Tracking animal migration

Tracking animal migration

For years scientists have been tracking animals and the ways they migrate. Many have done this for research, some have done this to help animals and monitor them.

Technologies for tracking

In the fall of 1803, American Naturalist John James Audubon wondered whether migrating birds returned to the same place each year. So he tied a string around the leg of a bird before it flew south. The following spring, Audubon saw the bird had indeed come back.

Scientists today still attach tags, such as metal bands, to track movement of animals. But metal bands are not always useful tags. That is because the tagged animals have to be caught again for the scientists to get any data. Unfortunately, most tagged animals are never seen again.

Recent technologies have helped solve this problem. Electronic tags give off repeating that are picked up by radio devices or satellites. Scientists can track the locations and movement of the tagged animals without recapturing them. These electronic tags can provide a great deal of data. However, they are more expensive than the low-tech tags that aren't electronic. Also, because of their weight, electronic tags may harm some animals by slowing them down.

Radio tracking

Tracking an animal by radio invovles two devices. A transmitter attached to the animals sends out a signal in the form of radio waves, just as a radio station does. A scientist might place the transmitter around an animals ankle, neck, wing, or fin. A receiver picks up the signal, just like your radio at home picks up a stations signal. The receiver is usuallly in a truck or an airplane. To keep track of the signal, the scientist follows the animal in the truck or plane.

Satellite tracking

Receivers can be placed in Earth-orbiting satellites as well as in airplanes and trucks. Networks, or groups, of satellites are used to track animals. Each satellite in a network picks up electronic signals from a transmitter on an animal. Together, the signals from all satellites determine the precise location of the animal. The satellites also track the animal's path as it moves. Satellite tracking is especially useful because the scientists do not have to follow after the animal. Instead, the satellites move. Satellite networks have tracked the migration of caribou, sea turtles, whales, seals, elephants, bald eagles, and ospreys.

Why tracking is important

Electronic tracking tags are giving scientists a complete, accurate picture of migration patterns. For example, when scientists used radio transmitters to track one herd of caribou, they learned two important things. First, they learned that the herd moves previously thought. Second, they learned that each year the herd returns to about the same place to give birth to its young. This information would have been difficult to obtain with "low tech" tags.

::Tracking migrations is an important tool to better understand and protect species. For example, Florida manatees are an endangered species, and therefore they need protection. Radio tracking showed that Florida manatees may travel as far as Rhode Island when they migrate. This information suggests that the manatees may need protection along much of the Atlantic Coast of the United States. Previously, protection efforts focused mainly in the Florida area.

::Technologies for tracking animals may also help people whose work or recreation affects animals. For example, suppose officials at a state park want to protect a group of migrating animals during the spring. The officials plan to ban fishing or boating for the spring season. Detailed migration information, however, might give the officials a better choice. They might be able to decrease the length of time the ban is in effect, or ban fishing and boating only in those few areas visited by animals.

External links

* [http://www.spacetoday.org/Satellites/Tracking/Animals/PorcupineCaribou.html "Satellite Tracking." Space Today. Space Today. 3 Oct 2006]
* [http://www.telonics.com/technotes/tracking.html Tomkiewicz, Jr, Stanley . "Tracking animal Wild life." telonics. ]
* [http://www.klamathbasincrisis.org/regulations/animalID/info021506.htm Zanoni, Mary. "Animal ID." Klamath Basin. 3 Oct 2006]
* [http://www.audubon.org/nas/jja.html "John James Audubon." Audubon. National Audubon Society, Inc.. 3 Oct 2006 ]
* [http://www.werc.usgs.gov/sattrack/ "SATELLITE TRACKING MIGRATORY BIRDS." werc. Western Ecological Research Center. 3 Oct 2006]
* [http://www.spacetoday.org/Satellites/Tracking/Animals/WestIndianManatees.html "Satellite Tracking Threatened Manatees." space today. space today. 3 Oct 2006]
* [http://www.savethemanatee.org/tracking_manatees.htm "Tracking Manatee Movement." Save the Manatee. Save The Manatee Club. 3 Oct 2006]
* [http://www.learner.org/jnorth/spring1998/critters/manatee/Update020498.html#Satellite "Manatee Migration Updates." Journey North. Learner. 3 Oct 2006]


Wikimedia Foundation. 2010.

Игры ⚽ Нужно сделать НИР?

Look at other dictionaries:

  • Animal migration — Wildebeest Connochaetes taurinus crossing a river in East Africa. Animal migration is the relatively long distance movement of individuals, usually on a seasonal basis. It is a ubiquitous phenomenon, found in all major animal groups, including… …   Wikipedia

  • Migration des insectes — Des monarques migrant par milliers vers le site d Angangueo dans le nord du Michoacán au Mexique. Des milliards d insectes migrent chaque année, certains sur de petites distances, d autres sur des distances intercontinentales, comparables à… …   Wikipédia en Français

  • Bird migration — A flock of Barnacle Geese during autumn migration …   Wikipedia

  • Lepidoptera migration — Monarch butterfly is the most well known migrant amongst the Lepidoptera …   Wikipedia

  • Fish migration — Many species of salmon are anadromous and migrate long distances up rivers and streams to spawn. Many types of fish migrate on a regular basis, on time scales ranging from daily to annually or longer, and over distances ranging from a few metres… …   Wikipedia

  • Mobbing (animal behavior) — For mobbing in relation to human bullying behavior see Mobbing Crows mobbing a Red tailed Hawk. Mobbing in animals is an antipredator behavior which occurs when individuals of a certain species …   Wikipedia

  • Diel vertical migration — Diel vertical migration, also known as diurnal vertical migration, is a pattern of movement that some organisms living in the ocean and in lakes undertake each day. Usually organisms move up to the epipelagic zone at night and return to the… …   Wikipedia

  • Collar (animal) — Tie up collar correctly used with a headcollar on a stallion Nylon quick release …   Wikipedia

  • GPS wildlife tracking — is a process whereby biologists, scientific researchers or conservation agencies can remotely observe relatively fine scale movement or migratory patterns in a free ranging wild animal using the Global Positioning System and optional… …   Wikipedia

  • GPS tracking — A GPS tracking unit is a device that uses the Global Positioning System to determine the precise location of a vehicle, person, or other asset to which it is attached and to record the position of the asset at regular intervals. The recorded… …   Wikipedia

Share the article and excerpts

Direct link
Do a right-click on the link above
and select “Copy Link”