Right on track? Performance of satellite telemetry in terrestrial wildlife research

Hofman, M.P.G., Hayward, M.W., Heim, M., Marchand, P., Rolandsen, C.M., Mattisson, J., Urbano, F., Heurich, M., Mysterud, A., Melzheimer, J., Morellet, N., Voigt, U., Allen, B.L., Gehr, B., Rouco, C., Ullmann, W., Holand, Ø., Jørgensen, N.H., Steinheim, G., Cagnacci, F., Kroeschel, M., Kaczensky, P., Buuveibaatar, B., Payne, J.C., Palmegiani, I., Jerina, K., Kjellander, P., Johansson, Ö., LaPoint, S., Bayrakcismith, R., Linnell, J.D.C., Zaccaroni, M., Jorge, M.L.S., Oshima, J.E.F., Songhurst, A., Fischer, C., Mc Bride, R.T., Thompson, J.J., Streif, S., Sandfort, R., Bonenfant, C., Drouilly, M., Klapproth, M., Zinner, D., Yarnell, R. ORCID: 0000-0001-6584-7374, Stronza, A., Wilmott, L., Meisingset, E., Thaker, M., Vanak, A.T., Nicoloso, S., Graeber, R., Said, S., Boudreau, M.R., Devlin, A., Hoogesteijn, R., May-Junior, J.A., Nifong, J.C., Odden, J., Quigley, H.B., Tortato, F., Parker, D.M., Caso, A., Perrine, J., Tellaeche, C., Zieba, F., Zwijacz-Kozica, T., Appel, C.L., Axsom, I., Bean, W.T., Cristescu, B., Périquet, S., Teichman, K.J., Karpanty, S., Licoppe, A., Menges, V., Black, K., Scheppers, T.L., Schai-Braun, S.C., Azevedo, F.C., Lemos, F.G., Payne, A., Swanepoel, L.H., Weckworth, B.V., Berger, A., Bertassoni, A., McCulloch, G., Šustr, P., Athreya, V., Bockmuhl, D., Casaer, J., Ekori, A., Melovski, D., Richard-Hansen, C., van de Vyver, D., Reyna-Hurtado, R., Robardet, E., Selva, N., Sergiel, A., Farhadinia, M.S., Sunde, P., Portas, R., Ambarli, H., Berzins, R., Kappeler, P.M., Mann, G.K., Pyritz, L., Bissett, C., Grant, T., Steinmetz, R., Swedell, L., Welch, R.J., Armenteras, D., Bidder, O.R., González, T.M., Rosenblatt, A., Kachel, S. and Balkenhol, N., 2019. Right on track? Performance of satellite telemetry in terrestrial wildlife research. PLOS ONE, 14 (5), e0216223. ISSN 1932-6203

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Abstract

Satellite telemetry is an increasingly utilized technology in wildlife research, and current devices can track individual animal movements at unprecedented spatial and temporal resolutions. However, as we enter the golden age of satellite telemetry, we need an in-depth understanding of the main technological, species-specific and environmental factors that determine the success and failure of satellite tracking devices across species and habitats. Here, we assess the relative influence of such factors on the ability of satellite telemetry units to provide the expected amount and quality of data by analyzing data from over 3,000 devices deployed on 62 terrestrial species in 167 projects worldwide. We evaluate the success rate in obtaining GPS fixes as well as in transferring these fixes to the user and we evaluate failure rates. Average fix success and data transfer rates were high and were generally better predicted by species and unit characteristics, while environmental characteristics influenced the variability of performance. However, 48% of the unit deployments ended prematurely, half of them due to technical failure. Nonetheless, this study shows that the performance of satellite telemetry applications has shown improvements over time, and based on our findings, we provide further recommendations for both users and manufacturers.

Item Type:	Journal article
Publication Title:	PLOS ONE
Creators:	Hofman, M.P.G., Hayward, M.W., Heim, M., Marchand, P., Rolandsen, C.M., Mattisson, J., Urbano, F., Heurich, M., Mysterud, A., Melzheimer, J., Morellet, N., Voigt, U., Allen, B.L., Gehr, B., Rouco, C., Ullmann, W., Holand, Ø., Jørgensen, N.H., Steinheim, G., Cagnacci, F., Kroeschel, M., Kaczensky, P., Buuveibaatar, B., Payne, J.C., Palmegiani, I., Jerina, K., Kjellander, P., Johansson, Ö., LaPoint, S., Bayrakcismith, R., Linnell, J.D.C., Zaccaroni, M., Jorge, M.L.S., Oshima, J.E.F., Songhurst, A., Fischer, C., Mc Bride, R.T., Thompson, J.J., Streif, S., Sandfort, R., Bonenfant, C., Drouilly, M., Klapproth, M., Zinner, D., Yarnell, R., Stronza, A., Wilmott, L., Meisingset, E., Thaker, M., Vanak, A.T., Nicoloso, S., Graeber, R., Said, S., Boudreau, M.R., Devlin, A., Hoogesteijn, R., May-Junior, J.A., Nifong, J.C., Odden, J., Quigley, H.B., Tortato, F., Parker, D.M., Caso, A., Perrine, J., Tellaeche, C., Zieba, F., Zwijacz-Kozica, T., Appel, C.L., Axsom, I., Bean, W.T., Cristescu, B., Périquet, S., Teichman, K.J., Karpanty, S., Licoppe, A., Menges, V., Black, K., Scheppers, T.L., Schai-Braun, S.C., Azevedo, F.C., Lemos, F.G., Payne, A., Swanepoel, L.H., Weckworth, B.V., Berger, A., Bertassoni, A., McCulloch, G., Šustr, P., Athreya, V., Bockmuhl, D., Casaer, J., Ekori, A., Melovski, D., Richard-Hansen, C., van de Vyver, D., Reyna-Hurtado, R., Robardet, E., Selva, N., Sergiel, A., Farhadinia, M.S., Sunde, P., Portas, R., Ambarli, H., Berzins, R., Kappeler, P.M., Mann, G.K., Pyritz, L., Bissett, C., Grant, T., Steinmetz, R., Swedell, L., Welch, R.J., Armenteras, D., Bidder, O.R., González, T.M., Rosenblatt, A., Kachel, S. and Balkenhol, N.
Publisher:	Public Library of Science
Date:	9 May 2019
Volume:	14
Number:	5
ISSN:	1932-6203
Identifiers:	Number Type 10.1371/journal.pone.0216223 DOI
Divisions:	Schools > School of Animal, Rural and Environmental Sciences
Record created by:	Jonathan Gallacher
Date Added:	10 May 2019 14:53
Last Modified:	17 May 2019 08:07
URI:	https://irep.ntu.ac.uk/id/eprint/36453

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