How often should dead-reckoned animal movement paths be corrected for drift?

HOLTON, MARK D.; SHEPARD, EMILY L. C.; QUINTANA, FLAVIO; YAMAMOTO, TAKASHI; GOVENDER, DANNY; VAN SCHALKWYK, O. LOUIS; BÖRGER, LUCA; MARKS, NIKKI J.; WILLIAMS, HANNAH J.; BERTELSEN, MADS F.; SCANTLEBURY, DAVID M.; FELL, ADAM J.; GÓMEZ-LAICH, AGUSTINA; ENGLISH, HOLLY; VILJOEN, PAULI; COLE, NIK C.; REDCLIFFE, JAMES; BENNETT, NIGEL C.; DUARTE, CARLOS M.; TAMBLING, CRAIG J.; GUNNER, RICHARD M.; HOPKINS, PHIL; GARDE, BAPTISTE; YODA, KEN; FERREIRA, SAM; BRUNS, ANGELA; TATAYAH, VIKASH; BELL, STEPHEN H.; TONINI, MARIANO H.; VAN ROOYEN, MARTIN C.; WILSON, RORY P.

Animal Biotelemetry

Springer Nature

Año: 2021 vol. 9

Understanding what animals do in time and space is important for a range of ecological questions,however accurate estimates of how animals use space is challenging. Within the use of animal-attached tags, radio telemetry (including the Global Positioning System, ?GPS?) is typically used to verify an animal?s location periodically. Straight lines are typically drawn between these ?Verifed Positions? (?VPs?) so the interpolation of space-use is limited by the temporal and spatial resolution of the system?s measurement. As such, parameters such as route-taken and distance travelled can be poorly represented when using VP systems alone. Dead-reckoning has been suggested as atechnique to improve the accuracy and resolution of reconstructed movement paths, whilst maximising battery life of VP systems. This typically involves deriving travel vectors from motion sensor systems and periodically correcting path dimensions for drift with simultaneously deployed VP systems. How often paths should be corrected for drift, however, has remained unclear.