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Activity Funded

Drone-based Radio telemetry in Insular ecosystems for Fish Tracking

Integração de radio-telemetria em drones para o seguimento de peixes em sistemas insulares

Reference
2024.16201.PEX
Project Start Date
2026-02-23
Project End Date
2027-08-22
Principal Investigator
Scientific Area
Natural sciences
Funding Program
Concurso para Projetos de Investigação de caráter Exploratório em Todos os Domínios Científicos 2024

Abstract

The movement of organisms is essential to individual survival, population dynamics, and ecosystem processes. It influences evolution and biodiversity, making it a key focus of ecological research. Technological advances in biologging and biotelemetry and the progress of analytical methods have transformed movement ecology, providing unprecedented insights into animal movement. Biotelemetry has enhanced the knowledge of animal movement patterns, activity/ habitat use, and responses to human–imposed conditions. It has a significant potential to contribute to biodiversity monitoring and define strategies for the conservation of threatened species, such as the European eel ( Anguilla anguilla ). Accordingly, telemetry studies have advanced the knowledge about this species, allowing to determine daily activity and critical periods for the eel movements during its freshwater life stage and migration routes towards its spawning area in the Sargasso Sea. Nevertheless, the behaviour and activity of eel inhabiting the harsh conditions of oceanic islands in Macaronesia – in the western limit of the species distribution range closer to its spawning region – remains unstudied. Overcoming this knowledge gap requires technological advancements in telemetry that allow tracking fish throughout occupied habitats in a landscape with intense slopes and areas of difficult accessibility. Here, we propose to develop a radio telemetry system that tackles these limitations, tracking eels in one stream of Madeira Island as a case study and setting the pace for future studies on aquatic ecosystems. A low-cost prototype of an airborne drone coupled with a radio VHF receiver system will be created, tested and improved. Potential limiting environmental conditions will be evaluated, and the data quality and precision obtained with this system will be compared with those obtained using commonly used methods, i.e., hand-held manual tracking and fixed passive tracking. For this, we will select one stream with conditions typical of Macaronesia’s freshwater ecosystems to track the activity of 30 eels throughout ten months. Environmental conditions that can determine drone efficiency will be inspected and improvements will be made to meet the challenges faced by fish tracking. Comparative results will contribute to evaluate whether the RDP method is standalone or requires complementary methods regarding ecologically relevant questions. A team of researchers and technicians with vast knowledge and skills will allow us to fulfil this comprehensive strategy. The project will be led by a multidisciplinary team of biologists with expertise in data processing and tracking technologies, strongly focused on conservation applications, and knowledge of fish behaviour, ecology, and freshwater insular ecosystems. Additionally, to support the development of technologies, the team includes engineers specialised in unmanned aerial systems and radio communications, software programmers, computer engineers and technicians with experience in drone piloting and imagery analyses within a GIS framework. Drone-coupled radio tracking is a technology in an early stage, and it is restrictedly used in terrestrial taxa and ecosystems. Its limited use is likely related to potential challenges related to freshwater systems, the high costs of available commercial devices, and data processing. DRIFT proposes to tackle these issues and expand the field of operation used in new tracking technologies to freshwater ecosystems – home to numerous high-priority conservation species. Specifically, this proposal aims to create or refine an innovative drone-based tracking device that meets the challenges faced in fish tracking, namely in harsh insular conditions. By documenting its performance metrics and testing its correlation with environmental conditions, we will lead recommendations for future improvements. Additionally, the cost-effective radio tracking drone complemented by the created interface that enables the standardisation of the tracking data collected can be used in other contexts, contributing to investigating other freshwater species. Ultimately, the monitoring program will allow us to determine the home range, homing, and daily and seasonal activity of the European eel on Madeira Island. Results will contribute with essential information for management and conservation recommendations and to future studies on this species in other insular ecological ecosystems.

Institutions

Main Institutions

  • Agência Regional para o Desenvolvimento da Investigação Tecnologia e Inovação (ARDITI)

Other Institutions

  • FCiênciasID Associação para a Investigação e Desenvolvimento de Ciências (Fciências.ID)

Funding 59.977,50 €

Fundação para a Ciência e a Tecnologia (FCT) - Portugal

59.977,50 €