Year: 2024
Type: article
Abstract: The widespread sharing of information on the Internet has given rise to ecological studies that use data from digital sources including digitized museum records and social media posts. Most of these studies have focused on understanding species occurrences and distributions. In this essay, we argue that data from digital sources also offer many opportunities to study animal behavior including long-term and large-scale comparisons within and between species. Following Nikko Tinbergen's classical roadmap for behavioral investigation, we show how using videos, photos, text, and audio posted on social media and other digital platforms can shed new light on known behaviors, particularly in a changing world, and lead to the discovery of new ones.
Source: PLoS Biology
Institutions: Tel Aviv University, University of Oxford, University of Helsinki, University of Lisbon, Centro de Ecologia Aplicada Prof Baeta Neves, Universidad de Extremadura, Poznań University of Life Sciences, University of Warsaw, Czech University of Life Sciences Prague, Technical University of Munich, Ben-Gurion University of the Negev, University of California, Los Angeles, Centre National de la Recherche Scientifique, AgroParisTech, Université Paris-Saclay, Ecologie, Société, Evolution, Institute of Hydrobiology, Biology Centre, Academy of Sciences of the Czech Republic, Czech Academy of Sciences, Biology Centre, Institut de Ciències del Mar
Language: English
Subfield: Ecology
Field: Environmental Science
Domain: Physical Sciences
Open Access status: gold
Estimated APC paid: $5,500
OpenAlex ID: W4401988135