After steep declines due to overharvest and habitat loss, North American river otter (Lontra canadensis) populations have been increasing in most of the U.S. Radiotelemetry is an essential tool for understanding river otter habitat use, survival rates, and sources of mortality, which is important for successfully managing these growing populations. Surgically implanting radiotransmitters is standard for river otters, but strict requirements for the handling and transport of DEA-scheduled drugs for sedation, and the lack of accessible surgery suites, can limit researchers. My objectives were to: (1) develop a non-scheduled drug combination to sedate river otters and surgically implant intra-abdominal transmitters in a field setting, (2) determine survival rates and causes of mortality for river otters, and (3) quantify fourth order habitat selection at river otter daytime resting sites. During 2018-2020, I surgically implanted 24 river otters with transmitters in southern Illinois and monitored them via radiotelemetry to determine survival and causes of mortality. The effectiveness of the drug combination of Dexmedetomidine and Nalbuphine for chemically immobilizing river otters was tested to determine the appropriate dosage. I used homing to track river otters to 132 daytime resting sites where I described the structure used, closest water type, and distance to water; for 51 of these resting sites I also measured understory cover, overstory cover, distance to water, and presence of river otter and beaver sign. These 51 sites were paired with 1-4 random riparian locations, where I measured the same habitat variables. I then modeled habitat selection of daytime resting sites using conditional logistic regression. A combination of 0.06 mg dexmedetomidine/kg and 1.2 mg nalbuphine/kg injected intramuscularly followed by a 10-15 min induction period was sufficient to chemically immobilize river otters enough for further sedation with 1-4% isoflurane gas. Surgery in the field was successful, with only 2 sedation-related mortalities recorded. Estimated river otter survival was 0.84 ± 0.09 with no difference between males (0.83 ± 0.11) and females (0.86 ± 0.13) ( = 0, P = 0.900) and or between protected areas (0.80 ± 0.10) and harvested areas (0.83 ± 0.15) ( = 0.3, P = 0.600). Four river otters died (2 harvest, 2 unknown causes) during my study. Daytime rest sites were located in non-enclosed vegetation (n = 54) as well as enclosed sites, such as bank dens (n = 39), beaver lodges (n = 33), and wood piles (n = 6). River otters selected for greater understory cover at all sites, though enclosed sites had less understory cover than non-enclosed sites (all P ≤ 0.001). The top habitat selection model included the parameters understory cover and the beaver sign but did not include canopy cover. My study offers a novel way to sedate river otters without DEA-scheduled drugs, updates information about river otter survival, and provides new information on fourth order habitat selection at daytime resting sites.

Bakgrund: Intensivvårdspatientens sömn nattetid är fragmenterad och blir i stor utsträckning störd, vilket gör att en vila på dagen behövs; en strukturerad vilostund. För återhämtning och läkning av sjukdomstillstånd är det viktigt att patienten får den vila denne behöver. Sömnbrist och brist på vila leder till svårigheter att komma ur respirator, längre sårläkning och i slutändan längre vistelsetid på intensivvårdsavdelningen. En strukturerad vilostund är en avsatt tid på dagen där meningen är att intensivvårdspatienten ska vila, utan att bli störd mer än vad sjukdomstillståndet tillåter. Det finns främjande åtgärder som kan utföras för att ge intensivvårdspatienten en god vilostund. Syfte: Syftet är att observera den strukturerade vilostunden inom intensivvården, med hjälp av fyra frågeställningar. Metod: Studien är gjord på två olika intensivvårdsavdelningar, vilket har genererat 41 observationer. Designen är en prospektiv observationsstudie med kvantitativ ansats. Analysen tolkas med deskriptiv och analytisk statistik. Resultat: Resultatet visar att de främjande åtgärder som observerats inte görs i full utsträckning. Den strukturerade vilostunden blir störd bland annat av samtal i vårdrummet och ljud från övervakningsutrustning. Den strukturerade vilostunden störs i snitt 25 gånger och den längsta sammanhängande tid utan störningsmoment är i snitt tio minuter, dock observerades som mest 67 störningsmoment. Den längsta sammanhängande vilan uppmättes till 48 minuter och den minsta vilan till tre minuter.  Slutsats: Den strukturerade vilostunden störs frekvent, trots att riktlinjer finns för en strukturerad vilostund. Då det är frekventa störningar innebär det att möjligheten för vilan blir för kort för att gynna återhämtning och därmed risk för förlängt intensivvårdsbehov. / Background: Patients sleep in the intensive care units (ICU) is fragmented. There is a need for a daytime rest, quiet time, to help the patient heal and recover from critical illness. Sleep deprivation and lack of rest might lead to difficulties of extubation, prolonged healing of wounds and it may result in prolonged stay in the ICU. A quiet time is a period during the day, where the goal is patient rest, without any unnecessary interruptions. There are promotional actions that can be used to make the patients’ rest as good as possible. Aim: The aim of this study is to observe the structured daytime rest in ICU, with the help of four questions. Method: This study is done at two ICU’s in Sweden, which has generated 41 observations. The design is a prospective quantitative observational study with descriptive and analytic statistics. Result: The result shows that the promotional actions observed aren’t used to the full extention. The daytime rest is interrupted, amongst other things, by conversations in the IC-room and from alarms of the surveillance equipment. The daytime rest is disturbed 25 times in mean, and the longest coherent rest fort the patient is ten minutes in mean. The top number for disturbances during the daytime rest is 67 times. The longest coherent rest was 48 minutes and the shortest rest three minutes. Conclusion: The daytime rest is frequently being disturbed in spite of there being a structured daytime rest protocol. This leads to that the possibility for a rest to recover is to short to do so, which can lead to a prolonged stay at the ICU.