{"id":508,"date":"2020-03-31T11:54:19","date_gmt":"2020-03-31T17:54:19","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.boisestate.edu\/rcs\/?p=508"},"modified":"2025-04-25T14:58:12","modified_gmt":"2025-04-25T20:58:12","slug":"spotlight-on-research-peregrine-funds-raptor-research-made-rapid-by-partnership-with-research-computing","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.boisestate.edu\/rcs\/2020\/03\/31\/spotlight-on-research-peregrine-funds-raptor-research-made-rapid-by-partnership-with-research-computing\/","title":{"rendered":"Spotlight on Research: Peregrine Fund’s\u00a0Raptor Research Made Rapid by Partnership with Research Computing"},"content":{"rendered":"\n

\u201cI don\u2019t think either of us would be working with these projects in the way or capacity that we are if we didn\u2019t have access to R2.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

This is how Jennifer McCabe, a researcher with the Peregrine Fund, describes her and colleague Brian Rolek\u2019s need for Boise State\u2019s R2 compute cluster. They\u2019re engaged in separate research projects that use computational models to analyze golden eagle behavior. Both researchers are utilizing a custom software container environment on R2 that was built by Research Computing employee Forrest Burt.<\/span><\/p>\n\n\n\n

For her part, McCabe is utilizing large scale ecological data and telemetry to better map the distribution of golden eagles and how topography affects their use of the landscape. As eagles are often in places where it is difficult or impossible for humans to observe them, much of this data is collected from telemetry backpack units that are fitted onto the birds. This allows for much more data to be collected – as a result, the dataset has about 600,000 distinct data points in it. McCabe has built models to analyze this dataset that use the power of the compute cluster to reach deeper levels of complexity than would otherwise be possible.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cSimpler models would consider all the eagles as one bird. With a more complex model, we can look at their individual habitat selection and incorporate that into the model, which we wouldn\u2019t have been able to do otherwise. With the cluster, we can also model the entire Eastern United States at once as opposed to just individual states,\u201d McCabe says.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

This work allows for better management of golden eagle habitats through the creation of monthly predictive maps showing high to low golden eagle habitat use. Land managers can then use these maps in various ways; for example, land managers could use the maps to identify areas that would be good for wind turbines by finding areas on the maps where eagle activity is consistently low.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

The models developed by McCabe will likely be applied in the future to the management of other bird species beyond the golden eagle.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\"IdentiFlight
Image of an IdentiFlight\u24c7 system that generated Brian\u2019s dataset along with a diagram of where the systems are set up in the research area and images taken from IdentiFlight.<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n\n\n\n

Rolek\u2019s research deals with a commonly discussed renewable energy problem: bird strikes on wind turbines. The dataset he works with comes from a device mounted on the turbines that tracks, in three dimensions, the flight paths of birds as they approach the turbine. Rolek then uses R2 to analyze this dataset in order to develop an algorithm for the automatic identification of flight paths that are likely to lead to a collision, allowing for the turbine to automatically shut off when necessary and restart once the bird has passed.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cSurvival rates of eagles are important for sustaining populations because these are long-lived birds. Many sites with wind turbines currently do not have automated curtailment of turbines when eagles approach near enough to pose a high risk of collision. What we\u2019re trying to do is predict golden eagle behavior to reduce collision chances while maximizing the efficiency of renewable energy. Renewable energy is increasing in use because of its potential to fight climate change and the problems that some renewable energy systems introduce to wildlife can cause concern, so we\u2019re working to minimize that risk,\u201d Rolek says.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Rolek\u2019s research helps to create a more optimum future situation for the health of eagles and the efficiency of wind energy by both reducing eagle strikes on the turbines and preventing turbines from being shut down unnecessarily if there\u2019s no threat to nearby birds.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

More info about the Peregrine Fund and the work it does across the world can be found at https<\/span>:\/\/peregrinefund.org\/<\/span><\/a>. Read more about the project funding Brian Rolek\u2019s work at <\/span>https:\/\/awwi.org\/wind-wildlife-research-fund\/<\/span><\/a>.<\/span><\/p>\n\n\n\n

By Forrest Burt<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

\u201cI don\u2019t think either of us would be working with these projects in the way…<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":593,"featured_media":509,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_acf_changed":false,"footnotes":""},"categories":[346],"tags":[274],"class_list":["post-508","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-research-spotlight","tag-news"],"acf":[],"yoast_head":"\nSpotlight on Research: Peregrine Fund's\u00a0Raptor Research Made Rapid by Partnership with Research Computing - Research Computing<\/title>\n<meta name=\"robots\" content=\"index, follow, max-snippet:-1, max-image-preview:large, max-video-preview:-1\" \/>\n<link rel=\"canonical\" href=\"https:\/\/www.boisestate.edu\/rcs\/2020\/03\/31\/spotlight-on-research-peregrine-funds-raptor-research-made-rapid-by-partnership-with-research-computing\/\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:locale\" content=\"en_US\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:type\" content=\"article\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:title\" content=\"Spotlight on Research: Peregrine Fund's\u00a0Raptor Research Made Rapid by Partnership with Research Computing\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:description\" content=\"\u201cI don\u2019t think either of us would be working with these projects in the way...\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:url\" content=\"https:\/\/www.boisestate.edu\/rcs\/2020\/03\/31\/spotlight-on-research-peregrine-funds-raptor-research-made-rapid-by-partnership-with-research-computing\/\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:site_name\" content=\"Research Computing\" \/>\n<meta property=\"article:published_time\" content=\"2020-03-31T17:54:19+00:00\" \/>\n<meta property=\"article:modified_time\" content=\"2025-04-25T20:58:12+00:00\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:image\" content=\"https:\/\/www.boisestate.edu\/rcs\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/546\/2020\/03\/trace_al_goea_20190125_cropped.jpeg\" \/>\n\t<meta property=\"og:image:width\" content=\"375\" \/>\n\t<meta property=\"og:image:height\" content=\"630\" \/>\n\t<meta property=\"og:image:type\" content=\"image\/jpeg\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:card\" content=\"summary_large_image\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:label1\" content=\"Written by\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:data1\" content=\"\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:label2\" content=\"Est. reading time\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:data2\" content=\"4 minutes\" \/>\n<script type=\"application\/ld+json\" class=\"yoast-schema-graph\">{\"@context\":\"https:\/\/schema.org\",\"@graph\":[{\"@type\":\"Article\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.boisestate.edu\/rcs\/2020\/03\/31\/spotlight-on-research-peregrine-funds-raptor-research-made-rapid-by-partnership-with-research-computing\/#article\",\"isPartOf\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.boisestate.edu\/rcs\/2020\/03\/31\/spotlight-on-research-peregrine-funds-raptor-research-made-rapid-by-partnership-with-research-computing\/\"},\"author\":{\"name\":\"\",\"@id\":\"\"},\"headline\":\"Spotlight on Research: Peregrine Fund’s\u00a0Raptor Research Made Rapid by Partnership with Research Computing\",\"datePublished\":\"2020-03-31T17:54:19+00:00\",\"dateModified\":\"2025-04-25T20:58:12+00:00\",\"mainEntityOfPage\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.boisestate.edu\/rcs\/2020\/03\/31\/spotlight-on-research-peregrine-funds-raptor-research-made-rapid-by-partnership-with-research-computing\/\"},\"wordCount\":671,\"image\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.boisestate.edu\/rcs\/2020\/03\/31\/spotlight-on-research-peregrine-funds-raptor-research-made-rapid-by-partnership-with-research-computing\/#primaryimage\"},\"thumbnailUrl\":\"https:\/\/www.boisestate.edu\/rcs\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/546\/2020\/03\/trace_al_goea_20190125_cropped.jpeg\",\"keywords\":[\"news\"],\"articleSection\":[\"Research Spotlight\"],\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\"},{\"@type\":\"WebPage\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.boisestate.edu\/rcs\/2020\/03\/31\/spotlight-on-research-peregrine-funds-raptor-research-made-rapid-by-partnership-with-research-computing\/\",\"url\":\"https:\/\/www.boisestate.edu\/rcs\/2020\/03\/31\/spotlight-on-research-peregrine-funds-raptor-research-made-rapid-by-partnership-with-research-computing\/\",\"name\":\"Spotlight on Research: Peregrine Fund's\u00a0Raptor Research Made Rapid by Partnership with Research Computing - 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