CDTx EDG seminar series #1
Please come along (CSIRO EcoSciences Precinct, 41 Boggo Rd, Dutton Park 4102 QLD- Rooms GA603-604):
A crocodile’s tale: challenges and opportunities in animal telemetry research
Biotelemetry has emerged as a powerful tool for biologists seeking to understand how animals interact with their environment. Information gathered from animal tracking studies have been vital in revealing habitat connectivity, critical habitat types, species interactions and ultimately in predicting the impact of environmental change on local animal populations.
While reductions the cost and size of telemetric devices has increased the accessibility of this technology, the effective management and analysis of these often large spatial data sets can prove a challenge for many ecologists and wildlife managers. This frequently delays the distribution of the study’s findings to inform wildlife and fisheries management practices.
In this talk I will present two R-based software systems we have developed to assist biologists conducting telemetry studies: the first for underwater passive acoustic data, the second for GPS-based data. Using telemetric data collected from adult estuarine crocodiles, I will discuss not only how our software can help biologists analyse and interpret their own data, but also how it can help promote management decisions, increase awareness of local conservation issues and help foster collaboration across the ecological community.
Ross is a postdoctoral fellow in the ECO-lab at the School of Biological Sciences, at The University of Queensland. His research interests include how animal location data (biotelemetry or species abundance) may be used to test hypotheses and make predictions regarding individual- and population-level responses to environmental change. He has worked closely with local government, NGOs and industry partners to achieve positive conservation outcomes and/or improve species management in terrestrial, coastal and marine environments.
Web: http://www.uq.edu.au/eco-lab/ross-dwyer
The Conservation Decisions Team 