Special Issue "Applications of Accelerometers and Other Bio-Logging Devices in Captive and Wild Animals"

A special issue of Animals (ISSN 2076-2615). This special issue belongs to the section "Wildlife".

Deadline for manuscript submissions: 31 December 2021.

Special Issue Editors

Dr. Marco Campera
E-Mail Website
Guest Editor
Nocturnal Primate Research Group, School of Social Sciences, Oxford Brookes University, Oxford OX3 0BP, UK
Interests: conservation biology; animal ecology; activity patterns; agroforestry, primates; translocations; diet; ranging patterns; biostatistics; environmental education
Prof. Dr. Anna Nekaris
E-Mail Website1 Website2
Guest Editor
Nocturnal Primate Research Group, School of Social Sciences, Oxford Brookes University, Oxford OX3 0BP, UK
Interests: conservation biology; conservation education; behavioural ecology; primates; wildlife trade; toxinology
Dr. Marianna Chimienti
E-Mail Website
Guest Editor
Centre d'Etudes Biologiques de Chizé, 405 Route de Prissé la Charrière, 79360 Villiers-en-Bois, France
Interests: movement ecology; accelerometers; statistical modelling; hidden Markov models; machine learning; conservation biology
Special Issues and Collections in MDPI journals

Special Issue Information

Dear Colleagues,

Bio-logging devices have been widely used in ecology in a large range of species to acquire information on the secret lives of animals in the wild, which would be challenging to obtain otherwise via direct observation. Data obtained from bio-logging devices on animals both in captivity and in the wild have been used to assess several aspects of animal biology and physiology, with different applications including estimating activity patterns, habitat use, energy expenditure, body temperature, and sleep. Devices have also rapidly developed in recent years in terms of reduced size, increased battery life, number of sensors included, and type of data that can be concurrently recorded. Tiny devices now allow extensive data collection even on small animals.

We here launch a Special Issue on the applications of accelerometers and other bio-logging devices deployed on both captive and wild animals. We welcome original papers regarding all aspects of research using bio-logging devices, including but not limited to new analytical techniques, behavioral validation, physiology, energy expenditure, sleep, movement ecology, and community ecology. The Guest Editors can be contacted for questions and suggestions on the suitability of the manuscripts you intend to submit.

Dr. Marco Campera
Prof. Dr. Anna Nekaris
Dr. Marianna Chimienti
Guest Editors

Manuscript Submission Information

Manuscripts should be submitted online at www.mdpi.com by registering and logging in to this website. Once you are registered, click here to go to the submission form. Manuscripts can be submitted until the deadline. All papers will be peer-reviewed. Accepted papers will be published continuously in the journal (as soon as accepted) and will be listed together on the special issue website. Research articles, review articles as well as short communications are invited. For planned papers, a title and short abstract (about 100 words) can be sent to the Editorial Office for announcement on this website.

Submitted manuscripts should not have been published previously, nor be under consideration for publication elsewhere (except conference proceedings papers). All manuscripts are thoroughly refereed through a single-blind peer-review process. A guide for authors and other relevant information for submission of manuscripts is available on the Instructions for Authors page. Animals is an international peer-reviewed open access monthly journal published by MDPI.

Please visit the Instructions for Authors page before submitting a manuscript. The Article Processing Charge (APC) for publication in this open access journal is 1800 CHF (Swiss Francs). Submitted papers should be well formatted and use good English. Authors may use MDPI's English editing service prior to publication or during author revisions.

Keywords

  • bio-logging
  • accelerometers
  • movement ecology
  • energy expenditure
  • sleep
  • body temperature
  • conservation
  • captive management

Published Papers

This special issue is now open for submission, see below for planned papers.

Planned Papers

The below list represents only planned manuscripts. Some of these manuscripts have not been received by the Editorial Office yet. Papers submitted to MDPI journals are subject to peer-review.

1. A location system used to track racing greyhounds

David Eager

Abstract: The University of Technology Sydney (UTS) has been working closely with the Australian greyhound industry for more than 5~years to reduce greyhound race-related injuries. During this period UTS has developed and deployed several different techniques including inertial measurement units, drones, high-frame-rate cameras, track geometric surveys, paw print analysis, track soil spring-force analysis, track maintenance data, race injury data, race computer simulation and modelling to assist in this task. During this period the injury rate has dropped from over 20 serious injuries to approximately 5 injuries per 1,000 greyhound starts where our recommendations have been adopted. This study investigated the use of a greyhound location tracing system where small and lightweight signal emitting devices were placed in a pocket with the jackets of racing greyhounds. The system deploys an enhanced version of a player tracking system currently used to track the motion of human athletes. Greyhounds gallop at speeds of almost 20\,m/s and are known to change their heading direction to exceed a yaw rate of 0.4 rad/s. The high magnitudes of velocity, acceleration and jerk posed significant technical challenges as the greyhounds pushed the human tracking system beyond its original design limits. Clean race data gathered over a six month period was analysed and presented for a typical 2-turn greyhound racing track. The data confirmed that on average greyhounds ran along a path can be considered least energy wastage which includes smooth non-linear paths which resemble easement curves at the transition from the straights to the semi-circular bends. This study also verified that the maximum jerk levels greyhounds experienced while racing were lower than the jerk levels that had been predicted with simulations and modelling.

 

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