Terrestrial animal tracking as an eye on life and planet

Researchers have long attempted to follow animals as they move through their environment. Until relatively recently, however, such efforts were limited to short distances and times in species large enough to carry large batteries and transmitters. New technologies have opened up new frontiers in ani...

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Bibliographic Details
Published in:Science (American Association for the Advancement of Science) 2015-06, Vol.348 (6240), p.1222-1222
Main Authors: Kays, Roland, Crofoot, Margaret C., Jetz, Walter, Wikelski, Martin
Format: Article
Language:English
Subjects:
Animals
Aquatic ecosystems
Biotelemetry
Ecology
Environment
Eyes
Information Management
Mathematical models
Movement
Opportunities
Physiology
Pollen
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Social Networks
Tracking
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Summary:Researchers have long attempted to follow animals as they move through their environment. Until relatively recently, however, such efforts were limited to short distances and times in species large enough to carry large batteries and transmitters. New technologies have opened up new frontiers in animal tracking remote data collection. Hussey et al. review the unique directions such efforts have taken for marine systems, while Kays et al. review recent advances for terrestrial species. We have entered a new era of animal ecology, where animals act as both subjects and samplers of their environments. Science , this issue 10.1126/science.1255642 , 10.1126/science.aaa2478 Moving animals connect our world, spreading pollen, seeds, nutrients, and parasites as they go about the their daily lives. Recent integration of high-resolution Global Positioning System and other sensors into miniaturized tracking tags has dramatically improved our ability to describe animal movement. This has created opportunities and challenges that parallel big data transformations in other fields and has rapidly advanced animal ecology and physiology. New analytical approaches, combined with remotely sensed or modeled environmental information, have opened up a host of new questions on the causes of movement and its consequences for individuals, populations, and ecosystems. Simultaneous tracking of multiple animals is leading to new insights on species interactions and, scaled up, may enable distributed monitoring of both animals and our changing environment.
ISSN:0036-8075
1095-9203
DOI:10.1126/science.aaa2478