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.

The potential to adapt to novel environmental conditions is a key area of interest for evolutionary biology. However, the role of multiple selection pressures on adaptive responses has rarely been investigated in natural populations. In Sweden, the natterjack toad Bufo calamita inhabits two separate distribution areas, one in southernmost Sweden and one on the west coast. We characterized the larval habitat in terms of pond size and salinity in the two areas, and found that the western populations are more affected by both desiccation risk and pond salinity than the southern populations. In a common garden experiment manipulating salinity and temperature, we found that toads from the west coast populations were locally adapted to shorter pond duration as indicated by their higher development and growth rates. However, despite being subjected to higher salinity stress in nature, west coast toads had a poorer performance in saline treatments. We found that survival in the saline treatments in the west coast populations was positively affected by larger body mass and longer larval period. Furthermore, we found negative genetic correlations between body mass and growth rate and their plastic responses to salinity. These results implicate that the occurrence of multiple environmental stressors needs to be accounted for when assessing the adaptive potential of organisms and suggest that genetic correlations may play a role in constraining adaptation of natural populations.

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Article impact statement: Combining native and non‐native species to evaluate biodiversity is overly simplistic and may undermine the conservation of ecosystems.

The Maya Mountains are a heavily forested mountain range in Belize and Guatemala supporting high levels of biodiversity. Due to environmental degradation around the range, it is in danger of becoming isolated from the largest contiguous forest in Central America. Forest connectivity in the area is vital for white-lipped peccaries. These social ungulates roam in herds of up to 300 individuals and need large forested areas to sustain populations. The species has not previously been studied in Belize and its distribution, population size, herd dynamics and movement patterns are unknown for the country. We aimed to estimate home range size and investigate movement patterns of the species in southern Belize. We present a preliminary 4-month data set from a herd of ca. 60 animals tracked by an individual fitted with a GPS satellite collar. We evaluated collar performance, habitat preference and movement characteristics, and estimated home range size using a semi-variogram approach, suited for sparse and irregular data. Collar performance was poor, with 38 % of the data not reaching the satellite, and a GPS fix success rate of 11.6 % for the data that did reach the satellite. The semivariogram home range size was 55.2 km 2 . We observed a maximum daily movement distance of 3.8 km, and a preferential use of forest habitat over shrubland, savannah and cropland. We calculated a density of 1.09 ind/km 2 and make an informed guess of close to 100 herds in the broad-leaf forests of the Maya Mountains. Our study highlights some of the challenges faced when collaring white-lipped peccaries, as well as the performance of GPS-collars in tropical forests. It also provides a first glimpse of the home range and movement behaviour of white-lipped peccaries in Belize.Las Montañas Maya son una cadena montañosa densamente forestada situada entre Belice y Guatemala que presenta altos niveles de biodiversidad. La degradación medioambiental amenaza con dejarla aislada del gran bosque Centro Americano contiguo. El pecarí de labios blancos es un ungulado social que viaja en manadas de hasta 300 individuos y que necesita grandes extensiones forestales para mantener sus poblaciones, por lo que la conectividad entre bosques es esencial para la especie. No existen estudios sobre esta especie en Belice, de manera que su distribución, tamaño de población y patrones de movimiento son desconocidos para este país. El objetivo del estudio fue de estimar el ámbito hogareño y de investigar patrones de movimiento de esta especie en el sur de Belice. Este estudio presenta datos preliminares de una manda de aproximadamente 60 individuos obtenidos a partir de un individuo que fue marcado con un collar equipado con GPS. Se investigó el rendimiento del collar, uso preferencial de hábitat y patrones de movimiento, y se estimó el ámbito hogareños usando un análisis de semivariograma. El rendimiento del collar fue pobre puesto que un 38 % de los datos no alcanzaron el satélite, mientras que la tasa de éxito de adquisición de localizaciones de las que si alcanza...

Human-caused fragmentation and loss of natural habitat are among the world's major challenges today. In combination with climate change, these processes contribute to soaring local and global extinction of many plant and animal species. Specifically, habitat loss and fragmentation disrupt contiguous natural areas, leading to low population sizes and geographic, demographic, and genetic isolation of populations. To avoid I further thank the European Commission's Erasmus Mundus Joint Doctorate Programme "Forests and Nature for Society"(FONASO) for the awarded scholarship and Tanya Santos for pointing me towards the opportunity. Elma Kay kindly agreed to sign up the Environmental Research Institute of the University of Belize as an official FONASO partner institution. Besides all the professional support, I would not have survived the work without frequent decompression sessions and emotional support... Entertaining chats and cosy evenings, uplifting music sessions in Belizean reggae bars or open mics in Bangor or German sidewalk gigs, hiking the forests of Bladen Nature Reserve or the hills of Snowdonia National Park, 'eisenhartes Training' at Tuspo Weende or the focused katas at the Punta Gorda karate club, delicious cooking and much needed drinks with my fabulous flatmates, etc. The biological and cultural diversity in Belize, Germany, Wales and Belgium have been immensely inspiring and motivating.