Tracking Small Animals in Complex Landscapes: A Comparison of Localisation Workflows for Automated Radio Telemetry Systems
ABSTRACT Automated radio telemetry systems (ARTS) have the potential to revolutionise our understanding of animal movement by providing a near‐continuous record of individual locations in the wild. However, localisation errors in ARTS data can be very high, especially in natural landscapes with comp...
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| Format: | Article |
| Language: | English |
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Wiley
2024-10-01
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| Series: | Ecology and Evolution |
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| Online Access: | https://doi.org/10.1002/ece3.70405 |
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| author | Cristina Rueda‐Uribe Alyssa J. Sargent María Ángela Echeverry‐Galvis Pedro A. Camargo‐Martínez Isabella Capellini Lesley T. Lancaster Alejandro Rico‐Guevara Justin M. J. Travis |
| author_facet | Cristina Rueda‐Uribe Alyssa J. Sargent María Ángela Echeverry‐Galvis Pedro A. Camargo‐Martínez Isabella Capellini Lesley T. Lancaster Alejandro Rico‐Guevara Justin M. J. Travis |
| author_sort | Cristina Rueda‐Uribe |
| collection | DOAJ |
| description | ABSTRACT Automated radio telemetry systems (ARTS) have the potential to revolutionise our understanding of animal movement by providing a near‐continuous record of individual locations in the wild. However, localisation errors in ARTS data can be very high, especially in natural landscapes with complex vegetation structure and topography. This curtails the research questions that may be addressed with this technology. We set up an ARTS grid in a valley with heterogeneous vegetation cover in the Colombian high Andes and applied an analytical pipeline to test the effectiveness of localisation methods. We performed calibration trials to simulate animal movement in high‐ or low‐flight, or walking on the ground, and compared workflows with varying decisions related to signal cleaning, selection, smoothing, and interpretation, along with four multilateration approaches. We also quantified the influence of spatial features on the system's accuracy. Results showed large variation in localisation error, ranging between 0.4–43.4 m and 474–1929 m, depending on the localisation method used. We found that the selection of higher radio signal strengths and data smoothing based on the temporal autocorrelation are useful tools to improve accuracy. Moreover, terrain ruggedness, height of movement, vegetation type, and the location of animals inside or outside the grid area influence localisation error. In the case of our study system, thousands of location points were successfully estimated for two high‐altitude hummingbird species that previously lacked movement data. Our case study on hummingbirds suggests ARTS grids can be used to estimate small animals' home ranges, associations with vegetation types, and seasonality in occurrence. We present a comparative localisation pipeline, highlighting the variety of possible decisions while processing radio signal data. Overall, this study provides guidance to improve the resolution of location estimates, broadening the application of this tracking technology in the study of the spatial ecology of wild populations. |
| format | Article |
| id | doaj-art-5de983e4202c4e03bc1886a9bbf91617 |
| institution | Kabale University |
| issn | 2045-7758 |
| language | English |
| publishDate | 2024-10-01 |
| publisher | Wiley |
| record_format | Article |
| series | Ecology and Evolution |
| spelling | doaj-art-5de983e4202c4e03bc1886a9bbf916172024-12-20T09:05:58ZengWileyEcology and Evolution2045-77582024-10-011410n/an/a10.1002/ece3.70405Tracking Small Animals in Complex Landscapes: A Comparison of Localisation Workflows for Automated Radio Telemetry SystemsCristina Rueda‐Uribe0Alyssa J. Sargent1María Ángela Echeverry‐Galvis2Pedro A. Camargo‐Martínez3Isabella Capellini4Lesley T. Lancaster5Alejandro Rico‐Guevara6Justin M. J. Travis7School of Biological Sciences University of Aberdeen Aberdeen UKDepartment of Biology University of Washington Seattle Washington USADepartamento de Ecología y Territorio Pontificia Universidad Javeriana Bogotá ColombiaParque Nacional Natural Chingaza La Calera ColombiaSchool of Biological Sciences Queen's University Belfast Belfast UKSchool of Biological Sciences University of Aberdeen Aberdeen UKDepartment of Biology University of Washington Seattle Washington USASchool of Biological Sciences University of Aberdeen Aberdeen UKABSTRACT Automated radio telemetry systems (ARTS) have the potential to revolutionise our understanding of animal movement by providing a near‐continuous record of individual locations in the wild. However, localisation errors in ARTS data can be very high, especially in natural landscapes with complex vegetation structure and topography. This curtails the research questions that may be addressed with this technology. We set up an ARTS grid in a valley with heterogeneous vegetation cover in the Colombian high Andes and applied an analytical pipeline to test the effectiveness of localisation methods. We performed calibration trials to simulate animal movement in high‐ or low‐flight, or walking on the ground, and compared workflows with varying decisions related to signal cleaning, selection, smoothing, and interpretation, along with four multilateration approaches. We also quantified the influence of spatial features on the system's accuracy. Results showed large variation in localisation error, ranging between 0.4–43.4 m and 474–1929 m, depending on the localisation method used. We found that the selection of higher radio signal strengths and data smoothing based on the temporal autocorrelation are useful tools to improve accuracy. Moreover, terrain ruggedness, height of movement, vegetation type, and the location of animals inside or outside the grid area influence localisation error. In the case of our study system, thousands of location points were successfully estimated for two high‐altitude hummingbird species that previously lacked movement data. Our case study on hummingbirds suggests ARTS grids can be used to estimate small animals' home ranges, associations with vegetation types, and seasonality in occurrence. We present a comparative localisation pipeline, highlighting the variety of possible decisions while processing radio signal data. Overall, this study provides guidance to improve the resolution of location estimates, broadening the application of this tracking technology in the study of the spatial ecology of wild populations.https://doi.org/10.1002/ece3.70405AndesColombiahummingbirdsmovement ecologymultilaterationparamo |
| spellingShingle | Cristina Rueda‐Uribe Alyssa J. Sargent María Ángela Echeverry‐Galvis Pedro A. Camargo‐Martínez Isabella Capellini Lesley T. Lancaster Alejandro Rico‐Guevara Justin M. J. Travis Tracking Small Animals in Complex Landscapes: A Comparison of Localisation Workflows for Automated Radio Telemetry Systems Ecology and Evolution Andes Colombia hummingbirds movement ecology multilateration paramo |
| title | Tracking Small Animals in Complex Landscapes: A Comparison of Localisation Workflows for Automated Radio Telemetry Systems |
| title_full | Tracking Small Animals in Complex Landscapes: A Comparison of Localisation Workflows for Automated Radio Telemetry Systems |
| title_fullStr | Tracking Small Animals in Complex Landscapes: A Comparison of Localisation Workflows for Automated Radio Telemetry Systems |
| title_full_unstemmed | Tracking Small Animals in Complex Landscapes: A Comparison of Localisation Workflows for Automated Radio Telemetry Systems |
| title_short | Tracking Small Animals in Complex Landscapes: A Comparison of Localisation Workflows for Automated Radio Telemetry Systems |
| title_sort | tracking small animals in complex landscapes a comparison of localisation workflows for automated radio telemetry systems |
| topic | Andes Colombia hummingbirds movement ecology multilateration paramo |
| url | https://doi.org/10.1002/ece3.70405 |
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