Fall Risk Factors for Community-Dwelling Older Adults: An Evidence-Based Practice Project

What are the descriptive or predictive characteristics of community-dwelling older adults who are most at risk for falls

External and internal grouping characteristics of juvenile walleye pollock in the Eastern Bering Sea

Size and shape patterns of fish groups are collective outcomes of interactions among members. Consequently, group-level patterns are often affected when any member responds to changes in their internal state, external state, and environment. To determine how groups of fish respond to components of their physical and ecological environment, and whether the response is influenced by a component of their external state (i.e., fish age), we used a multibeam system to collect three-dimensional grouping characteristics of 5 age categories of juvenile walleye pollock (age 1, age 2, age 3, mixed ages 1 and 2, and mixed ages 2 and 3) across the eastern Bering Sea shelf over two consecutive years (2009–2010). Grouping data were expressed as metrics that described group size (length, height), shape (roundness, spread), internal structure (density, internal heterogeneity), and position (depth, distance above bottom). Physical data (water temperature measurements) were collected with temperature-depth probes, and ecological data (densities of predators and prey − adult walleye pollock and euphausiids, respectively) were collected with an EK60 vertical echosounder. Juvenile pollock maintained a relatively constant shape, size-dependent density (number fish/mean body length3), and internal horizontal heterogeneity among age categories and in the presence of predators and prey. There were changes to group structure in the face of local physical forcing. Groups tended to move towards the seafloor when bottom waters became warmer, and groups became vertically shorter, denser, and had more variation in horizontal internal density as group depth increased. These results are explored in relation to the value and limitations of using multibeam data to describe how external and internal group structure map onto environmental influences

Stress-induced changes in group behaviour

Testing animals in groups can provide valuable data for investigating behavioural stress responses. However, conventional measures typically focus on the behaviour of individual animals or on dyadic interactions. Here, we aimed to determine metrics describing the behaviour of grouping animals that can reveal differences in stress responses. Using zebrafish (Danio rerio) as a model, we observed replicated shoals both immediately and 24 hours after exposure to a novel environment, as an assessment of temporal change in response to an acute stressor. We quantified various standard behavioural measures in combination with metrics describing group structure, including different proximity, social, and spatial metrics. Firstly, we showed a high collinearity between most of the analysed metrics, suggesting that they describe similar aspects of the group dynamics. After metric selection, we found that under acute stress shoals had significantly higher shoal densities, a lower variation in nearest neighbour distances and were in closer proximity to the walls compared to the same groups tested 24 hours later, indicating a reduction in acute stress over time. Thus, the use of group metrics could allow for the refinement of behavioural protocols carried out in a range of research areas, by providing sensitive and rich data in a more relevant social context

Information transfer, heterogeneity, and local environmental effects on emergent group patterns defining fish schools: perspectives from different scales of observation

Thesis (Ph.D.)--University of Washington, 2015It is widely understood why animals group, but much less is known about how animals group. Not all group structure provides functional benefit to the individuals therein; however, those group structures that do provide functional benefits help to explain how animals group. To determine whether group structure is functional, it is necessary to keep track of every individual and the corresponding group patterns over long periods of time. Because this typically requires two different scales of observation, I examined grouping behavior of fish from two different perspectives: the individual-up and the group-down. In the individual-up approach, I used giant danios, Devario aequipinnatus, in tank experiments, and manipulated the level of heterogeneity within various groups, expressed in the form of knowledge, to determine whether the level of heterogeneity within a fish group affects information transfer between individuals and the cohesiveness of the group. In the group-down approach, I examined in situ groups of juvenile walleye pollock, Gadus chalcogrammus, in the Gulf of Alaska and the Bering Sea to determine how groups of fish respond to their biological (i.e., predator and prey densities) and physical (i.e., water temperature, bottom depth) environment, and whether the response is influenced by the age/size of the fish. The results of the tank experiments indicate that heterogeneous groups of fish acted cohesively, and members within the group exhibited behaviorally integrated responses. That is, they adopted some behaviors from both knowledge sets -those behaviors that are the most costly to give up. However, there was a threshold when the group minority became hindered by conformity (i.e., when the group minority was ~ 20%). These heterogeneous groups exhibited behaviors only from the knowledge set of the majority. The in situ studies indicate that grouping behavior of fish in the wild is consistent with expectations based on predation and foraging theory, possibly influencing the distribution patterns of age classes and the grouping patterns of mixed-age groups. Additionally, these results indicate that there appears to be no structural cost to forming mixed-age groups; rather, mixed-age groups can provide advantages for smaller, more preyed upon fish. Together, the individual-up and group down-approach show that fish that form heterogeneous groups (with respect to knowledge or age of the fish) are cohesive and offer advantages to their members

External and internal grouping characteristics of juvenile walleye pollock in the Eastern Bering Sea

Size and shape patterns of fish groups are collective outcomes of interactions among members. Consequently, group-level patterns are often affected when any member responds to changes in their internal state, external state, and environment. To determine how groups of fish respond to components of their physical and ecological environment, and whether the response is influenced by a component of their external state (i.e., fish age), we used a multibeam system to collect three-dimensional grouping characteristics of 5 age categories of juvenile walleye pollock (age 1, age 2, age 3, mixed ages 1 and 2, and mixed ages 2 and 3) across the eastern Bering Sea shelf over two consecutive years (2009–2010). Grouping data were expressed as metrics that described group size (length, height), shape (roundness, spread), internal structure (density, internal heterogeneity), and position (depth, distance above bottom). Physical data (water temperature measurements) were collected with temperature-depth probes, and ecological data (densities of predators and prey − adult walleye pollock and euphausiids, respectively) were collected with an EK60 vertical echosounder. Juvenile pollock maintained a relatively constant shape, size-dependent density (number fish/mean body length3), and internal horizontal heterogeneity among age categories and in the presence of predators and prey. There were changes to group structure in the face of local physical forcing. Groups tended to move towards the seafloor when bottom waters became warmer, and groups became vertically shorter, denser, and had more variation in horizontal internal density as group depth increased. These results are explored in relation to the value and limitations of using multibeam data to describe how external and internal group structure map onto environmental influences

Calibration of acoustic instruments

Acoustic instrument calibration is fundamental to the quantitative use of its data for estimating aquatic resource abundance. Regular calibrations also allow instrument performance to be monitored to detect changes due to the environment or component dynamics, degradation, or failure. This is the second ICES Cooperative Research Report (CRR) focussed on calibrations of acoustic instruments. The first, CRR No. 144 (Foote et al., 1987), was published during the era of analogue electronics more than a quarter of a century ago. Since then, not only has the acoustic equipment improved vastly with digital electronics and signal processing, but the techniques for applying them to studies of marine organisms have both advanced and diversified. Motivating, facilitating, and expediting these developments is the work of the Fisheries Acoustics, Science and Technology Working Group (WGFAST) of the International Council for the Exploration of the Sea (ICES). CRR No. 144 guided the fisheries acoustics community to uniformly apply the sphere method to calibrate survey equipment, generally single-frequency, split-beam echosounders. Today, surveys of fishery resources are conducted using a large variety of acoustic instruments including, but not limited to, single-frequency, multifrequency, single-beam, split-beam, broad bandwidth, and multibeam echosounders; side-scan and scanning sonars; acoustic Doppler current profilers; and acoustic cameras. These instruments differ in the ways in which they function, are utilized, and the types of measurements they provide. In most cases, they also require different calibration techniques for optimizing the accuracy and characterizing the precision of the measurements. With technological innovation proceeding at an ever faster pace, the challenge to create a comprehensive and practical guide to calibrating acoustic instruments is formidable. Obviously, not all acoustic instrumentation and methods are addressed here. The ones that are addressed are in various states of maturity. Therefore, the practical aims of this CRR are to document (i) acoustic instruments currently used in fisheries research and surveys, (ii) theoretical principles of calibrating these instruments, and (iii) methods currently being practiced for a selection of commonly used instruments. To meet these goals, the WGFAST formed the Study Group on Calibration of Acoustic Instruments (SGCal) at its meeting in April 2009. The SGCal first met in San Diego, CA, USA in April 2010 to outline the document. Some chapters were drafted intersessionally. The SGCal met for the second time in Reykjavik, Iceland in May 2011 to collectively review some draft chapters. The drafts were refined intersessionally and merged. The draft CRR was collectively reviewed at meetings of the SGCal, in Pasaia, Spain in April 2013 and in New Bedford, MA, USA in May 2014. Multiple independent reviewers provided input, and the final editing was completed in 2014. The authors hope that this CRR will be a valuable reference to both novice and experienced users of fishery acoustic instruments, but recognize that it is a provisional guide that requires refinement and update as the field continues to progress

Visualizing Samsonfish (Seriola hippos) with a Reson 7125 Seabat multibeam sonar

In Western Australia, aggregations of Samsonfish (Seriola hippos) form each summer to spawn in waters west of Rottnest Island. In this study, a Reson 7125 Seabat multibeam sonar (400 kHz) was pole mounted aboard a 21.6 m vessel, conducting acoustic transects to acquire acoustic backscatter simultaneously from a midwater aggregation of S. hippos and the wreck it surrounded. The processedbackscatter produced high-resolution visualizations of both the fish and seabed. During a 15 min period, the centroid of the aggregation moved 91 m around the eastern and northeastern side of the wreck and probably exhibited lateral vessel avoidance behaviour from the survey vessel. Additionally, a ortheasterly current at the site was inferred from subtle habitat features, suggesting that at thetime of the survey the aggregation preferred to remain upcurrent of the wreck. These findings confirmed that the S. hippos aggregations do not necessarily remain directly above the wrecks and do not always remain sedentary. Aggregation acoustic density packing at the survey site was observed at 12.7+2.4 m3 per fish, equivalent to 1.6+0.1 body lengths nearest-neighbour distance