A standardisation framework for bio‐logging data to advance ecological research and conservation

Sequeira, Ana M. M.; O'Toole, Malcolm; Keates, Theresa R.; McDonnell, Laura H.; Braun, Camrin D.; Hoenner, Xavier; Jaine, Fabrice R. A.; Jonsen, Ian D.; Newman, Peggy; Pye, Jonathan; Bograd, Steven J.; Hays, Graeme C.; Hazen, Elliott L.; Holland, Melinda; Tsontos, Vardis; Blight, Clint; Cagnacci, Francesca; Davidson, Sarah C.; Dettki, Holger; Duarte, Carlos M.; Dunn, Daniel C.; Eguı́luz, Vı́ctor M.; Fedak, Michael A.; Gleiss, Adrian C.; Hammerschlag, Neil; Hindell, Mark A.; Holland, Kim N.; Janeković, Ivica; McKinzie, Megan K.; Muelbert, Mônica M. C.; Pattiaratchi, Charitha; Rutz, Christian; Sims, David; Simmons, Samantha E.; Townsend, Brendal; Whoriskey, Frederick G.; Woodward, Bill; Costa, Daniel P.; Heupel, Michelle R.; McMahon, Clive R.; Harcourt, Robert; Weise, Michael

doi:10.1111/2041-210x.13593

Cited by 47 publications

(47 citation statements)

References 60 publications

(79 reference statements)

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“…Kölzsch et al, 2016; Vandenabeele et al, 2014), and to the study, as different metrics may be measured more reliably using one particular method (Kölzsch et al, 2016), making the use of a standardised procedure difficult. Animal disturbance and study purposes should be considered before adjusting tag placement for the compatibility of datasets, and therefore, researchers should be aware of the attachment methods used to compare acceleration metrics between studies reliably (Sequeira et al, 2021). Importantly, we highlight that sensor inaccuracy can be mitigated by performing a rapid calibration.…”

Section: Discussionmentioning

confidence: 99%

“…The widespread availability and use of accelerometers means that large datasets, collected over years, are now available, providing valuable information about behaviour including flight effort across temporal and spatial scales (Kranstauber et al, 2011). Unsurprisingly, these data have been collected using different methods of attachment and by deploying a variety of different tags without critical analysis of the compatibility of different datasets (Sequeira et al, 2021).…”

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

“…Animal-attached tags have revolutionized our understanding of wild animal ecology (Bograd et al, 2010; Sequeira et al, 2021; Yoda, 2019). Of the sensors often used, accelerometers (Yoda et al, 1999) are regarded as particularly powerful tool for studying wild animal behavioural ecology, with studies using them to look at the occurrence and intensity of behaviour (Chakravarty et al, 2019; Fehlmann et al, 2017), assess movement characteristics (Shepard et al, 2008) and as a proxy for energy expenditure (Wilson et al, 2020).…”

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

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Ecological inference using data from accelerometers needs careful protocols

Garde

Wilson

Fell

et al. 2021

Preprint

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Accelerometers in animal-attached tags have proven to be powerful tools in behavioural ecology, being used to determine behaviour and provide proxies for movement-based energy expenditure. Researchers are collecting and archiving data across systems, seasons and device types. However, in order to use data repositories to draw ecological inference, we need to establish the error introduced according to sensor type and position on the study animal and establish protocols for error assessment and minimization.Using laboratory trials, we examine the absolute accuracy of tri-axial accelerometers and determine how inaccuracies impact measurements of dynamic body acceleration (DBA), as the main acceleration-based proxy for energy expenditure. We then examine how tag type and placement affect the acceleration signal in birds using (i) pigeons Columba livia flying in a wind tunnel, with tags mounted simultaneously in two positions, (ii) back- and tail-mounted tags deployed on wild kittiwakes Rissa tridactyla. Finally, we (iii) present a case study where two generations of tag were deployed using different attachment procedures on red-tailed tropicbirds Phaethon rubricauda foraging in different seasons.Bench tests showed that individual acceleration axes required a two-level correction (representing up to 4.3% of the total value) to eliminate measurement error. This resulted in DBA differences of up to 5% between calibrated and uncalibrated tags for humans walking at different speeds. Device position was associated with greater variation in DBA, with upper- and lower back-mounted tags in pigeons varying by 9%, and tail- and back-mounted tags varying by 13% in kittiwakes. Finally, DBA varied by 25% in tropicbirds between seasons, which may be attributable to tag attachment procedures.Accelerometer accuracy, tag placement, and attachment details critically affect the signal amplitude and thereby the ability of the system to detect biologically meaningful phenomena. We propose a simple method to calibrate accelerometers that should be used prior to deployments and archived with resulting data, suggest a way that researchers can assess accuracy in previously collected data, and caution that variable tag placement and attachment can increase sensor noise and even generate trends that have no biological meaning.

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Section: Discussionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

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Ecological inference using data from accelerometers needs careful protocols

Garde

Wilson

Fell

et al. 2021

Preprint

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“…These issues might seem obvious and easily addressed applying general principles of Ecoinformatics for consistent and robust data management (Michener and Jones, 2012;Recknagel and Michener, 2017), but they only emerged with the need of formalisation to reuse and share the data in the collaborative context of Euromammals. The bio-logging community is already working on the definition of a community-controlled vocabulary and set of data and metadata standards (Campbell et al, 2016;Sequeira et al, 2021), trying to extend existing resources [e.g., Darwin Core (Wieczorek et al, 2012); Ecological Metadata Language (Jones et al, 2019)]. The use by the community of such standards for data and formats based on an agreed semantic description of the wildlife monitoring objects and events (Chamanara and König-Ries, 2014) is key for effective combination of data from different sources.…”

Section: Common Understand Of Objects and Vocabularymentioning

confidence: 99%

“…While possible standards to translate movement ecology data and metadata into relevant conservation and management practices (Hays et al, 2019) are being discussed in the literature (Campbell et al, 2016;Sequeira et al, 2021), at this stage they are not yet completely defined, shared with the community and adopted. In particular, existing data are not exposed in a standard, machine-readable format, limiting the establishment of a network of automatically communicating repositories.…”

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Data Management and Sharing for Collaborative Science: Lessons Learnt From the Euromammals Initiative

Urbano

Cagnacci

Initiative³

2021

Front. Ecol. Evol.

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The current and future consequences of anthropogenic impacts such as climate change and habitat loss on ecosystems will be better understood and therefore addressed if diverse ecological data from multiple environmental contexts are more effectively shared. Re-use requires that data are readily available to the scientific scrutiny of the research community. A number of repositories to store shared data have emerged in different ecological domains and developments are underway to define common data and metadata standards. Nevertheless, the goal is far from being achieved and many challenges still need to be addressed. The definition of best practices for data sharing and re-use can benefit from the experience accumulated by pilot collaborative projects. The Euromammals bottom-up initiative has pioneered collaborative science in spatial animal ecology since 2007. It involves more than 150 institutes to address scientific, management and conservation questions regarding terrestrial mammal species in Europe using data stored in a shared database. In this manuscript we present some key lessons that we have learnt from the process of making shared data and knowledge accessible to researchers and we stress the importance of data management for data quality assurance. We suggest putting in place a pro-active data review before data are made available in shared repositories via robust technical support and users’ training in data management and standards. We recommend pursuing the definition of common data collection protocols, data and metadata standards, and shared vocabularies with direct involvement of the community to boost their implementation. We stress the importance of knowledge sharing, in addition to data sharing. We show the crucial relevance of collaborative networking with pro-active involvement of data providers in all stages of the scientific process. Our main message is that for data-sharing collaborative efforts to obtain substantial and durable scientific returns, the goals should not only consist in the creation of e-infrastructures and software tools but primarily in the establishment of a network and community trust. This requires moderate investment, but over long-term horizons.

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A global systematic review of frugivorous animal tracking studies and the estimation of seed dispersal distances

Fell,

Silva,

Duthie

et al. 2023

Ecology and Evolution

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Seed dispersal is one of the most important ecosystem functions globally. It shapes plant populations, enhances forest succession, and has multiple, indirect benefits for humans, yet it is one of the most threatened processes in plant regeneration, worldwide. Seed dispersal distances are determined by the diets, seed retention times and movements of frugivorous animals. Hence, understanding how we can most effectively describe frugivore movement and behaviour with rapidly developing animal tracking technology is key to quantifying seed dispersal. To assess the current use of animal tracking in frugivory studies and to provide a baseline for future studies, we provide a comprehensive review and synthesis on the existing primary literature of global tracking studies that monitor movement of frugivorous animals. Specifically, we identify studies that estimate dispersal distances and how they vary with body mass and environmental traits. We show that over the last two decades there has been a large increase in frugivore tracking studies that determine seed dispersal distances. However, some taxa (e.g. reptiles) and geographic locations (e.g. Africa and Central Asia) are poorly studied. Furthermore, we found that certain morphological and environmental traits can be used to predict seed dispersal distances. We demonstrate that flight ability and increased body mass both significantly increase estimated seed dispersal mean and maximum distances. Our results also suggest that protected areas have a positive effect on mean seed dispersal distances when compared to unprotected areas. We anticipate that this review will act as a reference for future frugivore tracking studies, specifically to target current taxonomic and geographic data gaps, and to further explore how seed dispersal relates to key frugivore and fruit traits.

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A standardisation framework for bio‐logging data to advance ecological research and conservation

Abstract: This is an open access article under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution NonCommercial License, which permits use, distribution and reproduction in any medium, provided the original work is properly cited and is not used for commercial purposes.

Cited by 47 publications

References 60 publications

Ecological inference using data from accelerometers needs careful protocols

Ecological inference using data from accelerometers needs careful protocols

Data Management and Sharing for Collaborative Science: Lessons Learnt From the Euromammals Initiative

A global systematic review of frugivorous animal tracking studies and the estimation of seed dispersal distances

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