Animal Biotelemetry

In large, interconnected systems such as the Laurentian Great Lakes, little is known about how smallmouth bass (Micropterus dolomieu) activity varies across contrasting habitat types. As an important and widespread predator in southern Boreal waterbodies, understanding how smallmouth bass allocate energy toward movement is critical for linking behaviour to ecosystem processes, particularly when h…

Abstract Background Acoustic telemetry is a widely used tool for studying the behaviour of aquatic species. Underpinning acoustic telemetry research is an understanding of parameters influencing the ability of receivers to detect tags, facilitating accurate study design and interpretation of the data. Tide is a regular predictable phenomenon that may affect detection probabilities, for example vi…

Acoustic telemetry is a common methodology in the study of animal movement, behaviour, and physiology in aquatic environments. In the marine environment, receiver performance is limited by environmental conditions and habitat (which modulate receiver detection range) and the number of tagged animals in the system (with signal collisions reducing the receiver’s ability to decode unique transmitter…

Female fur seals and sea lions are central place foragers during the lactation period. Understanding foraging behavior is key to informing conservation and management of otariids, particularly for species whose populations are still recovering from near extinction like the Guadalupe fur seal (Arctocephalus townsendi; GFS). This is the first study to examine the movements of lactating female GFS b…

With wildlife-tracking devices miniaturizing rapidly to enable ever-more research on ever-smaller taxa, there is a newfound urgency for affordable, field-accessible biologging ethics studies. We designed a 3-hour time-budget experiment to investigate how radio-transmitter backpacks affect hummingbirds’ behavior in Colombia. Using a large flight arena, we individually filmed 25 Black-throated Mang…

In addition to recording whale behaviour, animal-attached tags enable real-time tracking of a focal experimental subject—required for positioning a sound source to achieve a desired exposure design. Tracking has typically been accomplished with visual observers spotting the tagged whale, aided by radio signals from the tag, and recording its range and bearing. Here we describe an automatic system…

. Circadian rhythms regulate physiological and behavioral processes in livestock, influencing welfare, productivity, and adaptation to environmental changes. In sheep, locomotor activity (LA) is a reliable marker of circadian organization and can be continuously monitored using accelerometers. Shearing represents an abrupt management event that alters body insulation and may disturb thermal balan…

Wildlife tracking technologies are increasingly used to study animal behaviour, inform conservation management, and answer fundamental questions in ecology. However, a drawback to wildlife telemetry is that equipment is expensive and can be difficult to retrieve when lost in the field, leading to loss of data and inefficient use of project resources. As a potential solution, we began training dog…

Abstract Passive integrated transponder (PIT) technology is widely applied for monitoring fish migration and movement. In recent years, smaller tags, more powerful readers and new antennas have become available, but there is a lack of information concerning the reliability of detection under various field conditions. Herein, we tested the performance of a small commonly applied tag (12 mm tags, B…

Satellite telemetry is a key method to study cetacean movements, but it is limited by sparse location data and positional errors. Positions are recorded only when animals surface and satellite coverage is available, creating large temporal gaps and reducing the resolution of behavioral insights, particularly for species that spend little time at the surface. Although state-space models can predic…

Habitats are heterogeneously distributed across landscapes, and animals move through them to access different resources, resulting in energetic consequences. In the Laurentian Great Lakes, nearshore areas provide important habitat for the majority of fish species; however, differences in the distribution and composition of physical (e.g., vegetation, depth, fetch, and substrate type/size and temp…

Abstract Increasing application of acoustic telemetry for determining survival, migration and habitat use of fishes highlights the need to improve interpretation of tracks that end abruptly: when is fishing mortality, predation, or some other cause to be inferred? Significant technological advances have led to the development of tags that “sense” predation and can be used to infer information abo…

The online version contains supplementary material available at 10.1186/s40317-025-00438-w.

Abstract Background Acoustic telemetry is a fundamental tool for studying aquatic organisms and offers powerful insights into their behavior across habitats. Researchers can choose from numerous deployment methods to suit specific species and habitats. Yet, shallow waters are particularly challenging in part because the tools available are reduced; most mobile tracking platforms cannot be used du…

Passive acoustic telemetry is a common tool used to study fish movements. Range tests, or determining the distance at which transmitters can be recognized by a receiver, are needed to accurately determine fish position in the environment. However, range tests are not often conducted or are only completed during a single season prior to an acoustic telemetry study commencing though seasonality may…

Biologging devices have been used to provide critical insights into the ecology of many animal taxa and are particularly valuable when studying species that are difficult to observe directly, like sea turtles. However, post-release changes in movement and behavior, likely the result of capture, handling, and tag attachment, can introduce biases that need to be accounted for when analyzing the dat…