Tracking a northern fulmar from a Scottish nesting site to the Charlie-Gibbs Fracture Zone : Evidence of linkage between coastal breeding seabirds and Mid-Atlantic Ridge feeding sites

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More than a whistle: Automated detection of marine sound sources with a convolutional neural network

Publication history: Accepted - 14 September 2022; Published online - 04 October 2022The effective analysis of Passive Acoustic Monitoring (PAM) data has the potential to determine spatial and temporal variations in ecosystem health and species presence if automated detection and classification algorithms are capable of discrimination between marine species and the presence of anthropogenic and environmental noise. Extracting more than a single sound source or call type will enrich our understanding of the interaction between biological, anthropogenic and geophonic soundscape components in the marine environment. Advances in extracting ecologically valuable cues from the marine environment, embedded within the soundscape, are limited by the time required for manual analyses and the accuracy of existing algorithms when applied to large PAM datasets. In this work, a deep learning model is trained for multi-class marine sound source detection using cloud computing to explore its utility for extracting sound sources for use in marine mammal conservation and ecosystem monitoring. A training set is developed comprising existing datasets amalgamated across geographic, temporal and spatial scales, collected across a range of acoustic platforms. Transfer learning is used to fine-tune an open-source state-of-the-art ‘small-scale’ convolutional neural network (CNN) to detect odontocete tonal and broadband call types and vessel noise (from 0 to 48 kHz). The developed CNN architecture uses a custom image input to exploit the differences in temporal and frequency characteristics between each sound source. Each sound source is identified with high accuracy across various test conditions, including variable signal-to-noise-ratio. We evaluate the effect of ambient noise on detector performance, outlining the importance of understanding the variability of the regional soundscape for which it will be deployed. Our work provides a computationally low-cost, efficient framework for mining big marine acoustic data, for information on temporal scales relevant to the management of marine protected areas and the conservation of vulnerable species.This work was supported by the Natural Environmental Research Council [grant number NE/S007210/1]. The COMPASS project has been supported by the EU’s INTERREG VA Programme, managed by the Special EU Programmes Body. The views and opinions expressed in this document do not necessarily reflect those of the European Commission or the Special EU Programmes Body (SEUPB)

Factors Associated with Revision Surgery after Internal Fixation of Hip Fractures

Background: Femoral neck fractures are associated with high rates of revision surgery after management with internal fixation. Using data from the Fixation using Alternative Implants for the Treatment of Hip fractures (FAITH) trial evaluating methods of internal fixation in patients with femoral neck fractures, we investigated associations between baseline and surgical factors and the need for revision surgery to promote healing, relieve pain, treat infection or improve function over 24 months postsurgery. Additionally, we investigated factors associated with (1) hardware removal and (2) implant exchange from cancellous screws (CS) or sliding hip screw (SHS) to total hip arthroplasty, hemiarthroplasty, or another internal fixation device. Methods: We identified 15 potential factors a priori that may be associated with revision surgery, 7 with hardware removal, and 14 with implant exchange. We used multivariable Cox proportional hazards analyses in our investigation. Results: Factors associated with increased risk of revision surgery included: female sex, [hazard ratio (HR) 1.79, 95% confidence interval (CI) 1.25-2.50; P = 0.001], higher body mass index (fo

Data from: Central place foragers and moving stimuli: a hidden-state model to discriminate the processes affecting movement

1. Human activities can influence the movement of organisms, either repelling or attracting individuals depending on whether they interfere with natural behavioural patterns or enhance access to food. To discern the processes affecting such interactions, an appropriate analytical approach must reflect the motivations driving behavioural decisions at multiple scales. 2. In this study, we developed a modelling framework for the analysis of foraging trips by central place foragers. By recognising the distinction between movement phases at a larger scale and movement steps at a finer scale, our model can identify periods when animals are actively following moving attractors in their landscape. 3. We applied the framework to GPS tracking data of northern fulmars Fulmarus glacialis, paired with contemporaneous fishing boat locations, to quantify the putative scavenging activity of these seabirds on discarded fish and offal. We estimated the rate and scale of interaction between individual birds and fishing boats and the interplay with other aspects of a foraging trip. 4. The model classified periods when birds were heading out to sea, returning towards the colony or following the closest boat. The probability of switching towards a boat declined with distance and varied depending on the phase of the trip. The maximum distance at which a bird switched towards the closest boat was estimated around 35 km, suggesting the use of olfactory information to locate food. Individuals spent a quarter of a foraging trip, on average, following fishing boats, with marked heterogeneity among trips and individuals. 5. Our approach can be used to characterise interactions between central place foragers and different anthropogenic or natural stimuli. The model identifies the processes influencing central place foraging at multiple scales, which can improve our understanding of the mechanisms underlying movement behaviour and characterise individual variation in interactions with a range of human activities that may attract or repel these species. Therefore, it can be adapted to explore the movement of other species that are subject to multiple dynamic drivers

New tools to evaluate plastic ingestion by northern fulmars applied to North Sea monitoring data 2002–2018

The work at Wageningen Marine Research for this publication was partially funded by RijksWaterstaat (RWS) of the Netherlands Ministry of Infrastructure and Water Management as a document to support future policy decision making.Monitoring plastic in stomachs of beached northern fulmars for OSPAR's Ecological Quality Objectives (EcoQOs) has been incorporated into the European Marine Strategy Framework Directive (MSFD). This paper aims to provide the appropriate tools to interpret the monitoring results. MSFD requires a data-derived threshold value (Fulmar-TV) representing ‘Good Environmental Status’. Such Fulmar-TV was calculated from near-pristine Canadian Arctic data where 10.06% of fulmars exceeded the level of 0.1 g ingested plastic. This Fulmar-TV is almost identical to the earlier OSPAR EcoQO, arbitrarily set at 10%. The MSFD approach was evaluated for 2661 North Sea fulmars in 2002–2018. Between 2014 and 2018, 51% of 393 fulmars exceeded 0.1 g plastic, significantly above the proposed Fulmar-TV. Linear regression of individual ingested plastic mass over the 2009–2018 period indicates a significant decrease. Over the longer term 2002–2018, logistic regression of annual EcoQ% shows a significant decline and predicts compliance with the Fulmar-TV by 2054.Publisher PDFPeer reviewe