Recording Behavior

ethogram

table of different types of behavior observed in an animal

state

ongoing, e.g. walking

event

immediate, e.g. sniffing

measurements of behavior

latency, duration, frequency

latency

how long until the behavior occurs?

duration

how long does the behavior go on for?

frequency

how often does the behavior occur?

sampling rules

which subjects to watch, and when?

ad libitum sampling

whatever is visible; used for preliminary observations; bias towards sus behavior

focal sampling

pick one/a few individuals to focus on; accurate and widely used

scan sampling

rapidly scan the whole group at intervals and record individual behavior; quick but difficult to ID animals

behavior sampling

observe the whole group and record interesting behavior with animal ID; used for rare behavior like fighting

sampling unit

individual, pair, or group

recording rules

how should the behavior be recorded?

continuous recording (CR)

each behavior recorded with start/end times, uses focal sampling

instantaneous recording (IS)

record behavior at specific intervals, used in scan sampling

one-zero recording (1,0)

‘did behavior happen or not?’ at specific intervals; not widely used as not accurate for frequency/duration