Dead-reckoning animal movements in R: a reappraisal using Gundog.Tracks

Animal Biotelemetry

Mads F. Bertelsen¹  Agustina Gómez-Laich²  O. Louis van Schalkwyk³  Hannah J. Williams⁴  Craig J. Tambling⁵  Ken Yoda⁶  Mariano H. Tonini⁷  Flavio Quintana⁸  Nigel C. Bennett⁹  Martin C. van Rooyen⁹  Takashi Yamamoto^1,10  Carlos M. Duarte^1,11  Pauli Viljoen^1,12  Sam Ferreira^1,12  Danny Govender^1,12  Mike D. Scantlebury^1,13  Stephen H. Bell^1,13  Nikki J. Marks^1,13  Holly M. English^1,14  Rory P. Wilson^1,15  James Redcliffe^1,15  Phil Hopkins^1,15  Richard M. Gunner^1,15  Mark D. Holton^1,15  Luca Börger^1,16  Angela Bruns^1,17 

[1] Center for Zoo and Wild Animal Health, Copenhagen Zoo, Roskildevej 38, 2000, Frederiksberg, Denmark;Departamento de Ecología, Genética y Evolución & Instituto de Ecología, Genética y Evolución de Buenos Aires (IEGEBA), CONICET, Pabellón II Ciudad Universitaria, C1428EGA, Buenos Aires, Argentina;Department of Agriculture, Land Reform and Rural Development, Government of South Africa, 001, Pretoria, South Africa;Department of Migration, Max Planck Institute of Animal Behavior, 78315, Radolfzell, Germany;Department of Veterinary Tropical Diseases, Faculty of Veterinary Science, University of Pretoria, 0110, Onderstepoort, South Africa;Department of Migration, Max Planck Institute of Animal Behavior, 78315, Radolfzell, Germany;Department of Zoology and Entomology, University of Fort Hare Alice Campus, Ring Road, 5700, Alice, South Africa;Graduate School of Environmental Studies, Nagoya University, Furo-cho, Chikusa-ku, Nagoya, Japan;Instituto Andino Patagónico de Tecnologías Biológicas y Geoambientales, Grupo GEA, IPATEC-UNCO-CONICET, San Carlos de Bariloche, Río Negro, Argentina;Instituto de Biología de Organismos Marinos (IBIOMAR), CONICET, Boulevard Brown 2915, U9120ACD, Puerto Madryn, Chubut, Argentina;Mammal Research Institute, Department of Zoology and Entomology, University of Pretoria, 002, Pretoria, South Africa;Organization for the Strategic Coordination of Research and Intellectual Properties, Meiji University, Nakano, Tokyo, Japan;Red Sea Research Centre, King Abdullah University of Science and Technology, 23955, Thuwal, Saudi Arabia;Savanna and Grassland Research Unit, South African National Parks, Scientific Services Skukuza, Kruger National Park, 1350, Skukuza, South Africa;School of Biological Sciences, Queen’s University Belfast, Belfast, 19 Chlorine Gardens, BT9 5DL, Belfast, Northern Ireland, UK;School of Biology and Environmental Science, University College Dublin, Belfield, Dublin, Ireland;Swansea Lab for Animal Movement, Department of Biosciences, College of Science, Swansea University, Singleton Park, SA2 8PP, Swansea, Wales, UK;Swansea Lab for Animal Movement, Department of Biosciences, College of Science, Swansea University, Singleton Park, SA2 8PP, Swansea, Wales, UK;Centre for Biomathematics, College of Science, Swansea University, SA2 8PP, Swansea, UK;Veterinary Wildlife Services, South African National Parks, 97 Memorial Road, Old Testing Grounds, 8301, Kimberley, South Africa;

关键词: Animal behaviour;    Animal movement;    Global Positioning System;    R (programming language);    Track integration;    Tri-axial accelerometers;    Tri-axial magnetometers;   

DOI  :  10.1186/s40317-021-00245-z

来源: Springer

【 摘 要 】

BackgroundFine-scale data on animal position are increasingly enabling us to understand the details of animal movement ecology and dead-reckoning, a technique integrating motion sensor-derived information on heading and speed, can be used to reconstruct fine-scale movement paths at sub-second resolution, irrespective of the environment. On its own however, the dead-reckoning process is prone to cumulative errors, so that position estimates quickly become uncoupled from true location. Periodic ground-truthing with aligned location data (e.g., from global positioning technology) can correct for this drift between Verified Positions (VPs). We present step-by-step instructions for implementing Verified Position Correction (VPC) dead-reckoning in R using the tilt-compensated compass method, accompanied by the mathematical protocols underlying the code and improvements and extensions of this technique to reduce the trade-off between VPC rate and dead-reckoning accuracy. These protocols are all built into a user-friendly, fully annotated VPC dead-reckoning R function; Gundog.Tracks, with multi-functionality to reconstruct animal movement paths across terrestrial, aquatic, and aerial systems, provided within the Additional file 4 as well as online (GitHub).ResultsThe Gundog.Tracks function is demonstrated on three contrasting model species (the African lion Panthera leo, the Magellanic penguin Spheniscus magellanicus, and the Imperial cormorant Leucocarbo atriceps) moving on land, in water and in air. We show the effect of uncorrected errors in speed estimations, heading inaccuracies and infrequent VPC rate and demonstrate how these issues can be addressed.ConclusionsThe function provided will allow anyone familiar with R to dead-reckon animal tracks readily and accurately, as the key complex issues are dealt with by Gundog.Tracks. This will help the community to consider and implement a valuable, but often overlooked method of reconstructing high-resolution animal movement paths across diverse species and systems without requiring a bespoke application.

【 授权许可】

CC BY