College of Agriculture & Natural Resources
Permanent URI for this communityhttp://hdl.handle.net/1903/1598
The collections in this community comprise faculty research works, as well as graduate theses and dissertations.
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Item Very small collars: an evaluation of telemetry location estimators for small mammals(Springer Nature, 2022-09-28) Hummell, Grace F.; Li, Andrew Y.; Mullinax, Jennifer M.Fine-scale tracking of animals such as Peromyscus spp. is still done with micro-very high frequency collars due to the animal’s small size and habitat usage. In most cases, tracking micro-very high frequency collars requires manual telemetry, yet throughout the literature, there is little reporting of individual telemetry methods or error reporting for small mammal spatial analyses. Unfortunately, there is even less documentation and consensus on the best programs used to calculate fine-scale animal locations from compass azimuths. In this study, we present a strategy for collecting fine-scale spatial data on Peromyscus spp. as a model species for micro-very high frequency collars and assess multiple programmatic options and issues when calculating telemetry locations. Mice were trapped from April to October 2018–2019 with Sherman traps in Howard County, Maryland, USA. Collars were placed on 61 mice, of which 31 were included in the analyses. We compared the two most cited location estimator programs in the literature, location of a signal software and Locate III, as well as the Sigloc package in program R. To assess the programmatic estimates of coordinates at a fine scale and examine programmatic impacts on different analyses, we created and compared minimum convex polygon and kernel density estimator home ranges from locations produced by each program. We found that 95% minimum convex polygon home range size significantly differed across all programs. However, we found more similarities in estimates across calculations of core home ranges. Kernel density estimator home ranges had similar patterns as the minimum convex polygon home ranges with significant differences in home range size for 95% and 50% contours. These differences likely resulted from different inclusion requirements of bearings for each program. This study highlights how different location estimator programs could change the results of a small mammal study and emphasizes the need to calculate telemetry error and meticulously document the specific inputs and settings of the location estimator.Item Radiotracking and The Spatial Anaylsis of White-footed Mice (Peromyscus leucopus), in Suburban Maryland Parks.(2020) Hummell, Grace; Mullinax, Jennifer M; Environmental Science and Technology; Digital Repository at the University of Maryland; University of Maryland (College Park, Md.)Tick-borne disease transmission has been steadily increasing in the United States. This is a major concern in suburban and urban areas, where wildlife and humans frequently share space. White-footed mice (Peromyscus leucopus) are studied for their role as a host for ticks and a reservoir tick-borne disease. New advances in the ability to track mice give much-needed insight into their space use and the use and efficiency of baited tick treatments. The major objectives of this thesis were to: 1) document suburban mouse collaring, tracking, and comparisons of three available triangulation programs and 2) calculate basic population demographics, home ranges, movement patterns, and land use of mice in three parks in Howard County, Maryland. The applied goal of this research was to aid in the future management of mice and tick-borne diseases as it pertains to the best placement for baited treatment.