Hiking up to the next plot…
Emotion plays a critical role in shaping animal decision-making and behaviors. However, little is known about the way wild animals experience and express emotion, or affective state, especially over extended periods. In order to predict how species will respond to disturbance, and ultimately adapt in a rapidly changing world, we must understand how to assess their emotional state. The goal of this research is to develop an index that evaluates affective state in a wild population of yellow-bellied marmots (Marmota flaviventer). Once developed, I will use the index to (1) determine the relationship between affective state and environmental conditions, (2) experimentally validate the index and (3) examine whether emotions influence two fitness metrics. I will use this research to provide a framework that includes taxon-specific measures and can be implemented by other wildlife managers to better understand emotion across wild animal populations. This research will produce a novel study on the mechanisms that underlie wildlife behavior, their long-term consequences for survival and reproduction, and whether human-induced ecological changes may be driving changes in affective state.