During this semester I was part of C.U.R.E, a class where students got the opportunity to dive deeper into the world of research. More specifically, in the world of soundscapes and animal behavior research. Not only did C.U.R.E give me a more professional glimpse of research, it taught me a couple of important lessons and skills I would need in the future to further advance my career. I learned that for me, one of the hardest steps in research is coming up with a topic. Initially, I wanted to research selection through soundscapes. Unfortunately, it was not possible with the data provided. I then wanted to research echolocation of Amazon river dolphins but again, the equipment used for the data collection did not register echolocation. About a week later, my professor Laura May-Collado suggested the idea of analyzing humpback whale and bottlenose dolphin behavior through the use of drones. In all honesty, it was better than all of the other topics I’ve thought of and I was absolutely delighted.
In order to collect data, I used a program called BORIS(7.8) which allowed me to time the duration of each event and record the time each behavior or interaction occurred. I learned the hard way that collecting data can be tedious and rigorous work, especially with analyzing that required concrete decision making. I encountered multiple problems during the data collection process. The biggest obstacle I encountered was my indecisiveness when coding for my ethogram because I needed to stay consistent with how I defined a certain behavior. Any changes to my definitions can completely skew the data. It happened to me multiple times, and every time it happened I had to go back and correct each of my observations which was exhausting because all the videos totaled up to 2 hours and 13 minutes. Diving was one of these behaviors because I couldn’t decide how low the whales had to swim for it to be considered “diving.” Eventually I realized that viewing all of the videos first and then committing to definitions in my ethogram would be the best idea.
Prior to this class, if anyone asked me what I wanted to do in the future, I would have vaguely stated research. After taking this class, I’ve gained some love for marine animals, especially cetaceans. Not only that but my interest in animal behavior increased drastically. I hope that I can work on research concerning animal behavior again. Thanks to my professor Laura May-Collado and this class, I have gained a new interest that I want to pursue in the future.
In order to collect data, I used a program called BORIS(7.8) which allowed me to time the duration of each event and record the time each behavior or interaction occurred. I learned the hard way that collecting data can be tedious and rigorous work, especially with analyzing that required concrete decision making. I encountered multiple problems during the data collection process. The biggest obstacle I encountered was my indecisiveness when coding for my ethogram because I needed to stay consistent with how I defined a certain behavior. Any changes to my definitions can completely skew the data. It happened to me multiple times, and every time it happened I had to go back and correct each of my observations which was exhausting because all the videos totaled up to 2 hours and 13 minutes. Diving was one of these behaviors because I couldn’t decide how low the whales had to swim for it to be considered “diving.” Eventually I realized that viewing all of the videos first and then committing to definitions in my ethogram would be the best idea.
Prior to this class, if anyone asked me what I wanted to do in the future, I would have vaguely stated research. After taking this class, I’ve gained some love for marine animals, especially cetaceans. Not only that but my interest in animal behavior increased drastically. I hope that I can work on research concerning animal behavior again. Thanks to my professor Laura May-Collado and this class, I have gained a new interest that I want to pursue in the future.
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