Protocols

A 20-year longitudinal study tracking individually marked female marmots through live-trapping, unique marking, and behavioral observations to quantify social relationships and lifetime fitness. Uses ...

Live-trapping and marking of yellow-bellied marmots followed by systematic focal behavioral observations to quantify time allocation to different behaviors including vigilance. Uses established ethogr...

Direct observation of social interactions using binoculars and spotting scopes during peak activity periods. Interactions are classified as affiliative or agonistic and used to construct weighted dire...

Systematic measurement of antipredator escape behavior by approaching focal individuals at standardized speed and recording distances at key behavioral response points. Includes observation of social ...

Digital recording and spectral analysis of alarm vocalizations to quantify entropy and goodness of pitch as measures of call structure and acoustic properties.

Stage-mass-structured IPMs incorporating seasonal demographic transitions and environmental stochasticity for population viability analysis. Uses prospective perturbation analysis and stochastic proje...

Integration of temperature, precipitation, and snow cover data from multiple weather stations and remote sensing platforms to characterize environmental conditions at marmot colony sites.

DNA extraction from hair samples followed by microsatellite genotyping to determine parentage relationships and construct molecular pedigrees for quantitative genetic analysis.

Progesterone concentrations measured using radioimmunoassay with tritiated progesterone, ether extraction, and antibody binding assay. Standard curves and duplicate samples used for quantification.

Mixed-effects modeling approach to partition phenotypic variance into genetic and environmental components using pedigree information and repeated measures data.

Territory delineation by following singing males and recording GPS coordinates of singing locations to map territory boundaries and calculate area and perimeter.

Statistical method using continuous two-phase models to identify the age at which body mass growth stabilizes at adult levels in golden-mantled ground squirrels.

Fecal sample collection and zinc sulfate flotation protocol for detecting intestinal parasites including Ascaris, Eimeria, and Entamoeba in marmot feces.

Intensive monitoring of juvenile emergence and movements using daily visual observations and grid-based distance calculations to characterize dispersal timing, distance, and settlement patterns.

Linear mixed effect models to estimate individual body mass at key seasonal transition points, accounting for day-of-year effects and random variation among years, sites, and individuals. Provides sta...

Controlled playback experiments using modified alarm calls to test receiver behavioral responses to different acoustic features including added noise and nonlinear phenomena.

Blood collection and analysis to determine neutrophil and lymphocyte counts for calculating neutrophil-to-lymphocyte ratios as a measure of immune response activity.

Controlled experiments testing marmots' ability to distinguish between individuals using acoustic and olfactory cues to assess recognition capabilities within social groups.

RASTER-based spatial analysis to quantify multiple metrics of anthropogenic disturbance including distance to infrastructure and proportion of impervious surfaces within species-specific buffer zones.

Systematic predator monitoring during behavioral observations to quantify predation pressure. Creates predation index by dividing predator counts by observation time per colony site.

Assessment of female reproductive success through behavioral observation of pup emergence from natal burrows and pedigree analysis to assign offspring to mothers.

Bayesian statistical approach to simultaneously estimate individual lifetime means and variances in social traits from longitudinal data. Controls for age effects and repeated measures while quantifyi...

Standardized 4-minute test immediately following open field test where a mirror is revealed to measure sociability and aggressive responses toward conspecific image, recorded via overhead camera.

Colony sites are visited daily starting April 19th each year to record the first emergence date of individual marmots from hibernation through direct observation and sign detection.

Live-trapping of marmots to assess docility through standardized behavioral responses during capture and handling, including alarm calling propensity in trap situations.