Abstract
Background: Understanding what animals do in time and space is important for a range of ecological questions, however accurate estimates of how animals use space is challenging. Within the use of animal-attached tags, radio telemetry (including the Global Positioning System, ‘GPS’) is typically used to verify an animal’s location periodically. Straight lines are typically drawn between these ‘Verified Positions’ (‘VPs’) so the interpolation of space-use is limited by the temporal and spatial resolution of the system’s measurement. As such, parameters such as route-taken and distance travelled can be poorly represented when using VP systems alone. Dead-reckoning has been suggested as a technique to improve the accuracy and resolution of reconstructed movement paths, whilst maximising battery life of VP systems. This typically involves deriving travel vectors from motion sensor systems and periodically correcting path dimensions for drift with simultaneously deployed VP systems. How often paths should be corrected for drift, however, has remained unclear. Methods and results: Here, we review the utility of dead-reckoning across four contrasting model species using different forms of locomotion (the African lion Panthera leo, the red-tailed tropicbird Phaethon rubricauda, the Magellanic penguin Spheniscus magellanicus, and the imperial cormorant Leucocarbo atriceps). Simulations were performed to examine the extent of dead-reckoning error, relative to VPs, as a function of Verified Position correction (VP correction) rate and the effect of this on estimates of distance moved. Dead-reckoning error was greatest for animals travelling within air and water. We demonstrate how sources of measurement error can arise within VP-corrected dead-reckoned tracks and propose advancements to this procedure to maximise dead-reckoning accuracy. Conclusions: We review the utility of VP-corrected dead-reckoning according to movement type and consider a range of ecological questions that would benefit from dead-reckoning, primarily concerning animal–barrier interactions and foraging strategies.
| Original language | English |
|---|---|
| Article number | 43 |
| Pages (from-to) | 43 |
| Number of pages | 1 |
| Journal | Animal Biotelemetry |
| Volume | 9 |
| Issue number | 1 |
| DOIs | |
| Publication status | Published - 16 Oct 2021 |
Bibliographical note
Funding Information:We thank South African National and the Department of Wildlife and National Parks, Botswana for allowing and facilitating our research in the Kgalagadi Transfrontier Park. We are thankful to support and kind assistance of the staff and Rangers at the Kgalagadi National Park who were involved with this work, especially Steven Smith, Christa von Elling, Wayne Oppel and Corera Links. We would also like to express our gratitude to Andrea Benvenuti, Fabian Gabelli, Monserrat Del Caño, La Chola, Miguel, Estancia El Pedral and Estancia San Lorenzo for assistance in various aspects of the research. We also thank the Instituto de Biología de Organismos Marinos (IBIOMAR-CONICET) for logistical support. Lastly, we thank the National Parks and Conservation Service, Government of Mauritius, for their permission to conduct research on the movement behaviour of red-tailed tropicbirds. HME is funded by an Irish Research Council Government of Ireland postgraduate scholarship.
Funding Information:
This research contributes to the CAASE project funded by King Abdullah University of Science and Technology (KAUST) under the KAUST Sensor Initiative. Fieldwork in the Kgalagadi Transfrontier Park was supported in part by a Department for Economy Global Challenges Research Fund grant to MS. Fieldwork within the Chubut Province was supported in part by the National Agency for Scientific and Technological Promotion of Argentina (PICT 2017-1996 and PICT 2018-1480), and the Grants-in-Aid for Scientific Research from the Japan Society for the Promotion of Science (16K18617, 16H06541). Fieldwork at Round Island, Mauritius, was supported by the European Research Council under the European Union’s Horizon 2020 research and innovation programme grant (715874), awarded to ELCS.
Funding Information:
We thank South African National and the Department of Wildlife and National Parks, Botswana for allowing and facilitating our research in the Kgalagadi Transfrontier Park. We are thankful to support and kind assistance of the staff and Rangers at the Kgalagadi National Park who were involved with this work, especially Steven Smith, Christa von Elling, Wayne Oppel and Corera Links. We would also like to express our gratitude to Andrea Benvenuti, Fabian Gabelli, Monserrat Del Ca?o, La Chola, Miguel, Estancia El Pedral and Estancia San Lorenzo for assistance in various aspects of the research. We also thank the Instituto de Biolog?a de Organismos Marinos (IBIOMAR-CONICET) for logistical support. Lastly, we thank the National Parks and Conservation Service, Government of Mauritius, for their permission to conduct research on the movement behaviour of red-tailed tropicbirds. HME is funded by an Irish Research Council Government of Ireland postgraduate scholarship.
Publisher Copyright:
© 2021, The Author(s).
Keywords
- Animal movement
- Animal tracking
- Biologging
- Dead-reckoning
- Drift
- Global Positioning System (GPS)
- GPS correction
- Tilt-compensated compass
ASJC Scopus subject areas
- Signal Processing
- Animal Science and Zoology
- Instrumentation
- Computer Networks and Communications