A thorough and quantified method for classifying seabird diving behaviour

• Main Authors: Halsey, L.G., Bost, C.-A., Handrich, Y.
• Other Authors: Centre for Ornithology, University of Birmingham Birmingham, Centre d'études biologiques de Chizé (CEBC), Centre National de la Recherche Scientifique (CNRS), Département Ecologie, Physiologie et Ethologie (DEPE-IPHC), Institut Pluridisciplinaire Hubert Curien (IPHC), Université Louis Pasteur - Strasbourg I-Centre National de la Recherche Scientifique (CNRS)-Université Louis Pasteur - Strasbourg I-Centre National de la Recherche Scientifique (CNRS)
• Format: Article in Journal/Newspaper
• Language: English
• Published: HAL CCSD 2007
• Subjects: Classification; Dive profile; Diving; King penguin; Penguin; Seabird; [SDV.BID.EVO]Life Sciences [q-bio]/Biodiversity/Populations and Evolution [q-bio.PE]; Polar Biology
• Online Access: https://hal.archives-ouvertes.fr/hal-00140869

International audience Time-depth recorders are commonly deployed on diving animals to obtain information on their aquatic behaviour. The recorded data provide a 2D profile of diving activity. As analyses of diving behaviour from such profiles have become more complex, these analyses have often suffered from a lack of consistency and rigour. There is a growing need for a simple, comparative method to classify diving behaviour thoroughly and quantitatively. Here, a new approach to the classification of the dive profiles of penguins is described, which probably has applicability for many other diving predators as well. This simple approach uses a small, coherent set of criteria to classify behaviours in a detailed and quantified manner, and with relative objectivity. Classification of diving behaviour is possible from the temporal scale of a wiggle within a dive to the scale of a bout of dives. The new method will make comparisons between species easier and clearer because these comparisons will be undertaken within a consistent, more objective framework.