Automated proximity sensing in small vertebrates: design of miniaturized sensor nodes and first field tests in bats.

ABSTRACT: Social evolution has led to a stunning diversity of complex social behavior, in particular in vertebrate taxa. Thorough documentation of social interactions is crucial to study the causes and consequences of sociality in gregarious animals. Wireless digital transceivers represent a promising tool to revolutionize data collection for the study of social interactions in terms of the degree of automation, data quantity, and quality. Unfortunately, devices for automated proximity sensing via direct communication among animal-borne sensors are usually heavy and do not allow for the investigation of small animal species, which represent the majority of avian and mammalian taxa. We present a lightweight animal-borne sensor node that is built from commercially available components and uses a sophi

SUBMITTER: Ripperger S 

PROVIDER: S-EPMC4782256 | biostudies-literature | 2016 Apr

REPOSITORIES: biostudies-literature