Tracking and technologies

The development and miniaturisation of electronic tracking technologies has revolutionised the study of wildlife in the last 25 years, and new advances are continually being made: it is an exciting time to be a conservation scientist.

WWT is a leader in the use of tracking technology to support wildlife conservation. We have deployed various radio- satellite- and GPS devices on species ranging from the tiny spoon-billed sandpiper to the (relatively) enormous whooper Swan. We work closely with the companies to develop devices that can provide ever more detailed information. We are also aware that deploying tracking devices can be risky for the birds. We strive to minimise the impacts on the birds we catch and track, and we only use the devices where there is a clear conservation need.

The latest tags can provide information not just on where the bird is anywhere on earth, but can also provide extraordinary insights into their behaviour, and the amount of energy they are expending. We use the data to understand when and where birds migrate to, sometimes discovering unknown breeding or staging sites. We can determine the risks they face en route. We can understand the habitats they prefer, and the times of the year when they are working hardest. We can even reconstruct the events of the breeding season when it happens thousands of miles away on the Greenland tundra!

Projects

• Bewick’s swan
• Common scoter
• Greenland white-fronted goose
• Pink-footed goose
• Common cranes
• Spoon-billed sandpipers
• Taiga bean goose

People

Larry Griffin

Robin Jones

Carl Mitchell

Geoff Hilton

Baz Hughes

Eileen Rees

Publications

Hubner, C.E., Tombre, I.M., Griffin, L.R., Loonen, M.J.J.E., Shimmings, P. & Jonsdottir, I.S. (2010) The connectivity of spring stopover sites for geese heading to arctic breeding grounds. Ardea, 98, 145–154.

Koelzsch, A., Bauer, S., de Boer, R., Griffin, L., Cabot, D., Exo, K.M., van der Jeugd, H.P. & Nolet, B.A. (2015) Forecasting spring from afar? Timing of migration and predictability of phenology along different migration routes of an avian herbivore. Journal of Animal Ecology, 84, 272–283.

Mitchell, C.R., Griffin, L., MacIver, A. & Minshull, B. (2017) Scotland’s Bean Geese and the spring 2017 migration. Scottish Birds, 37, 221–224.

Mitchell, C., Griffin, L., Maciver, A., Minshull, B. & Makan, N. (2016) Use of GPS tags to describe the home ranges, migration routes, stop-over locations and breeding area of Taiga Bean Geese Anser fabalis fabalis wintering in central Scotland. Bird Study, 63, 437–446.

Pennycuick, C.J., Griffin, L.R., Colhoun, K. & Angwin, R. (2010) A trial of a non-statistical computer program for monitoring fuel reserves, response to wind and other details from GPS tracks of migrating geese. Journal of Ornithology, 1–13.

Safi, K., Kranstauber, B., Weinzierl, R., Griffin, L., Rees, E.C., Cabot, D., Cruz, S., Proaño, C., Takekawa, J.Y., Newman, S.H., Waldenström, J., Bengtsson, D., Kays, R., Wikelski, M. & Bohrer, G. (2013) Flying with the wind: scale dependency of speed and direction measurements in modelling wind support in avian flight. Movement Ecology, 1, 4.

Sarkar, D., Chapman, C.A., Griffin, L. & Sengupta, R. (2015) Analyzing Animal Movement Characteristics From Location Data. Transactions in GIS, 19, 516–534.

Shariati-Najafabadi, M., Darvishzadeh, R., Skidmore, A.K., Kölzsch, A., Exo, K.M., Nolet, B.A., Griffin, L., Stahl, J., Havinga, P.J.M., Meratnia, N. & Toxopeus, A.G. (2016) Environmental parameters linked to the last migratory stage of barnacle geese en route to their breeding sites. Animal Behaviour, 118, 81–95.

Shariatinajafabadi, M., Wang, T., Skidmore, A.K., Toxopeus, A.G., Kölzsch, A., Nolet, B.A., Exo, K.M., Griffin, L., Stahl, J. & Cabot, D. (2014) Migratory herbivorous waterfowl track satellite-derived green wave index. PLoS ONE, 9, 1–11.

Soriano-Redondo, A., Bearhop, S., Cleasby, I.R., Lock, L., Votier, S.C. & Hilton, G.M. (2016) Ecological responses to extreme flooding events: a case study with a reintroduced bird. Scientific Reports, 6, 28595.

Tombre, I.M., Høgda, K.A., Madsen, J., Griffin, L.R., Kuijken, E., Shimmings, P., Rees, E. & Verscheure, C. (2008) The onset of spring and timing of migration in two arctic nesting goose populations: The pink-footed goose Anser brachyrhynchus and the barnacle goose Branta leucopsis. Journal of Avian Biology, 39, 691–703.

Weegman, M.D., Bearhop, S., Hilton, G.M., Walsh, A.J., Griffin, L., Resheff, Y.S., Nathan, R. & David Fox, A. (2017) Using accelerometry to compare costs of extended migration in an arctic herbivore. Current Zoology, 63, 667–674.