Combining accelerometry with allometry for estimating daily energy expenditure in joules when in-lab calibration is unavailable

Background All behaviour requires energy, and measuring energy expenditure in standard units (joules) is key to linking behaviour to ecological processes. Animal-borne accelerometers are commonly used to infer proxies of energy expenditure, termed 'dynamic body acceleration' (DBA). However, converting acceleration proxies (m/s(2)) to standard units (watts) involves costly in-lab respirometry measurements, and there is a lack of viable substitutes for empirical calibration relationships when these are unavailable.