Technology in ecology: determining the location, behaviour, and energy expenditure of free-ranging carnivores

Additionally, random forest models more accurately identify animal behaviours from accelerometer data after simple processing such as calculating extra variables, improving data evenness, and matching data frequencies to behaviours.<br><br>In the field, I investigate how urbanisation and seasons interact to affect cat roaming and provide recommendations for tailored management to decrease predation of native fauna through habitat-specific buffer zones and limited cat confinement.

Finally, I measure the energetic cost of incline locomotion of pumas and estimate the daily energy expenditure of wild pumas in steep terrains. I show that wild pumas adapt their behaviours to maintain low locomotion costs through traversing, to decrease their path angle, and by walking slowly on steep inclines.<br><br>This thesis recommends methods to increase biologging accuracy that should be implemented when monitoring free-roaming animals and investigates the impact of urban expansion on carnivore behaviour and energy expenditure, with implications for conservation and habitat management.