In her doctoral work, Theresa Kirchner has developed models that analyze activity data collected from moose in captivity under observation. She has linked this data to various behavior categories and energy consumption.
This makes it possible to interpret corresponding activity data from collars placed on wild moose.
– With these models, I analyzed collar data from wild moose, which I had approached on foot/snowshoes during different seasons to describe their response to encountering people in the forest, Theresa writes to inn.no.
- The title of the dissertation is: "Do you mind? Using biologging tools to study anthropogenic disturbance effects on wildlife behavior and energetics – a case study on moose"
The models and experimental approaches conducted in this thesis “improve our understanding of anthropogenic disturbance effects on the energy budget of individual moose".
– Because compromised individual energy budgets can affect the wider population, my thesis is an important contribution to the effort to evaluate population-level consequences of disturbances in moose, Kirchner explains.
Theresa has carried out her doctoral work on the Ph.D. program Applied Ecology and Biotechnology.
Here you find more information about Theresa Kirchner's public defence on 22 March 2024.
Main findings in the doctoral work:
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The experimental approaches resulted in increased locomotor activity and decreased foraging activity, particularly in the first ten minutes following the approach, with overall changes in behavior and energy expenditure lasting up to three hours.
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The findings in her thesis describe moose disturbance response in unprecedented detail and elucidate the negative effects of disturbances on the energy budget of wild moose.