Cited by 57Wildlife Ecology and ConservationAnimal Ecology and Behavior StudiesHuman Mobility and Location-Based Analysis

On Higher Ground: How Well Can Dynamic Body Acceleration Determine Speed in Variable Terrain?

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Bidder, Owen R., Qasem, Lama A., Wilson, Rory P.·2012·PLoS ONE

Abstract

INTRODUCTION: Animal travel speed is an ecologically significant parameter, with implications for the study of energetics and animal behaviour. It is also necessary for the calculation of animal paths by dead-reckoning. Dead-reckoning uses heading and speed to calculate an animal's path through its environment on a fine scale. It is often used in aquatic environments, where transmission telemetry is difficult. However, its adoption for tracking terrestrial animals is limited by our ability to measure speed accurately on a fine scale. Recently, tri-axial accelerometers have shown promise for estimating speed, but their accuracy appears affected by changes in substrate and surface gradients. The purpose of the present study was to evaluate four metrics of acceleration; Overall dynamic body acceleration (ODBA), vectorial dynamic body acceleration (VDBA), acceleration peak frequency and acceleration peak amplitude, as proxies for speed over hard, soft and inclined surfaces, using humans as a model species. RESULTS: A general linear model (GLM) showed a significant difference in the relationships between the metrics and speed depending on substrate or surface gradient. When the data from all surface types were considered together, VeDBA had the highest coefficient of determination. CONCLUSIONS: All of the metrics showed some variation in their relationship with speed according to the surface type. This indicates that changes in the substrate or surface gradient during locomotion by animals would produce errors in speed estimates, and also in dead-reckoned tracks if they were calculated from speeds based entirely on a priori calibrations. However, we describe a method by which the relationship between acceleration metrics and speed can be corrected ad hoc, until tracks accord with periodic ground truthed positions, obtained via a secondary means (e.g. VHF or GPS telemetry). In this way, dead-reckoning provides a means to obtain fine scale movement data for terrestrial animals, without the need for additional data on substrate or gradient.

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Research works printed but not linked: 3

  1. [3]Brody AJ, Pelton MR (1989) Effects of Roads on Black Bear Movements in Western North Carolina. Wildlife Society Bulletin 17: 5– 10.
  2. [29]Dussault C, Courtois R, Ouellette JR, Huot J (1999) Evaluation of GPS telemetry collar performance for habitat studies in the boreal forest. Wildlife Society Bulletin 27: 965– 972.
  3. [63]Di Orio AP, Callas R, Schaefer RJ (2003) Performance of two GPS telemetry collars under different habitat conditions. Wildlife Society Bulletin 31: 372– 379.

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Authors
Bidder, O. R., Qasem, L. A., & Wilson, R. P.
Affiliations
Swansea University (GB)
Corresponding author
Bidder, Owen R.
Venue
PLoS ONE
Published
2012-11-30
Volume
7
Issue
11
Pages
e50556
ISSN
1932-6203 (ISSN-L)
OpenAlex
W1991323981
Cited by
57
References
75
Citations by year
2026: 2 · 2025: 4 · 2024: 3 · 2023: 1 · 2022: 7 · 2021: 16 · 2020: 2 · 2019: 2 · 2018: 2 · 2017: 6 · 2016: 1 · 2015: 7 · 2014: 4
FWCI
3.12
Type
journal article
Language
en
Open access
Locations
  • PLoS ONE (publishedVersion, cc-by)
  • PubMed Central (publishedVersion, cc-by)
  • PubMed (publishedVersion)
  • DOAJ (DOAJ: Directory of Open Access Journals) (submittedVersion, cc-by-sa)
Funders
  • Royal Society for the Prevention of Cruelty to Animals
  • Llywodraeth Cymru
  • Royal Society
  • European Commission
  • European Social Fund
Topics
  • Physical Sciences › Environmental Science › Ecology › Wildlife Ecology and Conservation
  • Physical Sciences › Environmental Science › Ecology › Animal Ecology and Behavior Studies
  • Social Sciences › Transportation › Human Mobility and Location-Based Analysis
Keywords
dynamic body acceleration, dead reckoning, animal tracking, triaxial accelerometer, substrate type, surface gradient
MeSH terms
Acceleration, Humans, Kinetics, Movement, Telemetry, Linear Models, Geographic Information Systems

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