Life Sciences Commons^™

High-Frequency Accelerometer Recording Of Key Predatory Behaviors In Vipers: Validation And Case Study With Timber Rattlesnakes (Crotalus Horridus), Morgan L. Thompson, Richard H. Adams, Anna Tipton, Dominic L. Desantis

Graduate Research Showcase

High-frequency accelerometer recording of key predatory behaviors in vipers: validation and case study with Timber Rattlesnakes (Crotalus horridus)

Morgan Thompson, Richard H. Adams, Anna F. Tipton, and Dominic L. DeSantis

Tri-axial accelerometers (ACTs) are becoming increasingly common in studies of animal behavior wherein direct observation of subjects in nature is constrained or impossible. ACTs are small (< 1 g) piezo-electric (spring-like) sensors that measure three-dimensional acceleration (upward, downward, and side-to-side) derived from subject motion. When leveraged with advanced machine learning techniques, these data can enable precise automated classification of a wide range of movement-mediated behaviors. Until recently, ACTs were largely reserved for larger-bodied organisms or those most amenable to the temporary external attachment of devices. Ongoing ACT miniaturization has now expanded the breadth of organisms amenable to these methods. This project aims to expand on a recently developed framework for ACT monitoring in wild-ranging snakes, a group that has been mostly overlooked in biologging applications. We are currently conducting extensive captive validation trials for robust model training and testing to enable classification of predatory behaviors, including striking and ingestion of prey items, in Timber Rattlesnakes (Crotalus horridus). Following captive validation, we will translate this method to the field with a population of C. horridus in the lower Piedmont of middle Georgia to evaluate the efficacy of externally attached ACTs for remote and continuous monitoring of …

Predicting Gene Function Of Unknown Yeast Orfs Through Phylogenetic Comparative Analysis, Lewis Barr

Graduate Research Showcase

Yeast (Saccharomyces cerevisiae) has been an instrumental model system for an extraordinary diverse array of research applications for over a century now. The S. cerevisiae genome was fully sequenced in 1996, and, as a result, 6,753 potential proteins were identified. These putative proteins were established by investigating likely open reading frames within the genome. Over the past few decades, nearly 5,000 open reading frames (ORFs) and their expressed proteins have been described, and the remaining undefined open reading frames are labeled as open reading frames of unknown function (ORFans). To better understand the remaining gaps within the S. …

Accelerometry Reveals Hidden Variation In The Movement Response Of Timber Rattlesnakes (Crotalus Horridus) To Roadways, Anna F. Tipton, Morgan L. Thompson, Dominic L. Desantis

Graduate Research Showcase

Roadways are among the most widespread and disruptive anthropogenic land use features that influence the behavior and movement of wildlife. Negative impacts including vehicle-induced mortality, habitat destruction and fragmentation, and creating barriers to movement have been well documented across taxa, but the fine scale behavioral impact of roadways on smaller, cryptic species has yet to be directly examined. Using a novel integration of emerging spatial analyses and tri-axial accelerometry, we quantified spatial and temporal aspects of movement and space use in order to investigate the coarse and fine scale influence of roadways on the movement patterns of Timber Rattlesnakes (Crotalus …