Articles

A plea for standards in reporting data collected by animal-borne electronic devices

In recent years, there has been significant investment in collaborative e-infrastructures to support biotelemetry research. Whilst these e-infrastructures are rapidly growing in size and sophistication, the cu...

Authors: Hamish A. Campbell, Ferdi Urbano, Sarah Davidson, Holger Dettki and Francesca Cagnacci

Ghosts in the data: false detections in VEMCO pulse position modulation acoustic telemetry monitoring equipment

False-positive data (better known as “false detections”) in VEMCO VR2 acoustic telemetry monitoring studies that use pulse position modulation coding can cause biased or erroneous outcomes in data analysis. To...

Authors: Colin A. Simpfendorfer, Charlie Huveneers, Andre Steckenreuter, Katherine Tattersall, Xavier Hoenner, Rob Harcourt and Michelle R. Heupel

Why do satellite transmitters on emperor penguins stop transmitting?

Investigation of early transmission failure from animal-borne, satellite transmitters should reveal vital information about the reliability of the technology, and the risk of application to the animal. Current...

Authors: Gerald L. Kooyman, Birgitte I. McDonald and Kimberly T. Goetz

Home range and habitat use of juvenile green turtles (Chelonia mydas) in the northern Gulf of Mexico

For imperiled marine turtles, use of satellite telemetry has proven to be an effective method in determining long distance movements. However, the large size of the tag, relatively high cost and low spatial re...

Authors: Margaret M. Lamont, Ikuko Fujisaki, Brail S. Stephens and Caitlin Hackett

In the belly of the beast: resolving stomach tag data to link temperature, acceleration and feeding in white sharks (Carcharodon carcharias)

Motion detecting archival data loggers such as accelerometers have become increasingly important in animal biotelemetry and offer unique insights into animal behavior, energetics, and kinematics. However, chal...

Authors: Salvador J. Jorgensen, Adrian C. Gleiss, Paul E. Kanive, Taylor K. Chapple, Scot D. Anderson, Juan M. Ezcurra, W. Tyler Brandt and Barbara A. Block

Tag attachment success can be temperature dependent: a case study of the chub mackerel Scomber japonicus

Electronic tags are increasingly used in the studies of fish, but the attachment of electronic tags may affect their behaviour and physiology. While a number of studies have shown effects of electronic tags on...

Authors: Tohya Yasuda, Naoki Nagano, Hajime Kitano, Hirofumi Ohga, Takeshi Sakai, Seiji Ohshimo and Michiya Matsuyama

Bias correction and uncertainty characterization of Dead-Reckoned paths of marine mammals

Biologgers incorporating triaxial magnetometers and accelerometers can record animal movements at infra-second frequencies. Such data allow the Dead-Reckoned (DR) path of an animal to be reconstructed at high ...

Authors: Yang Liu, Brian C. Battaile, Andrew W. Trites and James V. Zidek

The use of external electronic tags on fish: an evaluation of tag retention and tagging effects

External tagging of fish with electronic tags has been used for decades for a wide range of marine and freshwater species. In the early years of fish telemetry research, it was the most commonly used attachmen...

Authors: Niels Jepsen, Eva B. Thorstad, Torgeir Havn and Martyn C. Lucas

Estimating total body heat dissipation in air and water from skin surface heat flux telemetry in Weddell seals

Accurate estimates of thermoregulatory costs in air and water are necessary to predict the impacts of changing habitats to individuals and populations of ice-obligate seals. Investigations that would provide s...

Authors: Allyson G. Hindle, Markus Horning and Jo-Ann E. Mellish

First autonomous recording of in situ dissolved oxygen from free-ranging fish

Biologging technology has enhanced our understanding of the ecology of marine animals and has been central to identifying how oceanographic conditions drive patterns in their distribution and behavior. Among t...

Authors: Daniel M. Coffey and Kim N. Holland

An autonomous GPS geofence alert system to curtail avian fatalities at wind farms

Wind energy developments are increasingly proliferating as nations seek to secure clean and renewable energy supplies. Wind farms have serious impacts on avifauna populations through injuries sustained by coll...

Authors: James K. Sheppard, Andrew McGann, Michael Lanzone and Ronald R. Swaisgood

Effects of acoustic tag implantation on lake sturgeon Acipenser fulvescens: lack of evidence for changes in behavior

An assumption of studies using acoustic telemetry is that surgical implantation of acoustic transmitters or tags does not alter behavior of tagged individuals. Evaluating the validity of this assumption can be...

Authors: Darryl W. Hondorp, Christopher M. Holbrook and Charles C. Krueger

A dawn peak in the occurrence of ‘knifing behaviour’ in blue sharks

Knifing is a behaviour whereby a shark swims directly at the surface with its dorsal fin out of the water. While this behaviour has been reported in a number of species, information on the frequency and timing...

Authors: Thomas K. Doyle, Ashley Bennison, Mark Jessopp, Damien Haberlin and Luke A. Harman

Can accelerometry be used to distinguish between flight types in soaring birds?

Accelerometry has been used to identify behaviours through the quantification of body posture and motion for a range of species moving in different media. This technique has not been applied to flight behaviou...

Authors: H. J. Williams, E. L. C. Shepard, O. Duriez and S. A. Lambertucci

From high-resolution to low-resolution dive datasets: a new index to quantify the foraging effort of marine predators

In the last decade, thousands of satellite-relayed data loggers (SRDLs) have been deployed, providing large datasets on marine predator movement patterns at sea and their diving behaviour. However, the latter ...

Authors: Karine Heerah, Mark Hindell, Christophe Guinet and Jean-Benoît Charrassin

A system for automatic recording of social behavior in a free-living wild house mouse population

Our research focuses on mechanisms that promote and stabilize social behavior, fitness consequences of cooperation, and how interactions with conspecifics structure groups and populations. To this end, we stud...

Authors: Barbara König, Anna K. Lindholm, Patricia C. Lopes, Akos Dobay, Sally Steinert and Frank Jens-Uwe Buschmann

Development and field testing a satellite-linked fluorometer for marine vertebrates

Understanding the responses of marine vertebrates to spatial and temporal variability of primary productivity is fundamental for their conservation and for predicting how they will be affected by climate chang...

Authors: Michelle E. Lander, Todd Lindstrom, Matthew Rutishauser, Albert Franzheim and Melinda Holland

Energy savings due to the use of shallow body temperature reduction in overwintering Northern Cardinals

Northern Cardinals (Cardinalis cardinalis) are able to endure drastic seasonal variations in ambient temperature. Many endotherms in these conditions utilize heterothermy (e.g., torpor) to conserve energy by adju...

Authors: Paul J. Schaeffer, Maria C. Komer and Keely R. Corder

Anthropogenic modifications to a barrier island influence Bonnethead (Sphyrna tiburo) movements in the northern Gulf of Mexico

Barrier islands are dynamic features of the northern Gulf of Mexico that are affected by natural processes and more frequently, anthropogenic disturbances. In addition to providing a barrier from storms, these...

Authors: Andrea M. Kroetz, Sean P. Powers, J. Marcus Drymon and Kyeong Park

Challenges of measuring body temperatures of free-ranging birds and mammals

The thermal physiology of most birds and mammals is characterised by considerable spatial and temporal variation in body temperature. Body temperature is, therefore, a key parameter in physiological, behaviour...

Authors: D. J. McCafferty, S. Gallon and A. Nord

Assessing fine-scale diel movement patterns of an exploited coral reef fish

Understanding movement patterns of species requires that the spatial and temporal scales of experimental designs are appropriate to the proposed ecological questions. Previous research on large-scale movements...

Authors: Leanne M. Currey, Michelle R. Heupel, Colin A. Simpfendorfer and Ashley J. Williams

Images as proximity sensors: the incidence of conspecific foraging in Antarctic fur seals

Although there have been recent advances in the development of animal-attached ‘proximity’ tags to remotely record the interactions of multiple individuals, the efficacy of these devices depends on the instrum...

Authors: Sascha K. Hooker, Tatsiana Barychka, Mark J. Jessopp and Iain J. Staniland

Two methods of radio transmitter attachment and their effects on the behavior and energetics of captive long-tailed ducks (Clangula hyemalis) during winter

Attachment of external devices can have negative consequences for the health and fitness of subjects, but these effects are often overlooked. In preparation for a field study with small sea ducks, we investiga...

Authors: Manfred R. Enstipp, January Frost, Tuula E. Hollmén, Russel D. Andrews and Charles Frost

Application of a computer vision technique to animal-borne video data: extraction of head movement to understand sea turtles’ visual assessment of surroundings

An animal-borne video recording system has recently been developed to study the behavior of free-ranging animals. In contrast to other types of sensor data (i.e., acceleration), video images offer the advantag...

Authors: Junichi Okuyama, Kana Nakajima, Kenta Matsui, Yuichi Nakamura, Kazuaki Kondo, Takahiro Koizumi and Nobuaki Arai

Improving Argos Doppler location using multiple-model smoothing

Argos is a dedicated system for geo-localization and data collection of platform terminal transmitters (PTTs). The system exploits a constellation of polar-orbiting satellites recording the messages transmitte...

Authors: Rémy Lopez, Jean-Pierre Malardé, Patrick Danès and Philippe Gaspar

ITAG: an eco-sensor for fine-scale behavioral measurements of soft-bodied marine invertebrates

Soft-bodied marine invertebrates comprise a keystone component of ocean ecosystems; however, we know little of their behaviors and physiological responses within their natural habitat. Quantifying ocean condit...

Authors: T. Aran Mooney, Kakani Katija, K. Alex Shorter, Thomas Hurst, Jorge Fontes and Pedro Afonso

Using a multi-criteria approach to assess post-release recovery periods in behavioural studies: study of a fish telemetry project in the Seine Estuary

Biotelemetry has many advantages for monitoring fish behaviour. However, the accuracy of results can be impacted by changes in fish behaviour following tagging and other forms of human intervention. Different ...

Authors: C Le Pichon, J Coustillas and E Rochard

Diel patterns in three-dimensional use of space by sea snakes

The study of animal movement and use of space have traditionally focused on horizontal and vertical movements separately. However, this may limit the interpretation of results of such behaviours in a three-dim...

Authors: Vinay Udyawer, Colin A Simpfendorfer and Michelle R Heupel

Erratum to: Does estimator choice influence our ability to detect changes in home-range size?

Authors: Johannes Signer, Niko Balkenhol, Mark Ditmer and John Fieberg

Processing and visualising association data from animal-borne proximity loggers

With increasing interest in animal social networks, field biologists have started exploring the use of advanced tracking technologies for mapping social encounters in free-ranging subjects. Proximity logging, ...

Authors: E. M. Bettaney, R. James, J. J. H. St Clair and C. Rutz

Linking northern fur seal behavior with prey distributions: the impact of temporal mismatch between predator studies and prey surveys

An essential part of foraging ecology research is identifying how the distribution and abundance of prey influence predator behavior. However, in marine systems, temporal or spatial mismatches often exist betw...

Authors: Carey E Kuhn, Jeremy T Sterling and Tonya K Zeppelin

Hydrodynamic handicaps and organizational complexity in the foraging behavior of two free-ranging penguin species

Animal movement exhibits self-similarity across a range of both spatial and temporal scales reminiscent of statistical fractals. Stressors are known to induce changes in these statistical patterns of behavior,...

Authors: Xavier Meyer, Andrew J J MacIntosh, Akiko Kato, André Chiaradia and Yan Ropert-Coudert

Novel foraging strategies observed in a growing leopard seal (Hydrurga leptonyx) population at Livingston Island, Antarctic Peninsula

Leopard seals are apex predators that can alter the community structure of Antarctic coastal ecosystems. Previous behavioral studies were limited to land-based, daytime observations of foraging leopard seals....

Authors: Douglas J Krause, Michael E Goebel, Gregory J Marshall and Kyler Abernathy

Sound production and associated behavior of tagged fin whales (Balaenoptera physalus) in the Southern California Bight

For marine animals, acoustic communication is critical for many life functions, yet individual calling behavior is poorly understood for most large whale species. These topics are important for understanding w...

Authors: Alison K Stimpert, Stacy L DeRuiter, Erin A Falcone, John Joseph, Annie B Douglas, David J Moretti, Ari S Friedlaender, John Calambokidis, Glenn Gailey, Peter L Tyack and Jeremy A Goldbogen

Development of an animal-borne “sonar tag” for quantifying prey availability: test deployments on northern elephant seals

Developments in electronic tagging technologies have provided unprecedented insight into the movements and behavior of marine predators. Concurrent information on the prey of these tracked animals, however, is...

Authors: Gareth L. Lawson, Luis A. Hückstädt, Andone C. Lavery, Frédéric M. Jaffré, Peter H. Wiebe, Jonathan R. Fincke, Daniel E. Crocker and Daniel P. Costa

The generalized data management and collection protocol for Conductivity-Temperature-Depth Satellite Relay Data Loggers

The software routines for data sampling and processing that are implemented on-board telemetry devices (tags) called Conductivity-Temperature-Depth Satellite Relay Data Loggers (CTD-SRDLs) enable the simultane...

Authors: Theoni Photopoulou, Michael A. Fedak, Jason Matthiopoulos, Bernie McConnell and Phil Lovell

Observational data on the effects of infection by the copepod Salmincola californiensis on the short- and long-term viability of juvenile Chinook salmon (Oncorhynchus tshawytscha) implanted with telemetry tags

Fish movements are often studied using radio or acoustic tags assuming the handling and tagging procedures have little effect on the behavior of the animal. Indeed, many studies provide guidelines for acceptab...

Authors: John W Beeman, Amy C Hansen and Jamie M Sprando

Vertical and horizontal movements of a silvertip shark (Carcharhinus albimarginatus) in the Fijian archipelago

Despite widespread distribution and occurrence in the global shark fin trade, information regarding fundamental biology of the silvertip shark, especially vertical and horizontal movement data, is sparse. Its ...

Authors: Mark E Bond, Emily Tolentino, Sangeeta Mangubhai and Lucy A Howey

Performance of an acoustic telemetry system in a large fishway

The ability to track fish in the vicinity of dams and detect the presence of fish in fishways (also referred to as fish ladders) is critical to understanding the migration biology of upstream migrating fish an...

Authors: Ki Won Jung, Z. Daniel Deng, Jayson J. Martinez, David R. Geist, Geoffrey A. McMichael, John R. Stephenson and Peter J. Graf

Persistence in diving American mink

American mink forage on land and in water, with aquatic prey often constituting a large proportion of their diet. Their long, thin body shape and relatively poor insulation make them vulnerable to heat loss, p...

Authors: Joanna M Bagniewska, Lauren A Harrington, Tom Hart, Andrew L Harrington, Laura Fasola and David W Macdonald

Does estimator choice influence our ability to detect changes in home-range size?

Estimates of home-range size are frequently used to compare areal requirements of animals over time or space. Comparative studies of home-range estimators have highlighted extreme differences among general cla...

Authors: Johannes Signer, Niko Balkenhol, Mark Ditmer and John Fieberg

Classification of behaviour in housed dairy cows using an accelerometer-based activity monitoring system

Advances in bio-telemetry technology have made it possible to automatically monitor and classify behavioural activities in many animals, including domesticated species such as dairy cows. Automated behavioural...

Authors: Jorge A. Vázquez Diosdado, Zoe E. Barker, Holly R. Hodges, Jonathan R. Amory, Darren P. Croft, Nick J. Bell and Edward A. Codling

Tracking sharks without teeth: a non-invasive rigid tag attachment for large predatory sharks

Many marine species are difficult to study because components of their lifecycles occur solely or partially outside of the observable realm of researchers. Advances in biologging tags have begun to give us gli...

Authors: Taylor K. Chapple, Adrian C. Gleiss, Oliver J. D. Jewell, Martin Wikelski and Barbara A. Block

Methods to evaluate gut evacuation rates and predation using acoustic telemetry in the Tracy Fish Collection Facility primary channel

In the Sacramento-San Joaquin Delta, several salmonid species are listed as threatened or endangered. One potential cause of lower juvenile salmonid survival may be predation by striped bass (Morone saxatilis) an...

Authors: Andrew A Schultz, Kevin K Kumagai and Brent B Bridges

Response to Willette et al. (2015)

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Authors: David W Welch, Aswea D Porter and Paul Winchell

Nearshore movement ecology of a medium-bodied shark, the creek whaler Carcharhinus fitzroyensis

The movement and habitat use patterns of medium-bodied nearshore sharks are poorly understood. However, these species face some of the highest levels of exposure to anthropogenic development. The habitat and s...

Authors: Samantha EM Munroe, Colin A Simpfendorfer, James Moloney and Michelle R Heupel

Home range, habitat use, and movement patterns of non-native Burmese pythons in Everglades National Park, Florida, USA

Studies on the spatial ecology of invasive species provide critical information for conservation managers such as habitat preferences and identification of native species at risk of predation. To understand th...

Authors: Kristen M Hart, Michael S Cherkiss, Brian J Smith, Frank J Mazzotti, Ikuko Fujisaki, Ray W Snow and Michael E Dorcas

Movements and space use of giant trevally in coral reef habitats and the importance of environmental drivers

Effective conservation of large predators requires a broad understanding of their ecology. Caranx ignobilis is a large marine predator well represented in coral reef environments, yet they are poorly studied. Pas...

Authors: Elodie JI Lédée, Michelle R Heupel, Andrew J Tobin and Colin A Simpfendorfer

Behaviour-time budget and functional habitat use of a free-ranging European badger(Meles meles)

The European badger (Meles meles) is involved in the maintenance of bovine tuberculosis infection and onward spread to cattle. However, little is known about how transmission occurs. One possible route could be t...

Authors: David W McClune, Nikki J Marks, Richard J Delahay, W Ian Montgomery and David M Scantlebury

Close proximity detection interference with acoustic telemetry: the importance of considering tag power output in low ambient noise environments

When employing acoustic telemetry to study aquatic species, understanding the functional dynamics of the monitoring system is essential for effective study design, data interpretation, and analysis. Typically,...

Authors: Steven Thomas Kessel, Nigel Edward Hussey, Dale Mitchell Webber, Samuel Harvey Gruber, Joy Michelle Young, Malcolm John Smale and Aaron Thomas Fisk