributed under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution License, which permits unrestricted use, distribution, reproduction and adaptation in any medium and for any purpose provided that it is properly attributed. For attribution, the original author(s), title, publication source (PeerJ Preprints) and either DOI or URL of the article must be cited.
Cite this article
Vandenabeele SP, Shepard EL, Grogan A, Thompson R, Gleiss AC, Wilson RP. 2016. Balancing under the high wire; a study into PTT antenna effects on the Common Guillemot Uria aalge. PeerJ Preprints 4:e2035v1

Abstract

External tags fitted to diving birds can affect them in many ways with the most critical effect being an increase in drag. The effects of transmitters can be even more acute due to the presence of a protruding aerial. The study assesses the impact of PTT antenna on the behaviour and energetics of device-equipped guillemots (Uria aalge) in captivity. Birds with antenna-devices appeared to consume about 20% more energy than non-antenna birds during the descent phase of the dive. The balance of the birds while diving or resting on the water also appeared to be compromised by the presence of an antenna. Based on these first results and because transmitters are one of the most common methods used to track animals, it appears critical to determine what impact these devices, and particularly antenna, can have on their bearers and try minimize it.

Author Comment

This is a submission to PeerJ for review.

Additional Information

Competing Interests

We have read and understood Peer J policy on declaration of interests and declare that we have no competing interests. However, we should state that Mr Adam Grogan is an employee of the Royal Society for the Prevention of Cruelty to Animals and that Richard Thompson is an employee of RSPCA Mallydams Wood Study and Wildlife Centre.

Author Contributions

Sylvie P Vandenabeele performed the experiments, analyzed the data, contributed reagents/materials/analysis tools, wrote the paper, prepared figures and/or tables, reviewed drafts of the paper.

Emily LC Shepard conceived and designed the experiments, performed the experiments, contributed reagents/materials/analysis tools, wrote the paper, reviewed drafts of the paper.

Adam Grogan performed the experiments, reviewed drafts of the paper.

Richard Thompson performed the experiments.

Adrian C Gleiss conceived and designed the experiments, performed the experiments, analyzed the data, contributed reagents/materials/analysis tools, wrote the paper, reviewed drafts of the paper.

Rory P Wilson conceived and designed the experiments, contributed reagents/materials/analysis tools, wrote the paper, reviewed drafts of the paper.

Animal Ethics

The following information was supplied relating to ethical approvals (i.e., approving body and any reference numbers):

The Institutional Board is the RSPCA's Project Review Group, which reviews all projects that are conducted within the wildlife centres and consider the ethical and animal welfare implications of the research. The researcher is required to complete a form detailing the proposed project methods and, if necessary, give an interview to answer specific questions should any arise. The Project Review Group will then review the application and, if accepted, the applicant is informed in writing, usually by email. The project was reviewed by this Group and approved.

Data Deposition

The following information was supplied regarding data availability:

Dropbox

Raw data are accessible here

https://www.dropbox.com/sh/af1q26f0go0yv5q/AADvnoVkm1euK1byuibitM8ya?dl=0

Funding

This study received the financial support from the California Department of Fish and Game’s Oil Spill Response Trust Fund (through the Oiled Wildlife Care Network at the Wildlife Health Center, School of Veterinary Medicine, University of California, Davis) and the RSPCA (Wilberforce Way, Southwater, Horsham, West Sussex, RH13 9RS, United Kingdom). The funders had no role in study design, data collection and analysis, decision to publish, or preparation of the manuscript.

Add your feedback

Before adding feedback, consider if it can be asked as a question instead, and if so then use the Question tab. Pointing out typos is fine, but authors are encouraged to accept only substantially helpful feedback.

Some Markdown syntax is allowed: _italic_ **bold** ^superscript^ ~subscript~ %%blockquote%% [link text](link URL)
 
By posting this you agree to PeerJ's commenting policies
Download
Content
Alert
Just enter your email

Download article

Balancing under the high wire; a study into PTT antenna effects on the Common Guillemot Uria aalge
PDF Save to Mendeley RIS XML BibTeX
  Visitors   Views   Downloads