Affiliation:
1. Hunan Engineering Laboratory for Chinese Giant Salamander’s Resource Protection and Comprehensive Utilization, School of Biological Resources and Environmental Sciences, Jishou University, Zhangjiajie 427000, China
2. College of Biological and Chemical Engineering, Changsha University, Changsha 410022, China
Abstract
The PAE (Posture-Act-Environment) coding system is a behavior coding system that divides the study of animal behavior into postures, actions, and the corresponding environmental factors, and they are coded correspondingly. It determines the analysis dimension to standardize the study of behavior. To investigate the behavior of A. davidianus during the breeding period, as well as their related postures, actions, and required environmental conditions, this study monitored the behavior of four pairs of A. davidianus in a simulated natural breeding pool using an infrared image monitoring system and recorded the changes in water quality during this process using a water quality monitoring system. The process of reproductive behaviors was observed and recorded with the random sampling method and the focal animal sampling method to classify and code the behaviors, and the ethogram of A. davidianus during the breeding period was constructed based on the PAE coding system. The result showed that 10 postures, 33 actions, 11 environments, and 45 behavioral patterns were differentiated and defined, which were classified into 9 categories of behaviors according to the behavioral function. Among these categories, five were distinguished as behaviors unique to the reproductive period, which include sand pushing, showering, courtship, oviposition, and parental care. The remaining four categories were daily behaviors: exercise, feeding, rest, and miscellaneous behaviors. The quantitative data on water quality and habitat factors that had a significant impact on the behavior of A. davidianus, such as water temperature (WT), pH, and dissolved oxygen (DO), were included in the coding framework, which more accurately expresses the environmental conditions and thresholds required for the breeding behavior.
Funder
National Nature Science Foundation of China
doctoral research upon return to Jishou University
Open Project Foundation of Hunan Engineering Laboratory for Chinese Giant Salamander’s Resource Protection and Comprehensive Utilization
Graduate Research and Innovation Project of Hunan Province
Subject
General Veterinary,Animal Science and Zoology
Reference55 articles.
1. The fashionable fallacy of dispensing with description;Lorenz;Sci. Nat.,1973
2. On aims and methods of ethology;Tinbergen;Z. Tierpsychol.,1963
3. Lehner, P.N. (1996). Handbook of Ethological Methods, Cambridge University Press.
4. Behavior coding and ethogram of the Pere David’s deer;Jiang;Acta Theriol. Sin.,2000
5. Equid play ethogram;McDonnell;Appl. Anim. Behav. Sci.,2002