Kirsten M. Leong

African Elephant Vocal Communication II: Rumble Variation Reflects the Individual Identity and Emotional State of Callers

The most common vocalization of the African elephant, Loxodonta africana, is the rumble, but there is no consensus as to how many rumble subtypes exist. From the standpoint of social function, many types of rumble have been proposed. From a structural standpoint, however, few studies have examined detailed acoustic measurements of a large number of calls. We analysed 270 rumbles from six adult female African elephants housed at Disneys Animal Kingdom (Lake Buena Vista, Florida, U.S.A.). Subjects wore collars outfitted with microphones and radiotransmitters that allowed recording of vocalizations from identified individuals. Rumble vocalizations were digitized and both source and filter features were measured for each call. Behavioural and endocrine data were collected so that acoustical data could be placed into the context of ongoing social behaviour and reproductive state. Multidimensional scaling analysis revealed that, from a structural standpoint, rumbles from this captive setting could not be divided into distinct subtypes, but there was extensive acoustic variation across rumbles. Discriminant function analysis and MANOVA were employed to further explore this variation. First, acoustic characteristics varied according to the individual identity of the caller. Second, rumbles varied as a function of negative emotional arousal. When associating with dominant animals, subordinate females produced rumbles with lower cepstral coefficients, suggesting low tonality and unstable pitch in the voice, compared to rumbles produced outside of the presence of dominant animals. Rumbles as a whole did not cluster into distinct acoustic types, but structural variation in rumbles reflected the individual identity and emotional state of callers.

Chapter 9 Overcoming jurisdictional boundaries through stakeholder engagement and collaborative governance: Lessons learned from white-tailed deer management in the U.S.

Purpose – The purpose is to explore public participation as a means to overcome jurisdictional barriers in governance of trans-boundary wildlife management issues. Methodology/approach – We present one model, defining six philosophical approaches to public participation, then examine relationships between these approaches and traits of stakeholder communities, revealing three distinct governance paradigms: top–down governance, public input, and public engagement. These paradigms illustrate that the different approaches represent fundamentally different types of participation, not simply varying amounts of participation. Using case studies from the United States, we demonstrate how some state, federal, and local government institutions have successfully applied public input and public engagement models of governance to suburban white-tailed deer management. While both models can be used effectively, certain approaches may be preferable to others depending on specific management context, public participation goals, and target publics. Findings – Public input approaches appear better suited to addressing complex problems and communities of interest, while public engagement approaches may better resolve wicked problems that affect communities of place. Future research is needed to clarify the relationship between success of governance paradigms and contextual considerations. Originality/value of chapter – The chapter goes beyond many existing approaches to public participation and governance and presents interesting findings related to exurbanized and protected areas in the USA.

Stress and Emotion Classification using Jitter and Shimmer Features

In this paper, we evaluate the use of appended jitter and shimmer speech features for the classification of human speaking styles and of animal vocalization arousal levels. Jitter and shimmer features are extracted from the fundamental frequency contour and added to baseline spectral features, specifically Mel-frequency cepstral coefficients (MFCCs) for human speech and Greenwood function cepstral coefficients (GFCCs) for animal vocalizations. Hidden Markov models (HMMs) with Gaussian mixture models (GMMs) state distributions are used for classification. The appended jitter and shimmer features result in an increase in classification accuracy for several illustrative datasets, including the SUSAS dataset for human speaking styles as well as vocalizations labeled by arousal level for African elephant and Rhesus monkey species.

African elephant vocal communication I: antiphonal calling behaviour among affiliated females

African elephants, Loxodonta africana, are well known for their use of a low-frequency ‘rumble’ vocalization, which is thought to function in long-distance communication. Less work, however, has been conducted on short-distance communication within groups, and on spontaneously occurring vocal exchanges among identified individuals in particular. This is due in part to the fact that low-frequency rumbles are difficult to assign to individual callers. We collected vocal data on a group of six female African elephants housed at Disneys Animal Kingdom to determine whether they exchange rumbles in alternating sequences (also known as antiphonal calling). Subjects wore collars outfitted with microphones and radiotransmitters that allowed identification of individual callers, and behavioural and endocrine data were collected so that vocal activity could be examined in the context of social behaviour and reproductive state. First, we found that females did not produce rumbles at random, but were nearly twice as likely to produce rumbles shortly after rumbles from other group members. Second, the relative dominance rank and reproductive state of callers did not affect the probability of vocal response, but affiliative relationship with the caller had a strong influence on rumble response. Females were most likely to respond in kind to the rumbles of their most affiliated partners compared to less affiliated group members. Third, video analysis showed that rumble exchanges occurred in variable contexts, including when animals were out of contact, during reunions, and while in close proximity. Also, affiliated partners often vocalized in sequence when approached by dominant individuals. The results of these analyses show that affiliated female African elephants exchange rumbles antiphonally, and imply multiple functions for such vocal exchanges.

Automatic classification and speaker identification of African elephant (Loxodonta africana) vocalizations

A hidden Markov model (HMM) system is presented for automatically classifying African elephant vocalizations. The development of the system is motivated by successful models from human speech analysis and recognition. Classification features include frequency-shifted Mel-frequency cepstral coefficients (MFCCs) and log energy, spectrally motivated features which are commonly used in human speech processing. Experiments, including vocalization type classification and speaker identification, are performed on vocalizations collected from captive elephants in a naturalistic environment. The system classified vocalizations with accuracies of 94.3% and 82.5% for type classification and speaker identification classification experiments, respectively. Classification accuracy, statistical significance tests on the model parameters, and qualitative analysis support the effectiveness and robustness of this approach for vocalization analysis in nonhuman species.

Wildlife Disease Management: A Manager's Model

Wildlife disease management (WDM) is one of the great challenges of contemporary wildlife management. Experience with chronic wasting disease (CWD) indicates the importance of human dimensions in WDM. Wildlife management and disease specialists created a concept map (managers model) of the WDM system that depicts the human dimensions considerations involved in WDM and how they may affect management objectives and actions. The WDM model includes risk perception, impact tolerance, and social acceptability of management actions that contribute to perceived impacts of wildlife disease and management responses. The managers model of WDM is an experience-grounded, normative framework for discussing management of CWD.

The Tragedy of Becoming Common: Landscape Change and Perceptions of Wildlife

Some wildlife species are adapting to urbanizing settings made more attractive due to changes in land-use practices, human attitudes and behaviors, and conservation efforts. People who live in communities near suburban parks are encountering wildlife more frequently than in the past, with varying reactions. In-depth interviews conducted with residents living near three national parks yielded insight on “suburban deer” as an emerging social construct. Interviewees described expectations about deer abundance and behavior that guided their interactions with suburban deer and affected deer behavior, which in turn affected interviewees’ evaluations of deer and subsequent responses to interactions. Left unchecked, this process may result in the ultimate “tragedy of becoming common,” when species are no longer viewed as wildlife, but as pests or pets. In the absence of an established cultural construct for suburban wildlife, stakeholder engagement will continue to play an important role in understanding and addressing these diverging views.

The New Governance Era: Implications for Collaborative Conservation and Adaptive Management in Department of the Interior Agencies

The U.S. Department of the Interior (DOI) manages one-fifth of the land in the United States, including public lands administered by the National Park Service, U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service, and Bureau of Land Management. Federal agencies have included public input in decision-making since the Administrative Procedure Act in 1946, with varying degrees of effectiveness. Recently, policy and reporting directives have broadened to include possibilities for collaborative conservation. Many disciplines are identifying this rise in collaboration as a new era of governance. Yet, this philosophy has not yet diffused widely throughout DOI agencies in practice. We explored how these concepts might become institutionalized more broadly in DOI agencies by examining legal and policy considerations with respect to governance paradigms and conducting pilot interviews with key informants. As large-scale societal changes continue to affect the way people experience and value public lands, effectively incorporating collaborative conservation will be increasingly important in management.

Zoonotic disease risk perception and use of personal protective measures among wildlife biologists: an application of the health belief model.

In November 2007, a National Park Service (NPS) wildlife biologist died from pneumonic plague after unprotected contact with an infected mountain lion. To begin to assess perceptions of zoonotic disease risk and attitudes toward personal protective measures among NPS biologists, two focus-group discussions were held in September 2008 with 12 biologists from 10 parks. Each facilitator-led discussion lasted approximately 75 minutes. Common themes were identified from audio transcripts and field notes and interpreted according to the Health Belief Model. Participants described cautious, but not overly concerned, perceptions of risk. Barriers to personal protective measures included challenges associated with field environments and lack of mandatory continuing education on zoonotic diseases. In contrast, NPS-supported guidance and supervisors who emphasize safety facilitated personal protection. These findings could have implications for developing practical interventions to improve zoonotic disease prevention among wildlife professionals.

Formative Coorientation Research: A Tool to Assist with Environmental Decision Making

A growing body of research recommends interaction between managers and stakeholders to improve natural resource management decisions. While formative stakeholder research and summative evaluations of communication efforts have been well-studied, less research has included formative evaluations comparing managers and stakeholders to inform communication efforts. This study applies the communication concept of coorientation to the case of deer management on open-space lands owned by Cornell University and develops an approach to coorientation analysis for use with small decision-making teams. Mail surveys were used to assess the level of agreement and accuracy between decision makers and residents of nearby communities. Decision makers and residents varied in the topics for which they accurately predicted each others responses; these differences have implications for approaches to communication. This study also illustrates the utility of coorientation research to reveal areas of difference within the decision-making team, as well as with the public.