Thesis subject

MSc thesis topic: Thermoregulatory movement behaviour of African savanna grazers and mixed-feeders

Animal movement provides key insights into how species interact with their environment. Large African savanna herbivores must balance thermoregulation with resource acquisition, to make important movement decisions for their survival. These choices are influenced by energy optimization, environmental constraints, and their limited knowledge of their surroundings. Moreover, climate change could significantly impact the movement behavior of African herbivores by altering temperature patterns and resource availability, making it essential to understand how these animals balance thermoregulation and resource acquisition in response to environmental conditions.

Background

The aim of this project is to assess the relative importance of behavioural thermoregulation versus resource acquisition in influencing the movement patterns of large mammalian grazers and mixed-feeders in African savannas. The data for this project has already been collected in collaboration with the AfriMove Initiative, using datasets from 39 different researchers. The complete dataset consists of GPS locations from 999 different individual African herbivores of 15 different animal species from 7 different countries in East and Southern Africa, totalling more than 36 million animal location points. The data has already been pre-processed into one coherent dataset, but with timeseries gaps and study-specific sampling frequencies still being in place. The data has not yet been linked to environmental data.
For this project, the animal location data need to be matched with high-resolution environmental datasets (e.g., temperature, humidity, grass/tree cover, forage abundance, soil fertility, proximity to water). Using these data, you will then model the movement behaviour in relation to factors like thermal stress, resource availability, and environmental constraints across different seasons and habitats.

Relevance to research/projects at GRS or other groups

Collaboration with Wildlife Ecology and Conservation Group (co-supervisor: Zeynep Ülgezen)

Objectives and Research questions

  • Develop a workflow to combine wildlife tracking datasets with varying sampling frequencies and time gaps into one coherent dataset for further timeseries analysis.
  • Match a large international wildlife tracking dataset to historical weather and remote sensing data.
  • Apply step selection functions and functional response models to link the animals’ movement decisions to thermal stress and resource availability, taking into account diel, seasonal, species, diet and habitat variation.

This project is suitable for two students to work on for their MGI thesis: one focusing on developing in-depth step selection functions and functional response models on a subset of the data; and another focusing on creating the full GIS processing workflow on all data with a simpler model at the of the pipeline.

Requirements

  • Programming experience (R or Python)
  • Experience with movement analyses by having completed e.g. Spatial and Temporal Analysis for Earth and Environment (GRS33306) or Data Science for Ecology (WEC33806)

Expected reading list before starting the thesis research

Theme(s): Modelling & visualisation