HSmith_InquiryProject

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Anthropology

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Dec 6, 2023

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Hannah Smith ECCB 205-501 7 November 2023 Grazing Behavioral Patterns with Respect to Community and Burn Status Introduction In this scientific inquiry project, the objective is to examine the variances in behavioral patterns with respect to community and burn status. The primary aim of this investigation is to discern the impact of burn status within each community on the observed levels of grazing behavior. I hypothesize that from each of the three communities, that being the Small Woody Community, Large Woody Community, and the Herbaceous Community, there will be a greater frequency of grazing behavior in the Burned communities as opposed to the unburned communities. Methods In order to examine this hypothesis, a stratified random sampling approach will be employed. A total of 180 samples will be drawn, encompassing 30 photographs from each category, representing both burned and unburned communities. Subsequently, the analysis will focus on quantifying the frequency of grazing behavior exhibited by individuals within each sample, permitting a comparative assessment of outcomes between burned and unburned community categories. The ensuing analysis seeks to identify the community that exhibits the highest level of grazing activity, and concurrently, to ascertain the statistical significance of burn status as a determinant of grazing behavior. Results From the 30 photo samples selected from each community and burn status, I evaluated the level of grazing behavior exhibited in comparison to other present behaviors, such as walking/standing and lying down. For the Small Woody Community – Burned, as seen in Figure 1, there are a total of 79 behaviors observed. Of the 79 behaviors observed from the 30 selected samples, 49 of those behaviors are grazing, making grazing the most prominent behavior observed in this community and burn status. Figure 1: Small Woody Community - Burned Figure 2: Small Woody Community Burned-Percentages

In comparison to the burned community, the Small Woody Community – Unburned samples, as seen in Figure 3, there are a total of 32 behaviors observed. Of the 32 observed behaviors, 13 of those appear to be grazing behaviors, meaning that grazing was not the most prominent behavior for this community and burn status. In conclusion, for the Small Woody Community, there is a higher frequency of grazing behavior exhibited in the burned community compared to the unburned community. From a total of 79 observed behaviors, as seen in Figure 2, roughly 62% of the behaviors are classified as grazing, whereas in the unburned community, seen in Figure 4, which has a total of 32 observed behaviors, roughly 41% of the behaviors are classified as grazing. For the Large Woody Community, I selected 30 photo samples from each burn status. For the Large Woody Community – Burned, as seen in Figure 5, there were a total of 62 behaviors observed. Of the 62 observed behaviors, 28 of those are grazing behaviors. Therefore, of all the behaviors observed, grazing was not the most prominent. Figure 3: Small Woody Community-Unburned Figure 4: Small Woody Community Unburned - Percentages Figure 5: Large Woody Community - Burned Figure 6: Large Woody Community Burned - Percentages

The Large Woody Community – Unburned, as seen in Figure 7, has a total of 47 observed behaviors. Of the 47 behaviors, 26 of those are grazing behaviors, meaning that grazing is the most prominent behavior in this community and burn status. Therefore, for the Large Woody Community, the unburned community proved to have the highest frequency of grazing behaviors. From the total number of observable behaviors in the unburned community, as seen in Figure 8, being 47, approximately 55% of those behaviors appeared to be grazing behaviors. However, of the 62 total behaviors observed in the burned community, as seen in Figure 6, only 45% of those behaviors appeared to be grazing, therefore showing the higher frequency of grazing behaviors to appear in the unburned community. The last community to be analyzed is the Herbaceous community. In the Herbaceous Community- Burned, as shown in Figure 9, there are a total of 71 observed behaviors. Of these 71 behaviors, 47 of the behaviors are classified as grazing. This shows that there is a higher frequency of grazing behaviors than any other behaviors in this community. Figure 8: Large Woody Community Unburned - Percentages Figure 7: Large Woody Community - Unburned

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In comparison, the Herbaceous Community – Unburned, as seen in Figure 9, has a total of 93 observable behaviors from the 30 selected sample photos. Of the 93 observable behaviors, 50 of the observed behaviors are classified as grazing, meaning that there is also a higher frequency of grazing behaviors in this community than any other behavior. While both the burned and unburned Herbaceous Communities have higher grazing behaviors than any other observed behaviors, the Burned Herbaceous Community has the highest overall frequency of grazing. As seen in Figure 10, of the total 71 observed behaviors, Figure 10: Herbaceous Community Burned - Percentages Figure 9: Herbaceous Community - Burned Figure 12: Herbaceous Community Unburned - Percentages Figure 11: Herbaceous Community – Unburned

66.2% of all behaviors are grazing behaviors, whereas in the unburned community, as seen in Figure 12, of the 93 total behaviors, 53.8% are grazing behaviors. Therefore, of the two burn status’ in this community, the Herbaceous Community – Burned, has a higher frequency of grazing behaviors than the unburned community. Discussion From the 180 photo samples used, the percentages of grazing behavior in comparison to other observable behaviors of each community and burn status was able to be recorded and compared to the results of other communities. For each community, the percentage of grazing behavior is compared to the percentages of all other observable behaviors in each burn status, and those numbers are then compared to each other to see which burn status for a community has the greatest frequency of grazing behavior. For the Small Woody Community, the burned community has a greater frequency of grazing behaviors, at 62%, whereas the grazing behavior of the unburned community is at 40.6%. In the Large Woody Community, there is also a greater frequency of grazing behaviors in the burned community than in the unburned community, as the burned community has a grazing frequency of 45.2%, whereas the unburned community has a grazing frequency of 44.7%. Lastly, the Herbaceous Community follows the same trend as the previous two communities. The frequency of grazing behavior in the burned community is 66.2% whereas the frequency of grazing behavior in the unburned community is 53.8%. The results collected from the 180 samples, using a stratified random sampling approach, support my hypothesis that there will be a greater frequency of grazing behavior in the burned setting of each of the three communities compared to the unburned setting of each of the three communities. In each of the three communities, all of the burned settings have an overall higher percentage of grazing activity than that of the unburned settings. It is important to note that this data can alternate based on the specific photo samples selected from each community and burn status, as well as the specific behaviors and/or species being studied. However, the data and methods utilized in this report can be applied when studying other behaviors in specific communities as well.

HSmith_InquiryProject

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