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.

Systematic recording and quantification of animal behaviors using standardized ethogram categories and time budget analysis with JWatcher software.

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.

A standard comparative method that controls for evolutionary relationships among species by analyzing evolutionary changes along phylogenetic branches rather than raw species values. Uses software to ...

Deployment of novel puzzle boxes with multiple solution pathways to test problem-solving ability and innovation in wild animals. Video recorded trials allow detailed behavioral analysis of problem-sol...

Mathematical method for calculating relative dominance ranks from pairwise interaction outcomes that is tolerant of missing data and accounts for group size variation.

A distributed wireless sensor network approach using tetrahedral microphone arrays to detect and localize animal vocalizations through collaborative Direction of Arrival estimation and Maximum Likelih...

Systematic measurement of microhabitat features including vegetation height, cover, and structural elements like perches within a standardized 7×7-m grid system across the study area.

Use of remote sensing data to determine snowmelt timing and map marmot colony boundaries. Combines satellite imagery analysis with ground-truthed colony locations to quantify seasonal and habitat vari...

Detailed measurement of acoustic parameters from spectrograms to quantify song characteristics and calculate vocal individuality metrics.

Construction of genealogies from long-term observational data and estimation of coefficients of relatedness using Hamilton's method with assumptions about mating system and paternity.

Field playback experiments testing Mule deer responses to predator and control vocalizations. Single observer approached focal deer, conducted pre- and post-stimulus behavioral observations, and broad...

Uses array of wireless acoustic sensors with correlation envelope sum (CES) method to precisely locate sources of marmot alarm calls in field settings. Employs cross-correlation analysis and multilate...

Quantification of vocal individuality using principal component analysis followed by ANOVA and Beecher's information statistic calculation to measure inter-individual variation relative to intra-indiv...

Systematic playback of pre-recorded animal vocalizations from known positions and orientations to validate localization algorithm performance under controlled field conditions.

Semi-parametric survival analysis using Cox proportional hazard models to test effects of maternal, social, and environmental covariates on annual survival probability while allowing baseline hazard t...

Controlled feeding experiment providing different protein levels of horse feed to different matrilines while maintaining reference populations. Tests effects of food quality and quantity on juvenile g...

Blood collection from trapped wild marmots via femoral vein puncture during routine handling for long-term population studies. Sera separated and frozen for later laboratory analysis.

Simultaneous measurement of oxygen consumption, body temperature, and conductance in marmots entering torpor to determine mechanisms of metabolic depression. Q10 analysis used to distinguish active me...

Statistical analysis of stream chemistry data transformed to compositional units using PCA to evaluate spatial and temporal trends while removing effects of dilution.

RNA extraction from blood samples, library preparation, and high-throughput sequencing on Illumina platforms followed by read mapping and differential gene expression analysis using mixed models.

Monte Carlo simulation comparing observed reproductive pair relatedness to expected relatedness under random mating to test for inbreeding avoidance.

Weekly counts of visitors at a facility to create a traffic volume index as a proxy for vehicle traffic on nearby roads during peak visitation periods.

A comprehensive protocol for extracting, amplifying, sequencing and analyzing viral DNA from fecal samples to identify microviral genomes. Uses rolling circle amplification followed by high-throughput...

Deployment and operation of networked embedded sensor nodes for distributed acoustic monitoring using custom hardware and WaveScript programming language. Enables real-time processing and localization...

Measurement of anogenital distance using dial or digital callipers to 1mm accuracy as a proxy for prenatal testosterone exposure and masculinization. Distance measured from centre of genital opening t...

Individual animals are uniquely marked and tracked through capture-recapture over multiple decades to estimate survival, reproduction, and productivity parameters. This generates individual life histo...