title: Interpreting behaviors from accelerometry: a method combining simplicity and objectivity.
abstract: Quantifying the behavior of motile, free-ranging animals is difficult. The accelerometry technique offers a method for recording behaviors but interpretation of the data is not straightforward. To date, analysis of such data has either involved subjective, study-specific assignments of behavior to acceleration data or the use of complex analyses based on machine learning. Here, we present a method for automatically classifying acceleration data to represent discrete, coarse-scale behaviors. The method centers on examining the shape of histograms of basic metrics readily derived from acceleration data to objectively determine threshold values by which to separate behaviors. Through application of this method to data collected on two distinct species with greatly differing behavioral repertoires, kittiwakes, and humans, the accuracy of this approach is demonstrated to be very high, comparable to that reported for other automated approaches already published. The method presented offers an alternative to existing methods as it uses biologically grounded arguments to distinguish behaviors, it is objective in determining values by which to separate these behaviors, and it is simple to implement, thus making it potentially widely applicable. The R script coding the method is provided.
authors.affiliation: School of Life Sciences University of Roehampton Holybourne Avenue London SW15 4JD United Kingdom.
authors.forename: Philip M
authors.initials: PM
authors.lastname: Collins
authors.affiliation: School of Environmental Sciences University of Liverpool Liverpool L69 3GP United Kingdom.
authors.forename: Jonathan A
authors.initials: JA
authors.lastname: Green
authors.affiliation: School of Environmental Sciences University of Liverpool Liverpool L69 3GP United Kingdom.
authors.forename: Victoria
authors.initials: V
authors.lastname: Warwick-Evans
authors.affiliation: Royal Society for the Protection of Birds North Wales Office Bangor LL57 4FD United Kingdom.
authors.forename: Stephen
authors.initials: S
authors.lastname: Dodd
authors.affiliation: School of Life Sciences University of Roehampton Holybourne Avenue London SW15 4JD United Kingdom.
authors.forename: Peter J A
authors.initials: PJ
authors.lastname: Shaw
authors.affiliation: School of Life and Environmental Sciences Deakin University Melbourne Victoria 3125 Australia.
authors.forename: John P Y
authors.initials: JP
authors.lastname: Arnould
authors.affiliation: School of Life Sciences University of Roehampton Holybourne Avenue London SW15 4JD United Kingdom.
authors.forename: Lewis G
authors.initials: LG
authors.lastname: Halsey
keywords: Accelerometer; behavior; data logger; human; kittiwake; objective; simple