Affiliation:
1. 2School of Marine and Tropical Biology, James Cook University, Townsville Queensland, 4811, Australia
2. 1School of Marine and Tropical Biology, James Cook University, Townsville Queensland, 4811, Australia
Abstract
Abstract
To gain information on the microhabitat use, home range and movement of a
species, it is often necessary to remotely track individuals in the field.
Radio telemetry is commonly used to track amphibians, but can only be used
on relatively large individuals. Harmonic direction finding can be used to
track smaller animals, but its effectiveness has not been fully evaluated.
Tag attachment can alter the behaviour of amphibians, suggesting that data
obtained using either technique may be unreliable. We investigated the
effects of external tag attachment on behaviour in the laboratory by
observing 12 frogs for five nights before and five nights after tag
attachment, allowing one night to recover from handling. Tag attachment did
not affect distance moved or number of times moved, indicating that the
effects of tag attachment are unlikely to persist after the first night
following attachment. We then compared harmonic direction finding and
radio-telemetry using data collected in the field. We fitted rainforest
stream frogs of three species with tags of either type, located them
diurnally and nocturnally for approximately two weeks, and compared movement
parameters between techniques. In the field, we obtained fewer fixes on
frogs using harmonic direction finding, but measures of movement and habitat
use did not differ significantly between techniques. Because radio telemetry
makes it possible to locate animals more consistently, it should be
preferred for animals large enough to carry radio tags. If harmonic
direction finding is necessary, it can produce reliable data, particularly
for relatively sedentary species.
Subject
Animal Science and Zoology,Ecology, Evolution, Behavior and Systematics
Cited by
44 articles.
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