AgentSeal · Movement of Harbour seals: an individual-based modelling framework as a reliable management tool
„Хоризонт 2020“ — Действия „Мария Склодовска-Кюри“
- Период
- 2018-01-01 → 2019-12-31
- Финансиране от ЕС
- 183 455 €
- Участници
- 1
- Схема
- MSCA-IF-EF-ST
Линиите свързват координатора с партньорите.
Накратко на български
Движенията на обикновените тюлени в британските води се анализират чрез модел, който отчита влиянието на околната среда върху тяхното поведение. Това помага за намаляване на негативното въздействие от човешката дейност върху тези животни и техните местообитания.
Кратко обяснение, генерирано от езиков модел по текста на CORDIS. Оригиналът е по-долу.
Резултати накратко
Movement of Harbour seals: an individual-based modelling framework as a reliable management tool
What is the problem/issue being addressed? Effective conservation of species in currently altered habitat by man-made activities must be built on good understanding of animal movement and the link between environment and this movement. There is therefore a need to develop a reliable tool which takes into account the simultaneous effect of a range of internal and external factors operating at different spatial scales and influencing animal movement and performance. Such a tool must be able to capture changes in animals' condition, distribution and performance to predict the consequences of environmental change on the animals in a biologically realistic and credible way. The project focuses on Harbour seals: a species which is currently under decline in certain areas of the UK and which is present in coastal areas: areas of high human off-shore activity. What are the overall objectives? The main objectives of the project were: 1. Develop a model to identify which variables affect long and short-term movement and performance of Harbour seals in the UK waters. 2. Use the above model to generate innovative predictive tools for the conservation and management of Harbour seals. Why is it important for society? Marine environments are threatened by human exploitation, degradation, fragmentation, habitat loss and impairment of ecological functioning. Such environmental stressors can strongly influence movement, behaviour and performance of individuals e.g. foraging, breeding success. It is important that society, including science community, takes action to minimise the effect of human activities on the environment. AgentSeal is a tool which can guide human activities to minimise such effect.
Текст от CORDIS, на английски · Данни: CORDIS, © Европейски съюз
Цел на проекта
Understanding movement is fundamental to animal ecology in areas such as foraging, predator avoidance, mate encounter, and migration. Moreover, movement responses of individuals to the changes in environment such as disturbance will affect their individual performance. Effective conservation of species in an altered habitat must, therefore, be built on an understanding of the link between environment and animal movement. Declines in local populations of UK Harbour seals give cause for concern and disturbance have been suggested as possible cause for the declines. The ways in which stressors influence animals may not be straightforward as they may show very non-linear responses. The main objective of the project is to build a realistic movement model and to predict the consequences of simultaneous and cumulative effect of different stressors on harbour seal movement based on biologically realistic processes. The proposal aims to develop an individual-based model (IBM) that takes into account individual variation in behaviour and simultaneous effect of a range of stressors operating at different spatial scales on movement of seals. IBMs are currently the most reliable ways to address combinatorial problems where essential processes such physiology, ecology, life cycle, and multiple stressors have to be included in order to get a realistic picture of the studied problem. The model will be based on the impressive amount of data already collected for Harbour seals during the last 20 years, fitting the 3Rs: replacement, reduction and refinement principle, and parameterised using most up-to-date statistical techniques. The model will be readily adaptable to take account of additional marine stressors, and to simulate long-term effects on movement of seals. Through simulations, it will then be possible to suggest answers to important ecological questions and to use the model as a management tool to meet demand from conservationists and developers for ‘what if’ scenario.
Оригинален текст от CORDIS (на английски).
Участници
- THE UNIVERSITY COURT OF THE UNIVERSITY OF ST ANDREWS · ST ANDREWSКоординаторОбединеното кралство
Връзки
Данни: CORDIS, © Европейски съюз