tag:theconversation.com,2011:/uk/topics/wildlife-tracking-26606/articlesWildlife tracking – The Conversation2024-03-04T01:46:59Ztag:theconversation.com,2011:article/2242422024-03-04T01:46:59Z2024-03-04T01:46:59ZYabby traps and discarded fishing tackle can kill platypuses - it’s time to clean up our act<figure><img src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/579434/original/file-20240303-16-g8s75y.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&rect=33%2C4%2C3161%2C2122&q=45&auto=format&w=496&fit=clip" /><figcaption><span class="caption">
</span> <span class="attribution"><a class="source" href="https://www.shutterstock.com/image-photo/platypus-wild-australia-1422117959">Mari_May, Shutterstock</a></span></figcaption></figure><p><a href="https://www.agriculture.gov.au/agriculture-land/fisheries/recreational">Recreational fishing</a> is a popular pastime in Australia’s inland rivers and streams. Unfortunately in the process, many people are unwittingly killing platypuses. </p>
<p>The animals can become trapped in nets commonly used to catch yabbies such as “<a href="https://kb.rspca.org.au/knowledge-base/can-enclosed-yabby-traps-harm-animals-and-are-they-legal-to-use/">Opera House traps</a>” (so-called because their shape resembles the sails of the Sydney Opera House). The enclosed structure stops platypuses swimming back to the surface to breathe, causing them to drown in minutes.</p>
<p>Enclosed traps are banned in most states, but they are <a href="https://kb.rspca.org.au/knowledge-base/can-enclosed-yabby-traps-harm-animals-and-are-they-legal-to-use/">still being used</a>. They are sold online and can be shippped across Australia. During our field research, we frequently encounter these traps and clumps of discarded fishing line. We have also conducted research on the bodies of platypuses killed by these hazards.</p>
<p>It’s time for a national ban on these inhumane traps. And recreational fishing waste should be kept out of our waterways. We must save our platypuses, before it’s too late. </p>
<figure>
<iframe width="440" height="260" src="https://www.youtube.com/embed/hIQqQcAUiYo?wmode=transparent&start=0" frameborder="0" allowfullscreen=""></iframe>
<figcaption><span class="caption">Platypuses being released back into the Hawkesbury-Nepean River catchment, New South Wales.</span></figcaption>
</figure>
<hr>
<p>
<em>
<strong>
Read more:
<a href="https://theconversation.com/even-platypuses-arent-safe-from-bushfires-a-new-dna-study-tracks-their-disappearance-212651">Even platypuses aren't safe from bushfires – a new DNA study tracks their disappearance</a>
</strong>
</em>
</p>
<hr>
<h2>A natural wonder</h2>
<p>The <a href="https://australian.museum/learn/animals/mammals/platypus/">platypus</a> is one of Australia’s most loved and iconic species. These semi-aquatic, air breathing monotremes (egg-laying mammals) can be naturally found in waterways of the east coast, Tasmania and Kangaroo Island. </p>
<p>But there are <a href="https://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/pii/S2351989419302276">growing concerns for the species’ survival</a>. Platypuses are becoming scarce and in some areas, completely disappearing from waterways.</p>
<p>The animals spend most of their time foraging in freshwater creeks and rivers. They have very poor eyesight underwater and use special sensors in their duck-shaped bill to locate prey. A trap full of live yabbies can attract platypuses, but this tempting feast may be their last meal.</p>
<hr>
<p>
<em>
<strong>
Read more:
<a href="https://theconversation.com/a-platypus-can-glow-green-and-hunt-prey-with-electricity-but-it-cant-climb-dams-to-find-a-mate-193707">A platypus can glow green and hunt prey with electricity – but it can't climb dams to find a mate</a>
</strong>
</em>
</p>
<hr>
<h2>Closing in on enclosed traps</h2>
<p>Closed-top traps are baited then submerged in a river or stream for hours or a day, before being hauled out. </p>
<p>The traps funnel creatures into an enclosed space where they can’t escape. They are designed to catch freshwater crayfish (known as yabbies or marron). But they also inadvertently trap aquatic animals such as platypuses, freshwater turtles and the native water rat, rakali. </p>
<p>But there are wildlife-friendly alternatives. For example, some nets are <a href="https://www.bcf.com.au/p/wilson-yabby-mesh-drop-pot-1in/M156393.html?cgid=species-yabbies#start=3">open</a> at the top while others have a hinged lid that can be pushed open by a larger animal, such as a platypus, as it tries to escape. </p>
<p>Opera House style, closed-top yabby traps are now <a href="https://www.ifs.tas.gov.au/the-rules/allowed-angling-methods#:%7E:text=You%20cannot%20possess%20or%20use,including%20platypus%20and%20water%20rats.">banned in Tasmania</a>, <a href="https://vfa.vic.gov.au/recreational-fishing/fisheries-management/changes-ahead-for-yabby-fishing-gear">Victoria</a>, the <a href="https://www.cmtedd.act.gov.au/open_government/inform/act_government_media_releases/gentleman/2019/cruel-nets-banned-in-all-act-waters">Australian Capital Territory</a>, <a href="https://www.dpi.nsw.gov.au/about-us/media-centre/releases/2021/reminder-new-yabby-net-rules-are-now-in-place">New South Wales</a> and <a href="https://pir.sa.gov.au/alerts_news_events/news/fishing_and_aquaculture/opera_house_yabby_nets_banned">South Australia</a>. </p>
<p><a href="https://www.qld.gov.au/recreation/activities/boating-fishing/rec-fishing/rules/equipment">Queensland allows use</a> west of the Dividing Range, where platypuses are not thought to exist, or on private property. Restrictions around the <a href="https://wildlife.org.au/our-work/advocacy-campaigns/ban-opera-house-nets/">size of trap entrance holes</a> were introduced in 2015.</p>
<figure class="align-center zoomable">
<a href="https://images.theconversation.com/files/578787/original/file-20240228-28-3xjoe8.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=1000&fit=clip"><img alt="An abandoned opera house trap on the banks of a creek in the southern highlands of NSW" src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/578787/original/file-20240228-28-3xjoe8.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&fit=clip" srcset="https://images.theconversation.com/files/578787/original/file-20240228-28-3xjoe8.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=600&h=400&fit=crop&dpr=1 600w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/578787/original/file-20240228-28-3xjoe8.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=600&h=400&fit=crop&dpr=2 1200w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/578787/original/file-20240228-28-3xjoe8.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=600&h=400&fit=crop&dpr=3 1800w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/578787/original/file-20240228-28-3xjoe8.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&h=503&fit=crop&dpr=1 754w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/578787/original/file-20240228-28-3xjoe8.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=754&h=503&fit=crop&dpr=2 1508w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/578787/original/file-20240228-28-3xjoe8.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=754&h=503&fit=crop&dpr=3 2262w" sizes="(min-width: 1466px) 754px, (max-width: 599px) 100vw, (min-width: 600px) 600px, 237px"></a>
<figcaption>
<span class="caption">An abandoned opera house trap in known platypus territory, a creek in the Southern Highlands, NSW.</span>
<span class="attribution"><span class="source">Katherine Warwick</span></span>
</figcaption>
</figure>
<h2>A litany of platypus deaths</h2>
<p>The Australian Platypus Conservancy found <a href="https://biostor.org/reference/236537">41% of reported platypus deaths</a> from 1980 to 2009 were caused by drowning in enclosed nets. </p>
<p>Meanwhile platypuses have continued to drown in closed-top traps. In 2022, <a href="https://www.abc.net.au/news/2022-05-25/platypus-yabby-trap-deaths/101095130">four reportedly died</a> in one trap at Dorrigo on the mid-north coast of New South Wales. In 2021, a platypus <a href="https://www.abc.net.au/news/2021-05-05/hunt-for-those-responsible-for-platypus-death/100114874">died in Queensland’s Broken River</a> and in 2018, one trap <a href="https://wyndham.starweekly.com.au/news/platypuses-found-dead-in-illegal-net-in-werribee-river/">drowned seven</a> in Victoria’s Werribee River.</p>
<p>Aside from deaths by closed-top traps, many platypuses become entangled in abandoned fishing line as they search for food along the bottom of waterways. </p>
<p>The animal’s tapered shape, duck-shaped bill and short webbed feet make it hard to free themselves. They are prone to getting wrapped in rings or loops of plastic, rubber or metal rubbish. </p>
<p>In 2021 a Victorian study of <a href="https://www.publish.csiro.au/am/am21004">54 cases of platypus entanglement</a> found litter commonly encircled the neck (68%). Almost one in five were wrapped “from in front of a shoulder to behind the opposite foreleg” (22%). Others had plastic around their torso or jaw.</p>
<p>That study also found platypuses in greater Melbourne were up to eight times more likely to become tangled in litter than those in regional Victoria. That’s because urban areas tend to be more polluted. </p>
<p>Fishing line can cut through skin and muscle, causing a slow painful death. Entangled platypuses can also drown after they become caught on underwater debris.</p>
<p>We study how heavy metals and other emerging contaminants accumulate in platypuses. Together with the community, local and state governments and wildlife organisations such as Taronga Zoo, we collect dead platypuses to examine their organs and body tissues. </p>
<p>On a trip this month to regional NSW for water quality testing and sampling, we found multiple instances of tangled fishing line and an abandoned submerged Opera House trap. </p>
<figure class="align-center zoomable">
<a href="https://images.theconversation.com/files/578096/original/file-20240226-18-fe89vv.JPG?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=1000&fit=clip"><img alt="" src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/578096/original/file-20240226-18-fe89vv.JPG?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&fit=clip" srcset="https://images.theconversation.com/files/578096/original/file-20240226-18-fe89vv.JPG?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=600&h=450&fit=crop&dpr=1 600w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/578096/original/file-20240226-18-fe89vv.JPG?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=600&h=450&fit=crop&dpr=2 1200w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/578096/original/file-20240226-18-fe89vv.JPG?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=600&h=450&fit=crop&dpr=3 1800w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/578096/original/file-20240226-18-fe89vv.JPG?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&h=566&fit=crop&dpr=1 754w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/578096/original/file-20240226-18-fe89vv.JPG?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=754&h=566&fit=crop&dpr=2 1508w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/578096/original/file-20240226-18-fe89vv.JPG?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=754&h=566&fit=crop&dpr=3 2262w" sizes="(min-width: 1466px) 754px, (max-width: 599px) 100vw, (min-width: 600px) 600px, 237px"></a>
<figcaption>
<span class="caption">A dead platypus entangled in fishing line, found in the Southern Highlands of NSW.</span>
<span class="attribution"><span class="source">Katherine Warwick</span></span>
</figcaption>
</figure>
<h2>Swapping traps and binning trash</h2>
<figure class="align-right zoomable">
<a href="https://images.theconversation.com/files/578431/original/file-20240227-30-gmllrf.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=1000&fit=clip"><img alt="One of the TAngler bins for used fishing line on the banks of the Hawkesbury-Nepean River, which looks like a PVC pipe periscope strapped to a post" src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/578431/original/file-20240227-30-gmllrf.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=237&fit=clip" srcset="https://images.theconversation.com/files/578431/original/file-20240227-30-gmllrf.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=600&h=899&fit=crop&dpr=1 600w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/578431/original/file-20240227-30-gmllrf.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=600&h=899&fit=crop&dpr=2 1200w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/578431/original/file-20240227-30-gmllrf.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=600&h=899&fit=crop&dpr=3 1800w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/578431/original/file-20240227-30-gmllrf.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&h=1130&fit=crop&dpr=1 754w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/578431/original/file-20240227-30-gmllrf.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=754&h=1130&fit=crop&dpr=2 1508w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/578431/original/file-20240227-30-gmllrf.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=754&h=1130&fit=crop&dpr=3 2262w" sizes="(min-width: 1466px) 754px, (max-width: 599px) 100vw, (min-width: 600px) 600px, 237px"></a>
<figcaption>
<span class="caption">TAngler bins are available for the safe disposal of used fishing line on the banks of the the Hawkesbury-Nepean River, NSW.</span>
<span class="attribution"><span class="source">Michelle Ryan</span></span>
</figcaption>
</figure>
<p>Between December 2018 and February 2019, when the Victorian Fisheries Authority invited people to swap their old closed top nets for a free “wildlife friendly” net, <a href="https://vfa.vic.gov.au/recreational-fishing/fisheries-management/changes-ahead-for-yabby-fishing-gear">20,000 traps were exchanged</a>. </p>
<p>OzFish and Ocean Earth Foundation are currently running a <a href="https://ozfish.org.au/projects/yabby-trap-round-up/">Yabby Trap Round Up</a> in NSW and SA. The Opera House traps are recycled and turned into useful fishing products. </p>
<p>Recreational fishers should also round up their used fishing line and hooks. The “<a href="https://www.oceanwatch.org.au/tangler-bins/">TAngler bin</a>” initiative encourages safe disposal. Since 2006, more than 350 TAngler bins have been installed at fishing hotspots in Victoria, NSW and Queensland, collecting more than ten tonnes of discarded fishing line. </p>
<p>A study in known platypus habitat on the Hawkesbury-Nepean River in Greater Sydney found <a href="https://www.westernsydney.edu.au/newscentre/news_centre/story_archive/2019/western_researchers_tackle_fishing_line_waste_in_the_hawkesbury">more than 2.5km of fishing line was disposed of correctly</a> in the bins in just three years.</p>
<h2>Save our platypuses</h2>
<p>Closed-top nets should be banned nationwide. This would ensure recreational fishers can no longer buy these traps and then use them in banned areas, as is happening now. </p>
<p>Net exchange programs should continue, in conjunction with a national awareness campaign, so the closed-top traps already sold are all handed in. </p>
<p>And both fishers and the wider community can take action by collecting discarded fishing line and nets. </p>
<p>Platypuses need all the help they can get. With our support, these beloved iconic animals can live on in Australian waterways. </p>
<hr>
<p>
<em>
<strong>
Read more:
<a href="https://theconversation.com/our-native-animals-are-easy-prey-after-a-fire-could-artificial-refuges-save-them-223357">Our native animals are easy prey after a fire. Could artificial refuges save them?</a>
</strong>
</em>
</p>
<hr>
<img src="https://counter.theconversation.com/content/224242/count.gif" alt="The Conversation" width="1" height="1" />
<p class="fine-print"><em><span>Katherine Warwick has received funding from industry, community groups, not-for-profit organisations, Commonwealth, New South Wales and local Government. She has previously worked for Blue Mountains City Council.</span></em></p><p class="fine-print"><em><span>Ian Wright has received funding from industry, Commonwealth, NSW and local Government. He has previously worked for Sydney Water. </span></em></p><p class="fine-print"><em><span>Michelle Ryan receives funding from industry, community groups, not for profit organisations as well as Commonwealth, NSW and local Government.
</span></em></p>Platypuses are drowning in Australian waterways, tangled in fishing line and trapped in closed nets meant for freshwater crayfish or yabbies. But we can fix this.Katherine Warwick, PhD Candidate, Western Sydney UniversityIan A. Wright, Associate Professor in Environmental Science, Western Sydney UniversityMichelle Ryan, Senior lecturer, Western Sydney UniversityLicensed as Creative Commons – attribution, no derivatives.tag:theconversation.com,2011:article/2102632023-08-30T12:15:57Z2023-08-30T12:15:57ZGiraffes range across diverse African habitats − we’re using GPS, satellites and statistics to track and protect them<figure><img src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/544746/original/file-20230825-17-am7gat.jpeg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&rect=11%2C0%2C3768%2C2345&q=45&auto=format&w=496&fit=clip" /><figcaption><span class="caption">An average giraffe has a home range almost as large as Philadelphia.</span> <span class="attribution"><span class="source">Michael Brown</span>, <a class="license" href="http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc/4.0/">CC BY-NC</a></span></figcaption></figure><p>Nearly 6,000 years ago, our ancestors climbed arid rocky outcrops in what is now the Nigerian Sahara and carved spectacularly intricate, larger-than-life renditions of giraffes into the exposed sandstone. The remarkably detailed Dabous giraffe rock art petroglyphs are among <a href="https://journals.co.za/doi/pdf/10.10520/AJA00382353_1067">many ancient petroglyphs featuring giraffes across Africa</a> – a testament to early humans’ fascination with these unique creatures. </p>
<p>We are still <a href="https://doi.org/10.1371/journal.pone.0199149">captivated by giraffes today</a>, but many of these animals are at risk, largely due to habitat loss and illegal hunting. Some <a href="https://giraffeconservation.org/programmes/giraffe-conservation-status-assessment/">are critically endangered</a>. </p>
<p>To understand how giraffes are faring across Africa, <a href="https://scholar.google.com/citations?user=f3D2QOcAAAAJ&hl=en">conservation ecologists like me</a> are studying how they interact with their habitats across vast geographic scales. We use space-age technology and advanced statistical approaches that our ancient ancestors could have scarcely imagined to understand how giraffes can better coexist with people. </p>
<figure class="align-center zoomable">
<a href="https://images.theconversation.com/files/542627/original/file-20230814-22-vdxtbu.JPG?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=1000&fit=clip"><img alt="Image of a giraffe carved in red rock." src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/542627/original/file-20230814-22-vdxtbu.JPG?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&fit=clip" srcset="https://images.theconversation.com/files/542627/original/file-20230814-22-vdxtbu.JPG?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=600&h=400&fit=crop&dpr=1 600w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/542627/original/file-20230814-22-vdxtbu.JPG?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=600&h=400&fit=crop&dpr=2 1200w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/542627/original/file-20230814-22-vdxtbu.JPG?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=600&h=400&fit=crop&dpr=3 1800w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/542627/original/file-20230814-22-vdxtbu.JPG?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&h=503&fit=crop&dpr=1 754w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/542627/original/file-20230814-22-vdxtbu.JPG?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=754&h=503&fit=crop&dpr=2 1508w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/542627/original/file-20230814-22-vdxtbu.JPG?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=754&h=503&fit=crop&dpr=3 2262w" sizes="(min-width: 1466px) 754px, (max-width: 599px) 100vw, (min-width: 600px) 600px, 237px"></a>
<figcaption>
<span class="caption">Giraffes are featured prominently in ancient petroglyphs across Africa, such as this one in Twyfelfontein, Namibia, which dates back thousands of years.</span>
<span class="attribution"><span class="source">Michael Brown</span>, <a class="license" href="http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nd/4.0/">CC BY-ND</a></span>
</figcaption>
</figure>
<h2>Many habitats and challenges</h2>
<p>Giraffes may all look similar to the casual viewer, but in fact there are <a href="https://doi.org/10.1016/j.cub.2021.04.033">four distinct species</a>. By our best estimates, there are <a href="https://doi.org/10.1016/B978-0-12-821139-7.00139-2">roughly 117,000 giraffes remaining in the wild</a>, living in <a href="https://doi.org/10.1111/mam.12165">21 African countries</a>. </p>
<p>Across this huge expanse, giraffes make their homes in many different environments with varied levels of human influence. For example, in the relatively arid Sahel region of Niger, they live among communal farmers entirely outside of formally protected areas. In contrast, along the Nile in Uganda’s national parks, they browse through lush savannas that are formally protected by dedicated rangers. </p>
<p>Each of these areas has unique bioclimatic conditions and conservation philosophies. There is <a href="https://giraffeconservation.org/programmes/conservation-strategies/">no one-size-fits-all approach</a> for protecting giraffe habitats and <a href="https://doi.org/10.1080/10871209.2021.1885768">promoting coexistence with people</a>. </p>
<p>Researchers are taking advantage of these diverse conditions to learn how giraffes move throughout this range. <a href="https://doi.org/10.1098/rspb.2023.0912">In a recently published paper</a>, I worked with colleagues from academia and conservation organizations to conduct the largest ever tracking study to better understand how and why giraffes move at large scales. </p>
<figure class="align-center zoomable">
<a href="https://images.theconversation.com/files/542628/original/file-20230814-24-pw6hay.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=1000&fit=clip"><img alt="Four images of giraffes in diverse African settings." src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/542628/original/file-20230814-24-pw6hay.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&fit=clip" srcset="https://images.theconversation.com/files/542628/original/file-20230814-24-pw6hay.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=600&h=300&fit=crop&dpr=1 600w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/542628/original/file-20230814-24-pw6hay.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=600&h=300&fit=crop&dpr=2 1200w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/542628/original/file-20230814-24-pw6hay.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=600&h=300&fit=crop&dpr=3 1800w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/542628/original/file-20230814-24-pw6hay.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&h=377&fit=crop&dpr=1 754w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/542628/original/file-20230814-24-pw6hay.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=754&h=377&fit=crop&dpr=2 1508w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/542628/original/file-20230814-24-pw6hay.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=754&h=377&fit=crop&dpr=3 2262w" sizes="(min-width: 1466px) 754px, (max-width: 599px) 100vw, (min-width: 600px) 600px, 237px"></a>
<figcaption>
<span class="caption">The four species of giraffes inhabit remarkably different habitats across Africa, from lush savannas to desert.</span>
<span class="attribution"><span class="source">Michael Brown</span>, <a class="license" href="http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nd/4.0/">CC BY-ND</a></span>
</figcaption>
</figure>
<h2>Tracking wide-ranging animals</h2>
<p>Over the past decade, our collaborative conservation research team, spearheaded by the <a href="https://giraffeconservation.org/">Giraffe Conservation Foundation</a>, has embarked on an ambitious pan-African giraffe-tracking study to better understand giraffes’ movements across these diverse landscapes. </p>
<p>Each tracking operation contributes to local studies by telling us something interesting about giraffe behavior. For example, we published the first description of <a href="https://doi.org/10.3389/fevo.2019.00524">partial migration in a Ugandan giraffe population</a>, showing that giraffes can have complicated seasonal movements. </p>
<p>These studies also are important for guiding local management of giraffes. Partnering with organizations like <a href="https://www.earthranger.com/">EarthRanger</a>, which develops software to support conservation initiatives, we have pioneered the use of animal movement data to inform active conservation management. </p>
<p>We share giraffe location data in real time with rangers in protected areas to guide day-to-day conservation actions. As an example, we run continuous analytics on the giraffe data that alert teams on the ground when a giraffe stops moving or leaves the boundaries of a national park. With this information, teams can follow up quickly and address risks, such as when giraffes might be straying into dangerous areas.</p>
<figure>
<iframe width="440" height="260" src="https://www.youtube.com/embed/Bry-gJU-cis?wmode=transparent&start=0" frameborder="0" allowfullscreen=""></iframe>
<figcaption><span class="caption">In October 2021, conservation scientists and local wildlife officials translocated 10 South African giraffes over 1,600 miles (2,600 kilometers) from South Africa to Malawi. There they joined 13 giraffes already in Majete Wildlife Reserve, helping to expand the group into a sustainable population.</span></figcaption>
</figure>
<p>To look at these patterns at a larger scale in our recent study, we analyzed GPS tracking data from 148 giraffes, representing all four species from across 10 countries. We wanted to understand how giraffes may change their movements in response to human pressures and the availability of vegetation.</p>
<p>We used environmental data from satellite imagery, linking the giraffes’ locations to the exact conditions that the animals were moving through. Since the work drew from information collected across Africa through different GPS devices, we developed statistical techniques to harmonize the datasets and make the results directly comparable across ecosystems. </p>
<p>Overall, we found that giraffes cover impressively large areas. On average, each animal has a home range of about 140 square miles (360 square kilometers) – <a href="https://www.census.gov/quickfacts/fact/table/philadelphiacitypennsylvania/PST045222">nearly equivalent to the surface area of Philadelphia</a> – and travels about 8.5 miles (14 kilometers) every day. One of the biggest movers in our study, a female northern giraffe in Niger that navigated among communities raising livestock in the dry Sahel, covered a home range of nearly 1,500 square miles (3,860 square kilometers) – larger than the <a href="https://www.ri.gov/facts/history.php">land area of Rhode Island</a>. </p>
<p>Giraffes’ movements changed significantly based on the availability of woody vegetation and the level of human presence. Those in areas with plenty of woody vegetation didn’t cover as much ground as their counterparts in more barren zones, since the former had most of the resources they needed close by. Giraffes also tended to move less in places with significant human development – probably because of man-made barriers to their movements, like settlements, fences and roads.</p>
<p>In mixed areas with some development and some open spaces, we observed that giraffes covered more ground as they navigated these patchy environments. They traveled faster and covered larger areas when they were moving between resource-rich zones and more heavily developed areas.</p>
<figure class="align-center zoomable">
<a href="https://images.theconversation.com/files/540456/original/file-20230801-21-xj7o8h.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=1000&fit=clip"><img alt="Two giraffes at the edge of a road watch a car pass." src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/540456/original/file-20230801-21-xj7o8h.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&fit=clip" srcset="https://images.theconversation.com/files/540456/original/file-20230801-21-xj7o8h.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=600&h=400&fit=crop&dpr=1 600w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/540456/original/file-20230801-21-xj7o8h.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=600&h=400&fit=crop&dpr=2 1200w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/540456/original/file-20230801-21-xj7o8h.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=600&h=400&fit=crop&dpr=3 1800w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/540456/original/file-20230801-21-xj7o8h.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&h=503&fit=crop&dpr=1 754w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/540456/original/file-20230801-21-xj7o8h.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=754&h=503&fit=crop&dpr=2 1508w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/540456/original/file-20230801-21-xj7o8h.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=754&h=503&fit=crop&dpr=3 2262w" sizes="(min-width: 1466px) 754px, (max-width: 599px) 100vw, (min-width: 600px) 600px, 237px"></a>
<figcaption>
<span class="caption">Across their range, giraffes are navigating increasingly developed landscapes.</span>
<span class="attribution"><span class="source">Michael Brown, GCF</span>, <a class="license" href="http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nd/4.0/">CC BY-ND</a></span>
</figcaption>
</figure>
<h2>Giraffe movements inform conservation</h2>
<p>Understanding how giraffes respond to changes in environmental conditions is critical for their conservation. Climate change is making the availability of vegetation less predictable, and human populations in these areas are continuing to grow. Conservation strategies will need to account for giraffes’ changing movements as the animals respond to these shifts. </p>
<p>It also is important to develop principles for giraffe movement so that we can better predict how they might move in new environments. Conservation groups and governments are increasingly using <a href="https://giraffeconservation.org/programmes/conservation-translocations/">conservation translocations</a> – capturing wild giraffes and moving them to new habitats – as a tool to reestablish populations in areas where giraffes had previously become extinct. </p>
<p>Our movement data from giraffes across Africa is casting new light on their responses to different conditions and providing important information for conserving these iconic animals in a rapidly changing world.</p><img src="https://counter.theconversation.com/content/210263/count.gif" alt="The Conversation" width="1" height="1" />
<p class="fine-print"><em><span>Michael Brown works for the Giraffe Conservation Foundation and is an affiliated researcher for the Smithsonian National Zoo and Conservation Biology Institute. He receives funding from the Giraffe Conservation Foundation and its many supporters and is affiliated with the Smithsonian National Zoo and Conservation Biology Institute.</span></em></p>The largest ever giraffe tracking study shows how these massive animals are responding to human pressures across many different habitats throughout Africa.Michael Brown, Conservation Science Fellow, Smithsonian InstitutionLicensed as Creative Commons – attribution, no derivatives.tag:theconversation.com,2011:article/1791512022-05-17T18:56:02Z2022-05-17T18:56:02ZConnecting fragmented wolverine habitat is essential for their conservation<figure><img src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/463082/original/file-20220514-16-891w4f.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&rect=57%2C0%2C5472%2C3514&q=45&auto=format&w=496&fit=clip" /><figcaption><span class="caption">Wolverine numbers are declining globally due to heavy trapping and predator killing by humans, habitat loss, climate change and various other factors.</span> <span class="attribution"><span class="source">(Shutterstock)</span></span></figcaption></figure><iframe style="width: 100%; height: 100px; border: none; position: relative; z-index: 1;" allowtransparency="" allow="clipboard-read; clipboard-write" src="https://narrations.ad-auris.com/widget/the-conversation-canada/connecting-fragmented-wolverine-habitat-is-essential-for-their-conservation" width="100%" height="400"></iframe>
<p>Present day wolverines, <a href="https://doi.org/10.1134/S1022795415090069">which emerged during the ice age</a>, have been declining globally despite their many adaptions to live in challenging, rugged environments. </p>
<p>These large land-dwelling weasels evolved to scramble up trees and climb steep, snowy mountains. Wolverines’ snowshoe-like paws, heavy frost-resistant fur and powerful muscles let them thrive in some of the coldest places on Earth. Their sharp claws and strong jaws allow them to <a href="https://doi.org/10.1002/ecs2.1407">feast on carcasses</a> and <a href="https://doi.org/10.22621/cfn.v132i3.1947">hunt species of all sizes</a> from ground squirrels to elk. </p>
<p>While wolverines have been <a href="https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=3SOjmJG73UI">filmed hunting caribou in Norway</a> and <a href="https://www.sciencedaily.com/releases/2003/05/030506073236.htm">observed battling black bears over food in Yellowstone</a>, they are extremely vulnerable, rarely seen and hard to study. <a href="https://doi.org/10.1016/j.gecco.2022.e02019">Wolverine numbers are declining</a> globally due to heavy trapping and predator killing by humans as well as habitat loss, climate change and various other factors. <a href="https://species-registry.canada.ca/index-en.html#/consultations/206">Scientists estimate there are more than 10,000 wolverines in Canada</a>, but population densities vary a lot and numbers are difficult to estimate. </p>
<p>Our <a href="https://doi.org/10.1016/j.gecco.2022.e02019">20 years of synthesized research about wolverines</a> shows that the best ways to protect remaining wolverine populations are to reduce trapping, minimize predator control pressures and connect the large blocks of intact habitat they need to survive.</p>
<h2>Not as resilient as you might think</h2>
<p>Wolverines are private, generally solitary, species. They are slow to reproduce and have an average of two cubs, or kits, every two to three years. </p>
<figure class="align-center ">
<img alt="A wolverine with her cub" src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/463083/original/file-20220514-8286-72ywkc.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&fit=clip" srcset="https://images.theconversation.com/files/463083/original/file-20220514-8286-72ywkc.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=600&h=400&fit=crop&dpr=1 600w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/463083/original/file-20220514-8286-72ywkc.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=600&h=400&fit=crop&dpr=2 1200w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/463083/original/file-20220514-8286-72ywkc.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=600&h=400&fit=crop&dpr=3 1800w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/463083/original/file-20220514-8286-72ywkc.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&h=503&fit=crop&dpr=1 754w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/463083/original/file-20220514-8286-72ywkc.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=754&h=503&fit=crop&dpr=2 1508w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/463083/original/file-20220514-8286-72ywkc.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=754&h=503&fit=crop&dpr=3 2262w" sizes="(min-width: 1466px) 754px, (max-width: 599px) 100vw, (min-width: 600px) 600px, 237px">
<figcaption>
<span class="caption">Wolverines are slow to reproduce as they give birth to an average of two kits every two to three years.</span>
<span class="attribution"><span class="source">(Shutterstock)</span></span>
</figcaption>
</figure>
<p>They are <a href="https://www.canada.ca/en/environment-climate-change/services/species-risk-public-registry/cosewic-assessments-status-reports/wolverine-status-2014.html">naturally low in number</a> and defend territories as large as 500-1,000 square kilometres, or sometimes more. These traits make them vulnerable to human impacts around the world.</p>
<p>Since the Europeans colonized North America, fur trapping and landscape development <a href="https://species-registry.canada.ca/index-en.html#/consultations/206">shrank the wolverine range drastically</a>. South of the wide Arctic range, wolverines can be found only in the western boreal forest and mountains. But they used to live from coast to coast and as far south as New Mexico. </p>
<p>Today, in the United States, <a href="https://doi.org/10.2193/2006-548">only around 300 remain in the lower 48 states — mainly in the snowy strongholds</a> and high elevations of the mountain ranges. Wolverines are restricted to northern countries in Eurasia and are <a href="https://doi.org/10.1111/conl.12171">killed as predators of reindeer herds</a> in Fennoscandia.</p>
<figure class="align-center zoomable">
<a href="https://images.theconversation.com/files/463518/original/file-20220517-20-nq8zp0.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=1000&fit=clip"><img alt="A map of the wolverine distribution in North America." src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/463518/original/file-20220517-20-nq8zp0.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&fit=clip" srcset="https://images.theconversation.com/files/463518/original/file-20220517-20-nq8zp0.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=600&h=513&fit=crop&dpr=1 600w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/463518/original/file-20220517-20-nq8zp0.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=600&h=513&fit=crop&dpr=2 1200w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/463518/original/file-20220517-20-nq8zp0.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=600&h=513&fit=crop&dpr=3 1800w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/463518/original/file-20220517-20-nq8zp0.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&h=644&fit=crop&dpr=1 754w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/463518/original/file-20220517-20-nq8zp0.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=754&h=644&fit=crop&dpr=2 1508w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/463518/original/file-20220517-20-nq8zp0.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=754&h=644&fit=crop&dpr=3 2262w" sizes="(min-width: 1466px) 754px, (max-width: 599px) 100vw, (min-width: 600px) 600px, 237px"></a>
<figcaption>
<span class="caption">Wolverine distribution in North America.</span>
<span class="attribution"><a class="source" href="https://www.canada.ca/en/environment-climate-change/services/species-risk-public-registry/cosewic-assessments-status-reports/wolverine-status-2014.html#_fig03">(Environment Canada)</a></span>
</figcaption>
</figure>
<p>As tough as they are, wolverines are sometimes <a href="https://doi.org/10.2193/0022-541X(2004)068%5b0493:SOSRAC%5d2.0.CO;2">eaten by other big predators</a>. As scavengers, taking food from a hungry bear or pack of wolves is a risky lifestyle. Their habitat is degraded by resource development, including <a href="https://doi.org/10.1016/j.foreco.2017.03.029">forestry</a>, <a href="https://doi.org/10.1002/ece3.3337">oil and gas</a> and <a href="https://doi.org/10.2981/wlb.00480">roads</a>. People still trap wolverines in Canada, often <a href="https://doi.org/10.1002/jwmg.21787">far too heavily</a>. They can also be <a href="https://doi.org/10.1002/ecs2.2611">sensitive to recreation</a>. </p>
<p>All this human activity makes life better for wolverines’ competitors — coyotes. Where coyotes exploit developed landscapes, they come into conflict with wolverines, <a href="https://doi.org/10.1016/j.biocon.2021.109435">and in these fights, wolverines lose</a>.</p>
<p>Piled on those problems is the impact of climate change on wolverine habitat. <a href="https://doi.org/10.1890/10-2206.1">The cold, snowy refuges</a> that wolverines have sought south of the Arctic are now thawing. Wolverines need snow to <a href="https://doi.org/10.1007/s00265-020-2823-4">cache food</a>, to raise their <a href="https://doi.org/10.2307/3801996">vulnerable kits safely</a> and to keep lowland competitors away. The one-two punch of landscape change and climate change are making matters worse for wolverines.</p>
<h2>Building blocks for wolverine conservation</h2>
<p>Wolverines need large, <a href="https://y2y.net/work/hot-projects/mapping-wolverine-way/">connected blocks of intact habitat to survive</a>. The only way to protect them in the long run is to help protect and connect their fragmented blocks of habitat. </p>
<figure class="align-center ">
<img alt="A scenic mountainous green landscape" src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/463084/original/file-20220514-12-32h47.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&fit=clip" srcset="https://images.theconversation.com/files/463084/original/file-20220514-12-32h47.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=600&h=297&fit=crop&dpr=1 600w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/463084/original/file-20220514-12-32h47.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=600&h=297&fit=crop&dpr=2 1200w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/463084/original/file-20220514-12-32h47.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=600&h=297&fit=crop&dpr=3 1800w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/463084/original/file-20220514-12-32h47.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&h=373&fit=crop&dpr=1 754w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/463084/original/file-20220514-12-32h47.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=754&h=373&fit=crop&dpr=2 1508w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/463084/original/file-20220514-12-32h47.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=754&h=373&fit=crop&dpr=3 2262w" sizes="(min-width: 1466px) 754px, (max-width: 599px) 100vw, (min-width: 600px) 600px, 237px">
<figcaption>
<span class="caption">Prime wolverine habitat near Revelstoke, B.C. in summer. Wolverines need large areas of intact, connected habitat to survive.</span>
<span class="attribution"><span class="source">(Mirjam Barrueto/WolverineWatch.org)</span>, <span class="license">Author provided</span></span>
</figcaption>
</figure>
<p>Creating more protected areas and managing human activity within and next to them will help. Protecting “<a href="https://www.cbc.ca/radio/whatonearth/the-wolverine-s-world-is-shrinking-but-they-ve-found-a-safe-haven-in-b-c-mountains-1.6444665">climate refugia</a>” — the last bastions of cold wolverine habitat — is an important priority. Landscape planning to <a href="https://doi.org/10.1016/j.isci.2021.102840">connect mountain refuges</a> across busy degraded valley bottoms is sorely needed, especially in southern Canada and the United States </p>
<p>Work to maintain or improve ecological connectivity is happening in some places, such as <a href="https://theconversation.com/linking-protected-areas-from-yellowstone-to-the-yukon-shows-the-value-of-conserving-large-landscapes-not-just-isolated-parks-and-preserves-177501">from Yellowstone to Yukon</a> and <a href="https://portals.iucn.org/library/node/49061">other areas in the world</a>. </p>
<p>Roads and industrial development cut up major sections of prime habitat. We can fight habitat fragmentation by making better decisions about road-building, including when to decommission roads built for resource extraction and <a href="https://doi.org/10.1016/j.biocon.2019.06.030">mitigating the effects of traffic</a> on wolverines and other wildlife. Habitat protection, connectivity and restoration are critical for wolverines.</p>
<p>We also need transboundary co-ordination. We need to think across larger landscapes, especially regions that still support wolverines on both sides of a border — like between Canada and the United States or between Norway and Sweden.</p>
<h2>No longer ignorant nor blissful</h2>
<p>Globally, governments have insufficiently protected wolverines. </p>
<p>Sweden’s <a href="https://doi.org/10.1073/pnas.2011383117">predator stewardship program is an exception</a> and British Columbia has stopped wolverine trapping in small locales. </p>
<p>Otherwise, large-scale wolverine conservation has been on the back burner. In the U.S., a <a href="https://www.theguardian.com/environment/2020/oct/12/wolverines-endangered-species-act-us-fish-wildlife">petition to list wolverines on the federal Endangered Species Act was thwarted</a>. Canada lacks a federal management plan and British Columbia’s most recent wolverine plan is from 1989, while Alberta lists the species in the “data deficient” category.</p>
<figure class="align-center ">
<img alt="A wolverine in a camera trap surrounded by trees and a snow covered ground." src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/463085/original/file-20220514-23-lndoua.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&fit=clip" srcset="https://images.theconversation.com/files/463085/original/file-20220514-23-lndoua.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=600&h=442&fit=crop&dpr=1 600w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/463085/original/file-20220514-23-lndoua.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=600&h=442&fit=crop&dpr=2 1200w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/463085/original/file-20220514-23-lndoua.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=600&h=442&fit=crop&dpr=3 1800w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/463085/original/file-20220514-23-lndoua.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&h=556&fit=crop&dpr=1 754w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/463085/original/file-20220514-23-lndoua.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=754&h=556&fit=crop&dpr=2 1508w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/463085/original/file-20220514-23-lndoua.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=754&h=556&fit=crop&dpr=3 2262w" sizes="(min-width: 1466px) 754px, (max-width: 599px) 100vw, (min-width: 600px) 600px, 237px">
<figcaption>
<span class="caption">A wolverine at a research station in southeastern British Columbia. We know a lot about wolverines. All we have to do is use the knowledge and act fast.</span>
<span class="attribution"><span class="source">(Mirjam Barrueto/WolverineWatch.org)</span>, <span class="license">Author provided</span></span>
</figcaption>
</figure>
<p>For years it seemed like not much was known about wolverines, and policymakers have rested on wolverines’ mystery to excuse inaction. </p>
<p>The truth is, science knows a lot about wolverines. Research from around the world clearly shows what we need to do. </p>
<p>Wolverines may have evolved in the cold but the heat is on us to act now. We must <a href="https://doi.org/10.1016/j.gecco.2022.e02019">use the research compiled over the past two decades</a> to make the changes needed to conserve wolverines.</p><img src="https://counter.theconversation.com/content/179151/count.gif" alt="The Conversation" width="1" height="1" />
<p class="fine-print"><em><span>Jason T Fisher receives funding from Oil Sands Monitoring Program, Government of Alberta (Environment and Parks), Yellowstone to Yukon Conservation Initiative, and Urban Wildlife Stewardship Society.</span></em></p><p class="fine-print"><em><span>Aerin Jacob works for the Yellowstone to Yukon Conservation Initiative (Y2Y), an environmental non-government organization and charity in Canada and the United States. Y2Y receives funding from foundations, corporations, and government bodies further described at <a href="https://y2y.net/about/partners/supporters">https://y2y.net/about/partners/supporters</a>.</span></em></p>The key to protecting wolverines around the world is to reduce trapping, minimize predator control pressures, and to protect and connect large blocks of intact habitat they need to survive.Jason T Fisher, Adjunct Professor; Head, Applied Conservation Macro Ecology Lab, University of VictoriaAerin Jacob, Adjunct professor, Department of Ecosystem Science and Management, University of Northern British ColumbiaLicensed as Creative Commons – attribution, no derivatives.tag:theconversation.com,2011:article/1342382020-03-27T02:33:50Z2020-03-27T02:33:50ZCitizen science: how you can contribute to coronavirus research without leaving the house<figure><img src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/323443/original/file-20200326-132995-18x7af6.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&rect=36%2C36%2C6071%2C3617&q=45&auto=format&w=496&fit=clip" /><figcaption><span class="caption"></span> </figcaption></figure><p>As Australians try to <a href="https://www.beyondblue.org.au/the-facts/looking-after-your-mental-health-during-the-coronavirus-outbreak">maintain social engagement during self-isolation</a>, <a href="https://citizenscience.org.au/">citizen science</a> offers a unique opportunity. </p>
<p>Defined as “public participation and collaboration in scientific research”, citizen science allows everyday people to use technology to unite towards a common goal – from the comfort of their homes. And it is now offering a chance to <a href="http://eu-citizen.science/citizen-science-resources-related-to-the-covid19-pandemic/">contribute to research on the coronavirus pandemic</a>.</p>
<p>With so many of us staying home, this could help build a sense of community where we may otherwise feel <a href="https://www.lifeline.org.au/get-help/topics/mental-health-and-wellbeing-during-the-coronavirus-covid-19-outbreak">helpless</a>, or <a href="https://www.beyondblue.org.au/the-facts/looking-after-your-mental-health-during-the-coronavirus-outbreak">struggle with isolation</a>. </p>
<hr>
<p>
<em>
<strong>
Read more:
<a href="https://theconversation.com/cant-sleep-and-feeling-anxious-about-coronavirus-youre-not-alone-134407">Can't sleep and feeling anxious about coronavirus? You're not alone</a>
</strong>
</em>
</p>
<hr>
<p>Anyone is welcome to contribute. You don’t need expertise, just time and interest. Projects exist in many forms, catering to people of diverse ages, backgrounds and circumstances. Many projects offer resources and guides to help you get started, and opportunities to collaborate via online discussion forums.</p>
<h2>Ditch the news cycle – engage, gain skills and make a difference</h2>
<p>Scientists worldwide are racing to find effective treatments and vaccines to halt the coronavirus pandemic. As a citizen scientist, you can join the effort to help tackle COVID-19, and other infectious diseases.</p>
<p><a href="https://fold.it/">Foldit</a> is an online game that challenges players to fold proteins to better understand their structure and function. The Foldit team is now challenging citizen scientists to design antiviral proteins that can bind with the coronavirus. </p>
<p>The highest scoring designs will be manufactured and tested in real life. In this way, Foldit offers a creative outlet that could eventually contribute to a future vaccine for the virus. </p>
<p>Another similar project is <a href="https://www.howtogeek.com/663539/how-to-fight-coronavirus-with-foldinghome-and-a-gaming-pc/">Folding@home</a>. This is a distributed computing project that, rather than using you to find proteins, uses your computer’s processing power to run calculations in the background. Your computer becomes one of thousands running calculations, all working together.</p>
<p>One way to combat infectious diseases is by monitoring their spread, to predict outbreaks. </p>
<p>Online surveillance project <a href="https://info.flutracking.net/">FluTracking</a> helps track influenza. By completing a 10-second survey each week, participants aid researchers in monitoring the prevalence of flu-like symptoms across Australia and New Zealand. It could also <a href="https://www.newcastleherald.com.au/story/6646474/flutracking-needs-community-support-to-help-track-any-potential-coronavirus-outbreaks/">help track the spread of the coronavirus</a>.</p>
<p>Such initiatives are increasingly important in the global fight against emerging infectious diseases, including COVID-19. </p>
<figure class="align-center zoomable">
<a href="https://images.theconversation.com/files/321865/original/file-20200320-22594-1u28cxp.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=1000&fit=clip"><img alt="" src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/321865/original/file-20200320-22594-1u28cxp.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&fit=clip" srcset="https://images.theconversation.com/files/321865/original/file-20200320-22594-1u28cxp.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=600&h=467&fit=crop&dpr=1 600w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/321865/original/file-20200320-22594-1u28cxp.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=600&h=467&fit=crop&dpr=2 1200w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/321865/original/file-20200320-22594-1u28cxp.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=600&h=467&fit=crop&dpr=3 1800w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/321865/original/file-20200320-22594-1u28cxp.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&h=587&fit=crop&dpr=1 754w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/321865/original/file-20200320-22594-1u28cxp.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=754&h=587&fit=crop&dpr=2 1508w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/321865/original/file-20200320-22594-1u28cxp.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=754&h=587&fit=crop&dpr=3 2262w" sizes="(min-width: 1466px) 754px, (max-width: 599px) 100vw, (min-width: 600px) 600px, 237px"></a>
<figcaption>
<span class="caption">Citizen science portal Flutracking’ was designed to allow researchers and citizens to track flu-like symptoms around Australia and New Zealand.</span>
</figcaption>
</figure>
<p>Another program, <a href="https://www.patientslikeme.com/conditions">PatientsLikeMe</a>, empowers patients who have tested positive to a disease to share their experiences and treatment regimes with others who have similar health concerns. This lets researchers test potential treatments more quickly. </p>
<p>The program recently set up a <a href="https://www.patientslikeme.com/conditions/COVID-19">community for people who have contracted COVID-19 and recovered</a>. These individuals are contributing to a data set that could prove useful in the fight against the virus.</p>
<h2>Environmental projects need your support too</h2>
<p>If you’d like to get your mind off COVID-19, there’s a plethora of other options for citizen scientists. You can contribute to conservation and nature recovery efforts – <a href="https://www.theguardian.com/australia-news/2020/jan/31/birds-insects-animal-poo-citizen-science-search-for-data-to-make-sense-of-bushfire-devastation">a task many took to after the recent bushfires</a>. </p>
<hr>
<p>
<em>
<strong>
Read more:
<a href="https://theconversation.com/coronavirus-seven-ways-collective-intelligence-is-tackling-the-pandemic-133553">Coronavirus: seven ways collective intelligence is tackling the pandemic</a>
</strong>
</em>
</p>
<hr>
<p>Some sites ask volunteers to digitise data from ongoing environmental monitoring programs. Contributors need no prior experience, and interpret photos taken with remote digital cameras using online guides. One example is Western Australia’s Western Shield <a href="https://www.zooniverse.org/projects/birgus2/western-shield-camera-watch">Camera Watch</a>, available through <a href="https://www.zooniverse.org/">Zooniverse</a>.</p>
<p>Other sites crowdsource volunteers to transcribe data from natural history collections (<a href="https://australianmuseum.net.au/get-involved/citizen-science/digivol/">DigiVol</a>), historical logbooks from explorers, and weather observation stations (<a href="https://www.zooniverse.org/projects/drewdeepsouth/southern-weather-discovery">Southern Weather Discovery</a>).</p>
<figure class="align-left ">
<img alt="" src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/322507/original/file-20200324-155624-1hhi2vs.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=237&fit=clip" srcset="https://images.theconversation.com/files/322507/original/file-20200324-155624-1hhi2vs.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=600&h=1046&fit=crop&dpr=1 600w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/322507/original/file-20200324-155624-1hhi2vs.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=600&h=1046&fit=crop&dpr=2 1200w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/322507/original/file-20200324-155624-1hhi2vs.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=600&h=1046&fit=crop&dpr=3 1800w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/322507/original/file-20200324-155624-1hhi2vs.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&h=1315&fit=crop&dpr=1 754w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/322507/original/file-20200324-155624-1hhi2vs.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=754&h=1315&fit=crop&dpr=2 1508w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/322507/original/file-20200324-155624-1hhi2vs.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=754&h=1315&fit=crop&dpr=3 2262w" sizes="(min-width: 1466px) 754px, (max-width: 599px) 100vw, (min-width: 600px) 600px, 237px">
<figcaption>
<span class="caption">The Cornell Lab of Ornithology’s citizen science app eBird uses bird sightings to fuel research and conservation efforts.</span>
<span class="attribution"><span class="source">eBird</span></span>
</figcaption>
</figure>
<p>Citizen science programs such as <a href="https://www.allaboutbirds.org/news/how-to-make-these-next-few-weeks-a-little-easier-courtesy-of-birds/">eBird</a>, BirdLife Australia’s <a href="https://birdata.birdlife.org.au/">Birdata</a>, the Australian Museum’s <a href="https://www.frogid.net.au/">FrogID</a>, <a href="https://www.climatewatch.org.au/">ClimateWatch</a>, <a href="https://questagame.com/">QuestaGame</a>, <a href="https://naturemapr.org/">NatureMapr</a>, and the <a href="https://nespurban.edu.au/platforms/caul-urban-wildlife-app/">Urban Wildlife App</a>, all have freely available mobile applications that let you contribute to <a href="https://www.ala.org.au/">“big” databases</a> on urban and rural wildlife. </p>
<p>Nature watching is a great self-isolation activity because you can do it anywhere, including at home. <a href="https://questagame.com/">Questagame</a> runs a series of “bioquests” where people of all ages and experience levels can photograph animals and plants they encounter. </p>
<p>In April, we’ll also have the national <a href="https://wildpollinatorcount.com/">Wild Pollinator Count</a>. This project invites participants to watch any flowering plant for just ten minutes, and record insects that visit the flowers. The aim is to boost knowledge on wild pollinator activity. </p>
<p>The data collected through citizen science apps are used by researchers to explore animal migration, understand ranges of species, and determine how changes in climate, air quality and habitat affect animal behaviour.</p>
<hr>
<p>
<em>
<strong>
Read more:
<a href="https://theconversation.com/as-heat-strikes-heres-one-way-to-help-fight-disease-carrying-and-nuisance-mosquitoes-128466">As heat strikes, here's one way to help fight disease-carrying and nuisance mosquitoes</a>
</strong>
</em>
</p>
<hr>
<p>This year for the first time, several Australian cities are participating in iNaturalist’s <a href="https://citynaturechallengeaustralia.wordpress.com/">City Nature Challenge</a>. The organisers have adapted planned events with COVID-19 in mind, and suggest ways to document nature while maintaining social distancing. You can simply capture what you can see in your backyard, or when taking a walk, or put a moth light out at night to see what it attracts.</p>
<h2>Connecting across generations</h2>
<p>For those at home with children, there are a variety of projects aimed at younger audiences. </p>
<p>From <a href="https://astroquest.net.au/">surveying galaxies</a> to the Bird Academy Play Lab’s <a href="https://academy.allaboutbirds.org/learning-games/#_ga=2.235486017.1755083873.1584592553-131672438.1584592553">Games Powered By Birds</a> - starting young can encourage a lifetime of learning.</p>
<p>If you’re talented at writing or drawing, why not keep a nature diary, and share your observations through a <a href="https://mynaturediaries.wordpress.com/blog/">blog</a>.</p>
<p>By contributing to research through digital platforms, citizen scientists offer a repository of data experts might not otherwise have access to. The <a href="https://citizenscience.org.au/2020/03/21/citizen-science-and-covid-19/">Australian Citizen Science Association (ACSA) website</a> has details on current projects you can join, or how to start your own. </p>
<p>Apart from being a valuable way to pass time while self-isolating, citizen science reminds us of the importance of community and collaboration at a time it’s desperately needed.</p><img src="https://counter.theconversation.com/content/134238/count.gif" alt="The Conversation" width="1" height="1" />
<p class="fine-print"><em><span>Ayesha Tulloch receives funding from the Australian Research Council and the NSW Government's Department of Planning, Industry and Environment. She is the Vice President of Public Policy and Outreach and co-convenes the Science Communication Chapter for the Ecological Society of Australia, and sits on Birdlife Australia's Research and Conservation Committee. She is a member of eBird Australia and the University of Sydney's Charles Perkins Centre Citizen Science Node.</span></em></p><p class="fine-print"><em><span>Aaron Greenville receives funding from the Australian Research Council, National Landcare Program, Herman Slade Foundation, National Environmental Science Programme and a Sydney Life Grant from the University of Sydney. He is a founding member of Team Kowari, a not-for-profit organisation dedicated to the conservation of the kowari and member of Charles Perkins Centre Citizen Science Node. </span></em></p><p class="fine-print"><em><span>Alice Motion receives funding from the Westpac Scholars Foundation and the Google Impact Challenge. She works at the School of Chemistry at the University of Sydney where she is Co-Chair of the Citizen Science Node situated in the Charles Perkins Centre and Deputy Director (Outreach) of the Sydney Nano Institute. The University of Sydney is the host organisation of the Australian Citizen Science Association (ACSA) and Alice is a member of the ACSA management committee. </span></em></p><p class="fine-print"><em><span>Cobi Calyx works for the Centre for Social Impact, UNSW Sydney, with funding from UNSW Science and the Australian Academy of Science through Future Earth Australia. She was a founding member and is now a Committee Member of the Australian Citizen Science Association.</span></em></p><p class="fine-print"><em><span>Glenda Wardle receives funding from the Australian Research Council, Herman Slade Foundation, Central Land Council, National Landcare Program, NSW Government's Department of Planning, Industry and Environment. TERN enabled by the NCRIS National Research Infrastructure for Australia, and a Sydney Life Grant from the University of Sydney.
Glenda is Chair of the Ecosystem Science Council and a member of the University of Sydney's Charles Perkins Centre Citizen Science Node.</span></em></p><p class="fine-print"><em><span>Rebecca Cross receives funding from NSW Environmental Trust and the Australian Centre for International Agricultural Research (ACIAR).</span></em></p><p class="fine-print"><em><span>Rosanne Quinnell receives funding from The University of Sydney for a Student Life Grant and is member of the University of Sydney's Charles Perkins Centre Citizen Science Node.</span></em></p><p class="fine-print"><em><span>Samantha Rowbotham has receives funding from The Australian Prevention Partnership Centre, which is was funded by the National Health and Medical Research Council of Australia (NHMRC) through its Partnership Centre grant scheme. Samantha is a members of the Menzies Centre for Health Policy and the University of Sydney's Charles Perkins Centre Citizen Science Node.</span></em></p><p class="fine-print"><em><span>Yun-Hee Jeon receives funding from the National Health and Medical Research Council. Yun-Hee is a Lead for Charles Perkins Centre Citizen Science Node, The University of Sydney. </span></em></p>As scientists frantically try to find drugs to slow COVID-19’s spread, citizen science offers an opportunity for all of us to get involved.Ayesha Tulloch, DECRA Research Fellow, University of SydneyAaron Greenville, Lecturer in Spatial Agricultural and Environmental Sciences, University of SydneyAlice Motion, Associate professor, University of SydneyCobi Calyx, Research Fellow in Science Communication, UNSW SydneyGlenda Wardle, Professor of Ecology and Evolution, University of SydneyRebecca Cross, Lecturer in Human Geography, University of SydneyRosanne Quinnell, Associate Professor, University of SydneySamantha Rowbotham, Lecturer, Health Policy, University of SydneyYun-Hee Jeon, Susan and Isaac Wakil Professor of Healthy Ageing, University of SydneyLicensed as Creative Commons – attribution, no derivatives.tag:theconversation.com,2011:article/1284662019-12-10T19:02:56Z2019-12-10T19:02:56ZAs heat strikes, here’s one way to help fight disease-carrying and nuisance mosquitoes<figure><img src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/305857/original/file-20191209-90588-z0hh9p.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&rect=10%2C5%2C3446%2C2308&q=45&auto=format&w=496&fit=clip" /><figcaption><span class="caption">Although yellow fever does not currently exist in Australia, the species Aedes aegypti - which can transmit the disease - is found widely across northern Queensland. The virus remains a global health concern, but citizen scientists could help prevent its spread.</span> <span class="attribution"><a class="source" href="https://www.flickr.com/photos/dfataustralianaid/10703811283/in/photolist-hiRQbp-o2C5Ea-5teKrM-prufsH-9JrLwy-pQqpF-nL5DfG-77JZRZ-cpUoNL-9tkBLk-5jxMyp-7iZSB-r9ZY2X-cg2SEh-5teJBV-cpUp4u-5pBMJ8-5pBMJp-rrmyFd-5pBMJ4-4XfWfe-b29TGT-Bm2uxJ-a4SkT1-edLmUv-3WkCVT-8uLqtp-c21i5A-emM5p-6qrVrt-NrjrV-xc69Yg-8uPuEu-8uLqBa-a5XbDu-87nf2R-nEXatf-CHguk-nVU9DN-aq412c-fH3CgY-xtKBz-g4wDM-d8VGcm-9AVAYW-foZPD-fnviLL-wgXh5-bvXznE-Xm4f">Simon Kutcher/flickr</a>, <a class="license" href="http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/">CC BY</a></span></figcaption></figure><p>Mosquito-borne disease is a concern for health authorities around Australia. Each year, thousands fall ill to <a href="https://journals.plos.org/plospathogens/article?id=10.1371/journal.ppat.1005070">Ross River virus disease</a> caused by mosquito bites.</p>
<p>Tracking mosquito populations can help us respond to these threats, and new research suggests citizen scientists may be the key to doing this more effectively.</p>
<p>Health authorities coordinate the surveillance of <a href="https://parasitesandvectors.biomedcentral.com/articles/10.1186/s13071-018-2901-x?optIn=false">mosquitoes and their pathogens</a>. These surveillance data help improve the understanding of mosquito-borne disease outbreaks.</p>
<p>They also help guide <a href="https://ww2.health.wa.gov.au/Articles/F_I/Fight-the-Bite-campaign">public education campaigns</a>, and assist in mosquito control efforts, <a href="https://onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/abs/10.1111/j.1440-6055.2008.00642.x">often through the application of insecticides</a>. </p>
<hr>
<p>
<em>
<strong>
Read more:
<a href="https://theconversation.com/the-worst-year-for-mosquitoes-ever-heres-how-we-find-out-68433">The worst year for mosquitoes ever? Here's how we find out</a>
</strong>
</em>
</p>
<hr>
<p>However, there aren’t enough resources to set mosquito traps everywhere. It can also be tricky getting specimens from the field to the lab for testing. This is where <a href="https://theconversation.com/explainer-what-is-citizen-science-16487">citizen science</a> is important.</p>
<p>This public-led movement involves volunteers gathering scientific data for programs coordinated by professional scientists, simply through <a href="https://www.environment.nsw.gov.au/research-and-publications/your-research/citizen-science/digital-projects/coastsnap">taking photos</a> or <a href="https://www.frogid.net.au/">recording sounds</a> on their smartphones.</p>
<p>In this way, sightings of <a href="https://www.theguardian.com/environment/2018/aug/06/the-golden-age-of-citizen-science-and-how-it-is-reshaping-the-world">animals and plants</a> can be reported. Citizen scientists can even help in experimental design, data analysis and distribution of research results.</p>
<h2>Getting bu-zzzz-y tracking mosquitoes</h2>
<p>One program called <a href="https://hehp.wordpress.com/category/mozzie-monitors/">Mozzie Monitors</a>, <a href="https://www.unisa.edu.au/sansominstitute/mosquito/">launched in June</a> last year, is shedding light on how citizen science can address critical resource shortages in mosquito surveillance efforts. </p>
<p>Our research published last week in <a href="https://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/pii/S0048969719353410">Science and the Total Environment</a> reveals how the program’s use of smartphone e-entomology (“e” stands for electronic) is enabling the low-cost upscaling of mosquito surveillance.</p>
<p>The program involves <a href="https://www.abc.net.au/btn/newsbreak/mozzie-monitors-help-researchers/11221072">recruiting volunteers</a> to set up cheap and simple mosquito traps in their backyards, and use their smartphones to send back data on the caught mosquitoes. </p>
<figure class="align-left zoomable">
<a href="https://images.theconversation.com/files/305733/original/file-20191208-90618-1ltddkg.JPG?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=1000&fit=clip"><img alt="" src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/305733/original/file-20191208-90618-1ltddkg.JPG?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=237&fit=clip" srcset="https://images.theconversation.com/files/305733/original/file-20191208-90618-1ltddkg.JPG?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=600&h=400&fit=crop&dpr=1 600w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/305733/original/file-20191208-90618-1ltddkg.JPG?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=600&h=400&fit=crop&dpr=2 1200w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/305733/original/file-20191208-90618-1ltddkg.JPG?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=600&h=400&fit=crop&dpr=3 1800w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/305733/original/file-20191208-90618-1ltddkg.JPG?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&h=503&fit=crop&dpr=1 754w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/305733/original/file-20191208-90618-1ltddkg.JPG?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=754&h=503&fit=crop&dpr=2 1508w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/305733/original/file-20191208-90618-1ltddkg.JPG?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=754&h=503&fit=crop&dpr=3 2262w" sizes="(min-width: 1466px) 754px, (max-width: 599px) 100vw, (min-width: 600px) 600px, 237px"></a>
<figcaption>
<span class="caption">Mozzie Monitors volunteers used a simple BG-GAT trap to catch mosquitoes.</span>
<span class="attribution"><span class="source">Cameron Webb/NSW Health Pathology</span>, <span class="license">Author provided</span></span>
</figcaption>
</figure>
<p>A <a href="https://chuffed.org/project/mozzie-monitors">crowd-funding campaign</a> attracted donations from over 150 people to help launch the program, from which 126 people became actively involved in data collection. </p>
<p>Each participant was provided with an easy-to-use <a href="https://eu.biogents.com/bg-gat-for-homeowners/">Biogents BG-GAT (Gravid Aedes Trap)</a> and asked to email the research group with photos of collected mosquitoes. Scientists were then able to use these photos to identify and count the different species collected. This approach is called e-entomology. </p>
<p>The volunteers sent more than 10,000 photos of mosquitoes to scientists. From these, 15 different species were identified, ranging from <em>Aedes notoscriptus</em> (the common Australian backyard mosquito) to <em>Aedes camptorhynchus</em>, a mosquito flying into suburbs from nearby coastal wetlands.</p>
<p>The number of mosquitoes changed throughout the year in response to changing temperatures. Unsurprisingly, they hit their peak during summer.</p>
<hr>
<p>
<em>
<strong>
Read more:
<a href="https://theconversation.com/hidden-housemates-the-mosquitoes-that-battle-for-our-backyards-59072">Hidden housemates: the mosquitoes that battle for our backyards</a>
</strong>
</em>
</p>
<hr>
<h2>The value of citizen science data</h2>
<p>The Mozzie Monitors program marks the first time formal mosquito trapping has been combined with citizen science.</p>
<p>A key research question for us was: do the data collected by citizen scientists align with data collected in formal mosquito surveillance programs?</p>
<p>To test this, the data collected by Mozzie Monitors volunteers were compared to data collected from a professional program monitoring mosquitoes around urban wetlands. Mosquitoes <a href="https://entomologytoday.org/2019/04/11/mosquito-management-key-urban-wetlands/">associated with these wetlands</a> can pose pest and public health risks. </p>
<p>The citizen scientists contributed more than four times the amount of data than professional monitoring efforts. This included locally important species known to spread Ross River virus. </p>
<p>In terms of the number and diversity of mosquitoes collected, citizen science proved just as reliable as a professional program.</p>
<h2>Other victories</h2>
<p>There has been growing interest in the <a href="https://www.nature.com/articles/s41467-017-00914-9">potential of citizen science to assist the surveillance of mosquitoes</a> associated with nuisance-biting and disease risks. </p>
<p>In Brisbane, the Metro South Public Health Unit’s <a href="https://metrosouth.health.qld.gov.au/zika-mozzie-seeker">Zika Mozzie Seeker</a> program has sought to detect the arrival of exotic mosquitoes that may increase the risk of potentially serious diseases caused by the dengue, <a href="https://www.who.int/news-room/fact-sheets/detail/chikungunya">chikungunya</a>, or Zika viruses. </p>
<hr>
<p>
<em>
<strong>
Read more:
<a href="https://theconversation.com/new-mosquito-threats-shift-risks-from-our-swamps-to-our-suburbs-56350">New mosquito threats shift risks from our swamps to our suburbs</a>
</strong>
</em>
</p>
<hr>
<p>In Spain last year, citizen scientists using the <a href="https://parasitesandvectors.biomedcentral.com/articles/10.1186/s13071-019-3317-y">Mosquito Alert</a> app for smartphones detected the arrival of an invasive mosquito, <em>Aedes japonicus</em>, before local authorities could.</p>
<h2>Where to now?</h2>
<p>The citizen science movement is growing across the world, promoting life-long learning among citizens. </p>
<p>It’s important communities continue to be made aware of their potential role in wildlife surveillance efforts. </p>
<p>By engaging the public in Mozzie Monitors, we’ve been able to integrate citizen science with a professional programs to boost mosquito surveillance. </p>
<p>Now, more mosquitoes can be trapped in more locations, giving health authorities a clearer picture of potential health risks. This also increases our chances of detecting invasive species that are a biosecurity threat.</p>
<p>Apart from monitoring mosquitoes, the Mozzie Monitors program is educating communities about mosquito diversity in their own backyards, and helping raise awareness of local disease risk. </p>
<p>As mosquitoes were identified during the trial, results were <a href="https://public.tableau.com/profile/mozzie.monitors#!/vizhome/MosquitoesinSouthAustralia-GoogleSheets_0/MosquitoesinSouthAustralia">made available on the research group website</a>. Citizen scientists were updated monthly on the distribution and frequency of mosquitoes in and around their suburbs. This encouraged many participants to identify mosquitoes they collected themselves.</p>
<p>The program’s next trial has already started in South Australia, and <a href="https://hehp.wordpress.com/2019/11/22/call-for-citizen-scientists-in-sa/">everyone is welcome to get involved</a>.</p><img src="https://counter.theconversation.com/content/128466/count.gif" alt="The Conversation" width="1" height="1" />
<p class="fine-print"><em><span>Cameron Webb and the Department of Medical Entomology, NSW Health Pathology and University of Sydney, have been engaged by a wide range of insect repellent and insecticide manufacturers to provide testing of products and provide expert advice on the biology of medically important insects. Cameron has also received funding from local, state and federal agencies to undertake research into mosquito-borne disease surveillance and management as well as risk assessment of a wide range of arthropod pests of public health importance.</span></em></p><p class="fine-print"><em><span>Craig Williams receives funding from the University of South Australia, the Western Australian Department of Health and the South Australian Department of Health. </span></em></p><p class="fine-print"><em><span>Larissa Braz Sousa receives funding from the Australian Technology Network (ATN-LATAM) Research Scholarship. </span></em></p><p class="fine-print"><em><span>Seamus Doherty receives funding from the University of South Australia, Ian Gould Experimental Science Scholarship. </span></em></p><p class="fine-print"><em><span>Stephen Rober Fricker receives funding from the from local, state and federal agencies to undertake research into mosquito-borne disease surveillance and management. </span></em></p>Nuisance-biting and mosquito-borne disease are ongoing concerns for health authorities. But an effective citizen science program is now showing how all of us can help beat the bite of mozzies.Cameron Webb, Clinical Lecturer and Principal Hospital Scientist, University of SydneyCraig Williams, Associate Professor in Biology, University of South AustraliaLarissa Braz Sousa, PhD candidate on citizen science and public health, University of South AustraliaSeamus Doherty, Biologist, University of South AustraliaStephen Robert Fricker, Manager of Vector Surveillance, University of South AustraliaLicensed as Creative Commons – attribution, no derivatives.tag:theconversation.com,2011:article/976952018-06-18T05:17:01Z2018-06-18T05:17:01ZThe privacy problem with camera traps: you don’t know who else could be watching<figure><img src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/221688/original/file-20180605-175438-skeqeo.JPG?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=496&fit=clip" /><figcaption><span class="caption">A spotted-tailed Quoll detected during a small mammal survey at Carrai Plateau, New South Wales.</span> <span class="attribution"><span class="source">Paul Meek</span>, <span class="license">Author provided</span></span></figcaption></figure><p>We use remotely activated cameras – known as camera traps – to study the ecology and population responses of wildlife and pest species in management programs across Australia.</p>
<p>These devices are used widely by scientists, researchers and managers to detect rare wildlife, monitor populations, study behaviour and measure long term wildlife population health. </p>
<p>But the lack of transparency surrounding how these images are transmitted, where they are stored, and who has access to them in transit, has scientists worried.</p>
<p>We’ve discovered that images captured by these devices may potentially be accessed by more than those intended, and that this could pose potential privacy breaches, and even poaching risks.</p>
<hr>
<p>
<em>
<strong>
Read more:
<a href="https://theconversation.com/publish-and-dont-perish-how-to-keep-rare-species-data-away-from-poachers-80239">Publish and don’t perish – how to keep rare species' data away from poachers</a>
</strong>
</em>
</p>
<hr>
<h2>A chance discovery</h2>
<p>It was an accidental discovery that our images can travel from the field to big overseas internet servers. We had not considered the transmission path of our images, and who may have access to them along the way.</p>
<p>Manufacturers have developed camera traps that are capable of transmitting image data using the telecommunications network (in Australia this is 3G and soon to move to 4G). </p>
<p>Most of these camera trap models can transmit images using both MMS (Multi Media Message Service), where the image is sent in an SMS (Short Message Service) to a smart phone, and via SMTP (Simple Mail Transfer Protocol), where the image is transmitted to an email address. </p>
<figure class="align-center zoomable">
<a href="https://images.theconversation.com/files/221689/original/file-20180605-175438-1bugqwc.JPG?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=1000&fit=clip"><img alt="" src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/221689/original/file-20180605-175438-1bugqwc.JPG?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&fit=clip" srcset="https://images.theconversation.com/files/221689/original/file-20180605-175438-1bugqwc.JPG?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=600&h=800&fit=crop&dpr=1 600w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/221689/original/file-20180605-175438-1bugqwc.JPG?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=600&h=800&fit=crop&dpr=2 1200w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/221689/original/file-20180605-175438-1bugqwc.JPG?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=600&h=800&fit=crop&dpr=3 1800w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/221689/original/file-20180605-175438-1bugqwc.JPG?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&h=1005&fit=crop&dpr=1 754w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/221689/original/file-20180605-175438-1bugqwc.JPG?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=754&h=1005&fit=crop&dpr=2 1508w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/221689/original/file-20180605-175438-1bugqwc.JPG?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=754&h=1005&fit=crop&dpr=3 2262w" sizes="(min-width: 1466px) 754px, (max-width: 599px) 100vw, (min-width: 600px) 600px, 237px"></a>
<figcaption>
<span class="caption">A 3G camera trap set in the Strzelecki Desert and sending images to the authors email and phone.</span>
<span class="attribution"><span class="source">PM</span>, <span class="license">Author provided</span></span>
</figcaption>
</figure>
<p>In Australia, when you buy a 3G compatible camera trap you just need to add a SIM card from a service provider. The images will then be sent from the camera trap at a field site to your work or home in seconds. This process is made simple for users by manufacturers who set up default settings to assist you in programming the camera trap. </p>
<p>If, like most people, you don’t over-ride the default settings, then your data will be managed for you. An attractive offer, especially for those people who are not tech-savvy or who don’t have time to fiddle around with programming equipment. </p>
<p>But where are your images going? Who has the legal right to access and store them? How secure is each stage of the transmission path, and are your images being used without your knowledge?</p>
<hr>
<p>
<em>
<strong>
Read more:
<a href="https://theconversation.com/explainer-what-is-4g-9448">Explainer: what is 4G?</a>
</strong>
</em>
</p>
<hr>
<h2>An evaluation process</h2>
<p>Our research team has been evaluating the transmission of images via SMTP for a larger research project, aimed at developing camera trap transmission via satellite.</p>
<p>We have been testing and comparing several models of 3G camera trap, which includes evaluating the message structure and headers.</p>
<p>It was these investigations that revealed some alarming information that pose several potential risks to camera trap users when a camera trap is set up using the default settings for SMTP transmission. </p>
<p>Each manufacturer will use different methods, but in essence when an image is transferred through some 3G telecommunication service, the image is sent to one or more web-servers, where the image may be stored, then sent to the recipient email address or phone. </p>
<p>These servers can be in any country. Our investigations of the five models we tested identified that images are being sent via some large, well-known Asian and North American companies. The exact location of each server, and the full transmission pathway cannot be fully known. </p>
<p>Exactly what happens to these images during transmission also remains unknown. But most practitioners we have spoken to have no idea their images could potentially be going to servers overseas, so it raises several concerns for users.</p>
<h2>A privacy concern</h2>
<p>One of our foremost concerns is how legal professionals would interpret ownership and distribution of images of people under privacy legislation. Camera traps deployed to detect wildlife often detect unsuspecting people walking past.</p>
<figure class="align-center zoomable">
<a href="https://images.theconversation.com/files/221702/original/file-20180605-175451-nug60m.JPG?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=1000&fit=clip"><img alt="" src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/221702/original/file-20180605-175451-nug60m.JPG?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&fit=clip" srcset="https://images.theconversation.com/files/221702/original/file-20180605-175451-nug60m.JPG?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=600&h=450&fit=crop&dpr=1 600w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/221702/original/file-20180605-175451-nug60m.JPG?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=600&h=450&fit=crop&dpr=2 1200w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/221702/original/file-20180605-175451-nug60m.JPG?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=600&h=450&fit=crop&dpr=3 1800w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/221702/original/file-20180605-175451-nug60m.JPG?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&h=566&fit=crop&dpr=1 754w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/221702/original/file-20180605-175451-nug60m.JPG?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=754&h=566&fit=crop&dpr=2 1508w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/221702/original/file-20180605-175451-nug60m.JPG?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=754&h=566&fit=crop&dpr=3 2262w" sizes="(min-width: 1466px) 754px, (max-width: 599px) 100vw, (min-width: 600px) 600px, 237px"></a>
<figcaption>
<span class="caption">A harmless image of an un-suspecting person walking past a camera trap could end up in a court of law if the image is used without their permission.</span>
<span class="attribution"><span class="source">Paul Meek</span>, <span class="license">Author provided</span></span>
</figcaption>
</figure>
<p>It’s a <a href="https://www.publish.csiro.au/book/7150">legal mine field</a> when a camera trap user potentially distributes an image of a person without their permission.</p>
<p>It was an issue raised back in 2012 when an unnamed Austrian politician was <a href="http://www.spiegel.de/international/europe/forest-sex-footage-sparks-debate-in-austria-a-838691.html">caught in a sexual encounter by a camera trap</a>. In that case the image wasn’t released publicly but it raised concerns over a potential breach of privacy.</p>
<p>In Australia, such an image belongs to the person who is photographed irrespective of where the images were taken, so strictly speaking they could pursue legal action against anyone distributing it. </p>
<p>Clearly there would be extenuating circumstances, but whether or not there is a case to be answered is yet to be tested and would depend on the country and legislation involved.</p>
<p>Camera traps are also used for security purposes by authorities, farmers and members of the public, so potential legal and sensitive data could be distributed over the internet. As there is a lack of transparency surrounding the transmission pathway, storage, and usage of the data, this could be a huge concern.</p>
<p>In Australia, this might constitute a breach under the <a href="https://www.oaic.gov.au/privacy-law/privacy-act/">Privacy Act 1988</a> dependent on the whether any personal data is disclosed and the potential for serious harm which might result.</p>
<h2>All in the cloud</h2>
<p>The Australian government has <a href="https://www.oaic.gov.au/privacy-law/privacy-archive/privacy-speeches-archive/privacy-and-the-cloud">released policy and guidelines</a> concerning the protection of data privacy when using cloud services. </p>
<p>But these requirements might not extend, or have not been adopted, in the context of technological based ecology monitoring and so valuable data could currently be leaving Australian shores.</p>
<p>How this data is used is also largely unknown. It may serve many commercial purposes for companies, such as data mining, advertising, and machine learning and artificial intelligence development, to name but a few. Exactly what country, where and how securely the data is stored remains a mystery.</p>
<p>Of real concern for many international wildlife conservation groups is the potential misuse of wildlife images that could identify threatened species and locations. This information could be illegally accessed by poachers, or those looking to sell the data for profit. </p>
<p>Our disclaimer here is that we have no evidence to prove or deny that such practices are occurring, but the potential exists and the lack of transparency is alarming.</p>
<hr>
<p>
<em>
<strong>
Read more:
<a href="https://theconversation.com/scientists-are-accidentally-helping-poachers-drive-rare-species-to-extinction-78342">Scientists are accidentally helping poachers drive rare species to extinction</a>
</strong>
</em>
</p>
<hr>
<h2>Reducing the risk</h2>
<p>Until recently we did not fully comprehend the risks we were taking by using 3G camera traps without taking some precautions. Like most, we accepted that our data was safe and controlled by Australian telecommunications systems, and had no concept that the images may be transmitted or stored by servers overseas.</p>
<p>We now know the risks and that in many cases this image management protocol can be circumvented by over-riding the camera’s default settings. In the ideal world every user would know the full transmission pathway of the image and could take steps to make sure it is as secure as practically possible. Given this is not possible, we recommend that where possible, users program camera traps to send SMTP images direct to an email address that they have more control over. </p>
<p>It will take a little extra time to program the camera traps, but at least users will have more control over the path of their image from the field to any receiving device.</p>
<figure class="align-center zoomable">
<a href="https://images.theconversation.com/files/221695/original/file-20180605-175438-lfx34e.JPG?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=1000&fit=clip"><img alt="" src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/221695/original/file-20180605-175438-lfx34e.JPG?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&fit=clip" srcset="https://images.theconversation.com/files/221695/original/file-20180605-175438-lfx34e.JPG?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=600&h=450&fit=crop&dpr=1 600w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/221695/original/file-20180605-175438-lfx34e.JPG?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=600&h=450&fit=crop&dpr=2 1200w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/221695/original/file-20180605-175438-lfx34e.JPG?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=600&h=450&fit=crop&dpr=3 1800w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/221695/original/file-20180605-175438-lfx34e.JPG?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&h=566&fit=crop&dpr=1 754w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/221695/original/file-20180605-175438-lfx34e.JPG?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=754&h=566&fit=crop&dpr=2 1508w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/221695/original/file-20180605-175438-lfx34e.JPG?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=754&h=566&fit=crop&dpr=3 2262w" sizes="(min-width: 1466px) 754px, (max-width: 599px) 100vw, (min-width: 600px) 600px, 237px"></a>
<figcaption>
<span class="caption">The right thing captured in the camera trap: a spotted-tailed Quoll.</span>
<span class="attribution"><span class="source">Paul Meek</span>, <span class="license">Author provided</span></span>
</figcaption>
</figure><img src="https://counter.theconversation.com/content/97695/count.gif" alt="The Conversation" width="1" height="1" />
<p class="fine-print"><em><span>Paul D Meek receives funding from Dept Agriculture and Water Resources, Centre for Invasive Species Solutions, Australian Wool Innovation and Meat and Livestock Australia</span></em></p><p class="fine-print"><em><span>Greg Falzon receives funding from Dept Agriculture and Water Resources, Centre for Invasive Species Solutions, Australian Wool Innovation and Meat and Livestock Australia</span></em></p><p class="fine-print"><em><span>James Bishop receives funding from Dept Agriculture and Water Resources, Centre for Invasive Species Solutions, Australian Wool Innovation and Meat and Livestock Australia.
James Bishop receives PhD research funding from an Australian Postgraduate Award (APA).
</span></em></p>Remote cameras used to track wildlife in Australia could pose a privacy risk, especially if the images they capture fall into the wrong hands.Paul D Meek, Adjunct Lecturer in School of Environmental and Rural Science, University of New EnglandGreg Falzon, Lecturer in Computational Science, University of New EnglandJames Bishop, PhD candidate, software engineer, University of New EnglandLicensed as Creative Commons – attribution, no derivatives.tag:theconversation.com,2011:article/797502017-07-25T20:09:03Z2017-07-25T20:09:03ZHow to make batteries that last (almost) forever<p><em>This article is part of a series on building the future of batteries. How can we create the batteries we’ll need to power our electronics, transport and industry, and what’s standing in the way? You can read the rest of the series <a href="https://theconversation.com/au/topics/the-future-of-batteries-40687">here</a>.</em></p>
<hr>
<p>When a battery runs low it usually needs to be manually recharged, but new approaches are being developed to help this energy source last indefinitely.</p>
<p>Self-sustaining batteries are needed for activities that use sensors. These include long-term tracking of <a href="https://research.csiro.au/dss/research/long-term-tracking/">wildlife</a> like flying foxes, multi-year biodiversity assessments in <a href="https://research.csiro.au/dss/rainforest-regeneration/">Australian rainforests</a> and <a href="https://www.moore.org/article-detail?newsUrlName=revolutionizing-biodiversity-monitoring-in-the-amazon">the Amazon</a>, and studying the health of the Great Barrier Reef. </p>
<p>This is where energy harvesting comes in handy. </p>
<p>Energy harvesting allows energy to be collected from the environment – through the sun or vibration, for instance. But just like wind and solar energy used for the electricity grid, energy harvesting for mobile technology provides an intermittent and unpredictable energy supply. </p>
<p>This raises the challenge of how to continuously power these devices when it matters most. </p>
<p>To address the issue, we have designed <a href="http://dl.acm.org/citation.cfm?id=2893738">a software framework</a> that can adapt a device’s sensing and computation tasks based on a forecast of harvested energy. This ensures that the sensor can collect and dispatch the necessary data without running out of power.</p>
<h2>Energy neutral operation</h2>
<p>Our software aims to help devices operate in an energy-neutral way, so that the battery can last indefinitely or until its recharge cycles are exhausted.</p>
<figure class="align-right ">
<img alt="" src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/178002/original/file-20170713-19681-bsx15v.png?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=237&fit=clip" srcset="https://images.theconversation.com/files/178002/original/file-20170713-19681-bsx15v.png?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=600&h=554&fit=crop&dpr=1 600w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/178002/original/file-20170713-19681-bsx15v.png?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=600&h=554&fit=crop&dpr=2 1200w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/178002/original/file-20170713-19681-bsx15v.png?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=600&h=554&fit=crop&dpr=3 1800w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/178002/original/file-20170713-19681-bsx15v.png?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&h=696&fit=crop&dpr=1 754w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/178002/original/file-20170713-19681-bsx15v.png?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=754&h=696&fit=crop&dpr=2 1508w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/178002/original/file-20170713-19681-bsx15v.png?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=754&h=696&fit=crop&dpr=3 2262w" sizes="(min-width: 1466px) 754px, (max-width: 599px) 100vw, (min-width: 600px) 600px, 237px">
<figcaption>
<span class="caption">A heat map in Springbrook National Park.</span>
<span class="attribution"><span class="source">CSIRO</span>, <span class="license">Author provided</span></span>
</figcaption>
</figure>
<p>One example is our <a href="https://research.csiro.au/dss/camazotz-smart-tech-keeping-track-bats/">Camazotz tracking device</a> that we use for researching flying foxes. This device is attached to the animals using collars and collects GPS data to understand their movements. It also has a tiny battery and solar panel to recharge each day. </p>
<p>Our software can predict the likely movement of the animal and energy availability, and use this data to determine suitable schedules for the use of on-board sensors. This ensures that the energy needed for obtaining the GPS samples does not exceed the energy we expect to have available through the solar panels. </p>
<figure class="align-left ">
<img alt="" src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/178003/original/file-20170713-11517-8vbrxc.png?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=237&fit=clip" srcset="https://images.theconversation.com/files/178003/original/file-20170713-11517-8vbrxc.png?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=600&h=398&fit=crop&dpr=1 600w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/178003/original/file-20170713-11517-8vbrxc.png?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=600&h=398&fit=crop&dpr=2 1200w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/178003/original/file-20170713-11517-8vbrxc.png?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=600&h=398&fit=crop&dpr=3 1800w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/178003/original/file-20170713-11517-8vbrxc.png?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&h=500&fit=crop&dpr=1 754w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/178003/original/file-20170713-11517-8vbrxc.png?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=754&h=500&fit=crop&dpr=2 1508w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/178003/original/file-20170713-11517-8vbrxc.png?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=754&h=500&fit=crop&dpr=3 2262w" sizes="(min-width: 1466px) 754px, (max-width: 599px) 100vw, (min-width: 600px) 600px, 237px">
<figcaption>
<span class="caption">A sensing node in Springbrook National Park.</span>
<span class="attribution"><span class="source">CSIRO</span>, <span class="license">Author provided</span></span>
</figcaption>
</figure>
<p>This software framework can also be used for consumer devices such as smartphones and wearables. But while there is no hard battery lifetime for this approach, how long the battery lasts will still depend on the maximum number of times the battery can be recharged before dying.</p>
<p>Other researchers are exploring <a href="http://ieeexplore.ieee.org/document/7146512/">energy-positive sensing</a>. Energy can be harvested from human motion, which can in turn can power a wearable device. But in addition to providing some amount of power, information about human activity, such as whether the wearer walking or running, can be reconstructed from the harvested energy signal. </p>
<h2>Protecting the environment from batteries</h2>
<p>Of course, there are challenges to having battery-powered devices that operate indefinitely in the wild.</p>
<p>Over time, batteries may leak damaging chemicals such as nickel, cadmium or hydrofluoric acid into the environment, or even catch fire under extreme heat. </p>
<p>When monitoring <a href="https://research.csiro.au/aim/home/aims-research-test-beds/great-barrier-reef-monitoring-response/">the health</a> of the Great Barrier Reef with a battery-powered sensor, for instance, any battery-powered device must be fully sealed and insulated from the water.</p>
<p>The development of batteries that biodegrade is an interesting direction that could reduce the environmental impact of large sensing systems. Some researchers are experimenting with dissolvable batteries <a href="http://cen.acs.org/articles/95/web/2017/04/Dissolvable-batteries-made-silk.html">using silk</a>, skin pigment melanin and salt water solutions for electrolytes. </p>
<p>Animal welfare must also be considered: devices for long-term wildlife tracking must either be light and small enough so that animals can move normally, or have a drop-off mechanism at a set time.</p>
<figure class="align-center ">
<img alt="" src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/178011/original/file-20170713-18558-11uiew8.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&fit=clip" srcset="https://images.theconversation.com/files/178011/original/file-20170713-18558-11uiew8.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=600&h=400&fit=crop&dpr=1 600w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/178011/original/file-20170713-18558-11uiew8.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=600&h=400&fit=crop&dpr=2 1200w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/178011/original/file-20170713-18558-11uiew8.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=600&h=400&fit=crop&dpr=3 1800w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/178011/original/file-20170713-18558-11uiew8.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&h=503&fit=crop&dpr=1 754w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/178011/original/file-20170713-18558-11uiew8.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=754&h=503&fit=crop&dpr=2 1508w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/178011/original/file-20170713-18558-11uiew8.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=754&h=503&fit=crop&dpr=3 2262w" sizes="(min-width: 1466px) 754px, (max-width: 599px) 100vw, (min-width: 600px) 600px, 237px">
<figcaption>
<span class="caption">Sensors in the Great Barrier Reef shouldn’t damage the environment.</span>
<span class="attribution"><a class="source" href="https://www.shutterstock.com/image-photo/magnificent-colours-great-barrier-reef-154199480?src=lTgVwHDFl7_APayP4EE3yQ-1-3">JC Photo/Shutterstock</a></span>
</figcaption>
</figure>
<h2>The ethics of batteries that last forever</h2>
<p>From a philosophical perspective, creating indefinitely powered devices that can sense, think, and act moves us closer to creating artificial life forms. </p>
<p>Couple that with an ability to reproduce through 3D printing, for example, and to learn their own program code, and you get most of the essential components for creating a self-sustaining species of machines. </p>
<p>Self-sustaining battery-powered devices can also continue to gather data from their environment beyond their intended mission. This could lead to the collection of unintended data that might have privacy or political implications. </p>
<h2>No battery is sometimes better</h2>
<p>Motivated by the risks of battery-powered devices, some manufacturers <a href="http://www.ti.com/tool/tidm-rf430-tempsense">have created</a> <a href="http://www.evigia.com/batteryless-wireless-sensors/">battery-less sensing devices</a> to eliminate the need for battery recharging and environmental risk altogether. </p>
<p>This opens up new applications, such as placing sensors in human and animal bodies for physiological sensing.</p>
<p>Rather than having a continuous storage of energy, these devices can use near-field radio waves or other nearby energy sources to gather enough power to conduct a limited set of sensing or computing operations on-demand. They are similar in concept to passive radio-frequency identification (RFID), but may provide more information than simply the identity of a tag. </p>
<p>The drawback is that it only works under specific conditions. In particular, it requires that the energy source be within a very short distance of the passive device.</p>
<p>Energy-sustainability will be vital for applications from animal detection and tracking to shipping and logistics. Companies have already started to introduce value-added services such as <a href="http://www.inboundlogistics.com/cms/article/sensor-based-logistics-monitoring-shipment-vital-signs-in-real-time/">sensor-based logistics</a> to deliver real-time information on high-value shipments. Sustainable operation of the sensors will only encourage this trend.</p><img src="https://counter.theconversation.com/content/79750/count.gif" alt="The Conversation" width="1" height="1" />
<p class="fine-print"><em><span>Raja Jurdak receives funding from QLD Government, Department of Environment, Gordon Moore and Betty Foundation. </span></em></p><p class="fine-print"><em><span>Brano Kusy has received funding from Australian Coal Association Research Program (ACARP), Queensland Government, Department of Environment, Gorden and Betty Moore Foundation. </span></em></p>Batteries that can self-sustain are needed for long-term animal tracking as well as shipping and logistics.Raja Jurdak, Research Group Leader, Distributed Sensing Systems, CSIROBrano Kusy, Research Scientist, CSIROLicensed as Creative Commons – attribution, no derivatives.tag:theconversation.com,2011:article/738552017-03-21T00:09:52Z2017-03-21T00:09:52ZHow to stop the thieves when all we want to capture is wildlife in action<figure><img src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/159436/original/image-20170305-29017-umuzub.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=496&fit=clip" /><figcaption><span class="caption">The camera traps that help monitor animals, so long as the cameras don't get stolen.</span> <span class="attribution"><span class="source">Paul Meek</span>, <span class="license">Author provided</span></span></figcaption></figure><p>Many Australian field scientists, including myself, have been swayed in recent years by the attraction of using camera traps to survey <a href="http://www.publish.csiro.au/AM/AM14021">wildlife</a>.</p>
<p>But we’ve also attracted some unsavoury characters of the human form who are seriously threatening the viability of our research. </p>
<p>Camera trap devices (typically costing A$300 to A$900 each) don’t require a human operator to push the button; they can be remotely deployed in the bush taking photos for months with the sole function of recording animals.</p>
<p>They were used by the BBC to capture rare footage of the snow leopard for David Attenborough’s <a href="http://www.bbcearth.com/planetearth2/">Earth II</a> series.</p>
<figure>
<iframe width="440" height="260" src="https://www.youtube.com/embed/V-ekvBYHLJc?wmode=transparent&start=0" frameborder="0" allowfullscreen=""></iframe>
</figure>
<p>Camera traps have led to some fantastic ecological findings, including newly discovered species such as the <a href="http://zookeys.pensoft.net/articles.php?id=3550">Olinguito</a> from South America; extensions of the species range of rare predators such as Pallas’ cat in Iran; and previously unrecorded animal behaviours such as dingo <a href="http://www.publish.csiro.au/AM/AM16018">cannibalism</a>.</p>
<p>Importantly, they have reduced the cost of conducting surveys for wildlife that are normally expensive and resource-intensive.</p>
<p>Camera traps are now the “go-to” survey tool for scientists and a device used by farmers, land managers and citizen scientists alike. They are showing us pictures of animals doing things they only do when humans are not present.</p>
<figure class="align-center zoomable">
<a href="https://images.theconversation.com/files/161700/original/image-20170321-9144-n945fl.JPG?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=1000&fit=clip"><img alt="" src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/161700/original/image-20170321-9144-n945fl.JPG?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&fit=clip" srcset="https://images.theconversation.com/files/161700/original/image-20170321-9144-n945fl.JPG?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=600&h=450&fit=crop&dpr=1 600w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/161700/original/image-20170321-9144-n945fl.JPG?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=600&h=450&fit=crop&dpr=2 1200w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/161700/original/image-20170321-9144-n945fl.JPG?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=600&h=450&fit=crop&dpr=3 1800w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/161700/original/image-20170321-9144-n945fl.JPG?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&h=566&fit=crop&dpr=1 754w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/161700/original/image-20170321-9144-n945fl.JPG?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=754&h=566&fit=crop&dpr=2 1508w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/161700/original/image-20170321-9144-n945fl.JPG?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=754&h=566&fit=crop&dpr=3 2262w" sizes="(min-width: 1466px) 754px, (max-width: 599px) 100vw, (min-width: 600px) 600px, 237px"></a>
<figcaption>
<span class="caption">This black coastal wild dog was captured on camera trap walking along a forest track on the fringe of Coffs Harbour township.</span>
<span class="attribution"><span class="source">Paul Meek</span>, <span class="license">Author provided</span></span>
</figcaption>
</figure>
<p>But these unaccompanied pieces of technology are vulnerable to antisocial behaviours that are normally associated with humans in urban environments.</p>
<h2>Camera thefts and vandalism</h2>
<p>The theft and vandalism of remote scientific equipment is not new, but the exponential adoption of camera traps across the <a href="http://www.italian-journal-of-mammalogy.it/article/view/8789">world</a> has significantly increased the chance of an encounter between human and device.</p>
<p>The level of risk and financial loss has reached breaking point and is causing us scientists to revisit how we use camera traps to prevent theft.</p>
<figure class="align-center zoomable">
<a href="https://images.theconversation.com/files/161512/original/image-20170320-8880-znmag9.JPG?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=1000&fit=clip"><img alt="" src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/161512/original/image-20170320-8880-znmag9.JPG?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&fit=clip" srcset="https://images.theconversation.com/files/161512/original/image-20170320-8880-znmag9.JPG?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=600&h=450&fit=crop&dpr=1 600w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/161512/original/image-20170320-8880-znmag9.JPG?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=600&h=450&fit=crop&dpr=2 1200w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/161512/original/image-20170320-8880-znmag9.JPG?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=600&h=450&fit=crop&dpr=3 1800w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/161512/original/image-20170320-8880-znmag9.JPG?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&h=566&fit=crop&dpr=1 754w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/161512/original/image-20170320-8880-znmag9.JPG?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=754&h=566&fit=crop&dpr=2 1508w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/161512/original/image-20170320-8880-znmag9.JPG?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=754&h=566&fit=crop&dpr=3 2262w" sizes="(min-width: 1466px) 754px, (max-width: 599px) 100vw, (min-width: 600px) 600px, 237px"></a>
<figcaption>
<span class="caption">Gone: Thieves cut the back off the security post, then peeled open the steel with a pneumatic device, cut the lock and stole the camera trap.</span>
<span class="attribution"><span class="source">Paul Meek</span>, <span class="license">Author provided</span></span>
</figcaption>
</figure>
<p>In the cohort of dedicated wildlife researchers I work with, we have lost more than A$70,000 worth of equipment in recent years due to theft.</p>
<p>Camera traps are usually fixed to posts or trees at sites where animals are most likely to pass and therefore be detected. </p>
<p>In our research, we primarily study predators – such as dingoes, foxes and feral cats – so our camera traps are set in transects along roads and trails in the bush. This makes them very obvious to would-be thieves.</p>
<p>Following the theft of 15 camera traps in 2011 from one of our research trials in New South Wales, we grappled with how we might avoid having our equipment, and the precious data contained within, from being stolen.</p>
<h2>An elevated approach</h2>
<p>We initially thought we could put them <a href="http://onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/10.1002/rse2.28/full">3 metres high in trees</a>, hoping thieves would not see them because they were out of their line of sight.</p>
<p>Initial trials confirmed that most people had no idea that our camera traps were in the trees, so it looked promising.</p>
<p>That was until we conducted a further trial to compare the wildlife detected at different camera trap heights and realised that the higher the devices, the less we detected. So that option was off the drawing board.</p>
<p>Following this, we <a href="http://www.publish.csiro.au/am/am12014">designed a security post</a> that encased the camera trap in a steel box welded to a steel post with a lock shield (to prevent them from being ground off), and sunk 1m into the ground with two bags of concrete.</p>
<p>We attached friendly notes to the posts letting people know that we were only interested in animals and that pictures of people would be deleted.</p>
<figure class="align-center zoomable">
<a href="https://images.theconversation.com/files/161509/original/image-20170320-8849-1ejhzkv.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=1000&fit=clip"><img alt="" src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/161509/original/image-20170320-8849-1ejhzkv.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&fit=clip" srcset="https://images.theconversation.com/files/161509/original/image-20170320-8849-1ejhzkv.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=600&h=400&fit=crop&dpr=1 600w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/161509/original/image-20170320-8849-1ejhzkv.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=600&h=400&fit=crop&dpr=2 1200w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/161509/original/image-20170320-8849-1ejhzkv.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=600&h=400&fit=crop&dpr=3 1800w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/161509/original/image-20170320-8849-1ejhzkv.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&h=503&fit=crop&dpr=1 754w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/161509/original/image-20170320-8849-1ejhzkv.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=754&h=503&fit=crop&dpr=2 1508w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/161509/original/image-20170320-8849-1ejhzkv.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=754&h=503&fit=crop&dpr=3 2262w" sizes="(min-width: 1466px) 754px, (max-width: 599px) 100vw, (min-width: 600px) 600px, 237px"></a>
<figcaption>
<span class="caption">The security post design with explanatory sign used by the research team to monitor predators.</span>
<span class="attribution"><span class="source">Paul Meek</span>, <span class="license">Author provided</span></span>
</figcaption>
</figure>
<p>Initial field trials looked promising. Some people kicked them or bumped into them with their vehicles but no one removed the posts. So we set up several 25km transects of camera trap security posts in the forest in the Northern NSW Tablelands and Coffs Coast.</p>
<h2>A determined attack</h2>
<p>But within a few days of deployment, one post at Coffs Harbour was pulled out of the ground by a large machine, leaving a large chasm in the ground. </p>
<p>Within a week, 11 more had been put through every conceivable extraction method – all failed. So the thieves took to our posts with battery-powered grinders and we were 12 camera traps short.</p>
<p>Not to be outsmarted, we replaced the posts with Mad Max-like anti-missile constructed security posts. We even filled the concrete slurry poles with cheap nylon rope, hoping the plastic might melt and jam the grinding discs.</p>
<figure class="align-center zoomable">
<a href="https://images.theconversation.com/files/161510/original/image-20170320-8887-su0a4g.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=1000&fit=clip"><img alt="" src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/161510/original/image-20170320-8887-su0a4g.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&fit=clip" srcset="https://images.theconversation.com/files/161510/original/image-20170320-8887-su0a4g.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=600&h=400&fit=crop&dpr=1 600w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/161510/original/image-20170320-8887-su0a4g.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=600&h=400&fit=crop&dpr=2 1200w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/161510/original/image-20170320-8887-su0a4g.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=600&h=400&fit=crop&dpr=3 1800w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/161510/original/image-20170320-8887-su0a4g.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&h=503&fit=crop&dpr=1 754w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/161510/original/image-20170320-8887-su0a4g.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=754&h=503&fit=crop&dpr=2 1508w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/161510/original/image-20170320-8887-su0a4g.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=754&h=503&fit=crop&dpr=3 2262w" sizes="(min-width: 1466px) 754px, (max-width: 599px) 100vw, (min-width: 600px) 600px, 237px"></a>
<figcaption>
<span class="caption">In a newer security post version, nicknamed Mad Max, steel rods have been welded across the weak spots and grinder jamming rubber has been added.</span>
<span class="attribution"><span class="source">Paul Meek</span>, <span class="license">Author provided</span></span>
</figcaption>
</figure>
<p>While this seemed to have worked, they recently found another weak spot: they found some of the old-style posts that had never been damaged, ground off sections of metal, put pneumatic jacks in the gaps and levered them apart like a can opener before extracting our code-locked camera traps along with our irreplaceable data.</p>
<p>In desperation, we have had to resort to placing camera traps in suboptimal sites to avoid areas we believe to be high-risk. Begrudgingly, guarding against theft has become an important factor in our experimental design.</p>
<h2>Why steal the cameras?</h2>
<p>We are often asked, why do people steal our camera traps? It’s likely that at some sites we have intercepted some illegal activity and the criminals don’t want to be identified.</p>
<p>In one case we know we recorded some illegal dumping, so the perpetrator removed the evidence by pulling up the whole post. </p>
<p>But overall it’s confusing as to why people will go to such lengths to steal devices that we clearly advertise as code-locked and therefore unusable. What is it that drives people to theft and vandalism? </p>
<p>Most of the time I think these people just don’t think about their actions and steal because they can. But there is no intellectual evaluation of the activity. </p>
<p>Sadly for practitioners, these mindless acts of transgression have dire consequences. Not only do we lose valuable and difficult to obtain financial resources, but we lose irreplaceable data on memory cards.</p>
<h2>We need a solution</h2>
<p>We have considered numerous solutions to these attacks, such as putting out nicely worded signs explaining our study, advising the community about our work in the media so they don’t feel threatened, placing camera traps on camera traps to try and catch the thieves, even gluing leaves and bark on the camera traps as a form of camouflage. </p>
<figure class="align-center zoomable">
<a href="https://images.theconversation.com/files/161511/original/image-20170320-8871-1oid7i6.JPG?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=1000&fit=clip"><img alt="" src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/161511/original/image-20170320-8871-1oid7i6.JPG?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&fit=clip" srcset="https://images.theconversation.com/files/161511/original/image-20170320-8871-1oid7i6.JPG?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=600&h=400&fit=crop&dpr=1 600w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/161511/original/image-20170320-8871-1oid7i6.JPG?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=600&h=400&fit=crop&dpr=2 1200w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/161511/original/image-20170320-8871-1oid7i6.JPG?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=600&h=400&fit=crop&dpr=3 1800w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/161511/original/image-20170320-8871-1oid7i6.JPG?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&h=503&fit=crop&dpr=1 754w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/161511/original/image-20170320-8871-1oid7i6.JPG?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=754&h=503&fit=crop&dpr=2 1508w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/161511/original/image-20170320-8871-1oid7i6.JPG?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=754&h=503&fit=crop&dpr=3 2262w" sizes="(min-width: 1466px) 754px, (max-width: 599px) 100vw, (min-width: 600px) 600px, 237px"></a>
<figcaption>
<span class="caption">Battery pack grinders made easy work of this security post, the thieves cut through the lock shield, then cut open the padlock and stole the camera trap.</span>
<span class="attribution"><span class="source">Paul Meek</span>, <span class="license">Author provided</span></span>
</figcaption>
</figure>
<p>We are testing tiny tracking systems but the technology is not suitable yet. We have tried it all and been thwarted. </p>
<p>We have now resorted to <a href="https://www.surveymonkey.com/r/BB75PX5">surveying our colleagues</a> in the hope of gathering further evidence of the significance of this threat to science.</p>
<p>More than 300 camera trap practitioners have shared their economic and data loses and ideas with our team so far. </p>
<p>It is our hope that we may generate enough information on the effects of this degenerate behaviour, that we may find some technological solutions that will ultimately allow us to continue contributing to global science, without fear of losing our equipment and data.</p><img src="https://counter.theconversation.com/content/73855/count.gif" alt="The Conversation" width="1" height="1" />
<p class="fine-print"><em><span>Paul D Meek does not work for, consult, own shares in or receive funding from any company or organisation that would benefit from this article, and has disclosed no relevant affiliations beyond their academic appointment.</span></em></p>One of the problems with using automatic cameras to track wildlife is that people keep stealing them. And they go to great efforts to do so. But why?Paul D Meek, Adjunct Lecturer in School of Environmental and Rural Science, University of New EnglandLicensed as Creative Commons – attribution, no derivatives.tag:theconversation.com,2011:article/636652016-08-08T15:04:15Z2016-08-08T15:04:15ZWhile some bees are workers, others are born to bee free – tracking study shows<figure><img src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/133392/original/image-20160808-18010-ynp3m1.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=496&fit=clip" /><figcaption><span class="caption">'Bee calling hive, come in hive. We got some good stuff here...'</span> <span class="attribution"><span class="source">Joseph Woodgate</span>, <span class="license">Author provided</span></span></figcaption></figure><p>Bees provide us with an invaluable service by pollinating plants, an indispensable part of natural and agricultural ecosystems. This is why declining bee populations are such a big concern. Of course, bees don’t do this as a favour to us – pollination is a side effect of bees collecting nectar and pollen for their nests. But in order to understand bees better, we need to understand more about how they go about finding flowers and deciding how to make the most of them. And this is why I have spent my summers tracking female bumblebees.</p>
<p>Alongside colleagues at Queen Mary University of London and at Rothamsted Research, we <a href="http://journals.plos.org/plosone/article?id=10.1371/journal.pone.0160333">published our results in PLOS One</a>, following for the first time every flight of forager bees over the course of their lives. This has given us remarkable insight into the very different strategies taken by different bees in their approach to carrying out their tasks. </p>
<p>From the <a href="http://blogs.discovermagazine.com/d-brief/2015/05/21/video-bees-egg-to-adult/">first time they saw the light of day</a>, emerging from their cells in the comb and knowing nothing of the world around them, we followed four bees as they learned and became seasoned foragers, until their deaths.</p>
<p>Because bees are so tiny, GPS trackers or radio collars are far too large and heavy for them. Instead we used <a href="http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/magazine-23448846">harmonic radar</a> to track the bees, which is excellent at tracking moving objects through cluttered environments full of flowers, hedges, trees, buildings, and other bees. This involves attaching a small, very light electronic transponder to the bee’s back which transforms and reflects the signal in such a way that we can identify the bee. The radar scans the landscape once every three seconds, each time reporting the bee’s position. We used large earth bumblebees (<em>Bombus terrestris</em>) which were bred in captivity, so we knew they were ignorant of the world at the beginning of the experiment. And then we watched their lives unfold over several weeks until, one by one, each left the nest and never returned home. </p>
<h2>It’s a bee’s life</h2>
<p>Observing how the flight of each bee changed throughout her life offers an insight into how bees find food, and how they balance the desire to explore and find new sources of nectar with the need to provide food for the nest. </p>
<p>All our bees began their lives making long, convoluted flights, looping unpredictably around the landscape. They thoroughly surveyed their local area, stopping frequently to sample the flowers available. </p>
<figure class="align-center zoomable">
<a href="https://images.theconversation.com/files/133389/original/image-20160808-18053-91keql.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=1000&fit=clip"><img alt="" src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/133389/original/image-20160808-18053-91keql.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&fit=clip" srcset="https://images.theconversation.com/files/133389/original/image-20160808-18053-91keql.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=600&h=417&fit=crop&dpr=1 600w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/133389/original/image-20160808-18053-91keql.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=600&h=417&fit=crop&dpr=2 1200w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/133389/original/image-20160808-18053-91keql.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=600&h=417&fit=crop&dpr=3 1800w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/133389/original/image-20160808-18053-91keql.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&h=524&fit=crop&dpr=1 754w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/133389/original/image-20160808-18053-91keql.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=754&h=524&fit=crop&dpr=2 1508w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/133389/original/image-20160808-18053-91keql.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=754&h=524&fit=crop&dpr=3 2262w" sizes="(min-width: 1466px) 754px, (max-width: 599px) 100vw, (min-width: 600px) 600px, 237px"></a>
<figcaption>
<span class="caption">Initial exploratory flights of the four bees. Colours represent time in flight, moving from green through yellow to red. Grey dashed lines show estimated routes.</span>
<span class="attribution"><a class="source" href="http://dx.doi.org/10.1371/journal.pone.0160333.g002">Woodgate/Makinson/Lim/Reynolds/Chittka</a></span>
</figcaption>
</figure>
<p>However, after only a few such flights most abruptly changed their behaviour, replacing the long exploratory loops with direct, efficient flights to a single flower source they had learned. Most of the rest of their lives was spent diligently exploiting flowers from the locations they had learned.</p>
<p>From recording the bees’ movements we can tell that nearly all discovered their favourite flower patches within their first few flights. One bee abruptly switched her flight path, heading directly toward a place she had discovered on her first ever flight nine days earlier. Until then, she’d never returned, which suggests she was able to remember it all that time.</p>
<h2>Bee original</h2>
<p>So it seems that bees change their behaviour, from exploration to exploitation, over the course of their lives. Which is not to say that all bees are identical little automata, though. What really struck us about our bees was how different they were from each other. </p>
<p>While our most diligent bee (A) shuttled back and forth to a single foraging patch, another was a lifetime vagabond (B), who spent most of her time roaming the landscape unpredictably, visiting and feeding in patches she’d never seen before. Our bees differed strikingly in other ways: the number of flights they undertook, the amount of time they spent in and outside the nest, and the favourite areas they chose to feed. These factors must lead to huge differences in the amount and quality of food being contributed to the colony by different bees, so we’re really interested to try to discover how common these different strategies are, and whether the colony gains an advantage from having some bees with a roaming lifestyle, or whether they’re simply freeloaders, supported by their more dedicated sisters.</p>
<figure class="align-center zoomable">
<a href="https://images.theconversation.com/files/133390/original/image-20160808-18023-11dcb9t.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=1000&fit=clip"><img alt="" src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/133390/original/image-20160808-18023-11dcb9t.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&fit=clip" srcset="https://images.theconversation.com/files/133390/original/image-20160808-18023-11dcb9t.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=600&h=417&fit=crop&dpr=1 600w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/133390/original/image-20160808-18023-11dcb9t.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=600&h=417&fit=crop&dpr=2 1200w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/133390/original/image-20160808-18023-11dcb9t.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=600&h=417&fit=crop&dpr=3 1800w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/133390/original/image-20160808-18023-11dcb9t.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&h=524&fit=crop&dpr=1 754w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/133390/original/image-20160808-18023-11dcb9t.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=754&h=524&fit=crop&dpr=2 1508w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/133390/original/image-20160808-18023-11dcb9t.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=754&h=524&fit=crop&dpr=3 2262w" sizes="(min-width: 1466px) 754px, (max-width: 599px) 100vw, (min-width: 600px) 600px, 237px"></a>
<figcaption>
<span class="caption">Lifetime recorded flights of the four bees, with colours representing early (green), mid (yellows) and late period (red) flights.</span>
<span class="attribution"><a class="source" href="http://dx.doi.org/10.1371/journal.pone.0160333.g002">Woodgate/Makinson/Lim/Reynolds/Chittka</a></span>
</figcaption>
</figure>
<p>Ultimately, each of our four bees met their fate between six and 15 days after birth. Two bees disappeared during what looked like typical foraging trips, which led us to suspect that they fell foul of predators such as <a href="http://www.uksafari.com/crabspider.htm">crab spiders</a> that lurk in flowers waiting to ambush insects. The other two flew off in unfamiliar directions, perhaps flying far enough from what they knew that they were unable to find their way home. </p>
<p>Though watching the flight of the bumblebee is fascinating, practically speaking these insights will help us understand how plant genes flow around the landscape. Insect-pollinated plants reproduce by persuading bees to carry their pollen from one plant to another. When inexperienced bees and vagabonds explore widely, sampling many flowers, they spread plant genes widely compared to when they change to more dedicated pollen and nectar collection.</p>
<p>What we learn about why bees make these choices will help us manage our landscapes to make the most of what bees offer us – and how to help our friends the bees get the maximum benefit from the plants we provide for them.</p><img src="https://counter.theconversation.com/content/63665/count.gif" alt="The Conversation" width="1" height="1" />
<p class="fine-print"><em><span>Joseph Woodgate receives funding from ERC.</span></em></p>Tracking the flight of the bumblebee teaches us how they use plants – and how we can help them.Joseph Woodgate, Postdoctoral Researcher, Queen Mary University of LondonLicensed as Creative Commons – attribution, no derivatives.tag:theconversation.com,2011:article/570442016-04-15T02:00:40Z2016-04-15T02:00:40ZAustralia’s waterbirds are disappearing – but nuclear physics can help save them<figure><img src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/118236/original/image-20160412-21989-1nowvr.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=496&fit=clip" /><figcaption><span class="caption">Straw-necked ibis gather to breed. </span> <span class="attribution"><span class="source">Kate Brandis</span>, <span class="license">Author provided</span></span></figcaption></figure><p>When wetlands flood they become full of life. They are spectacularly beautiful and noisy. There is nothing quite like the sound of a wetland when thousands of birds come together to take advantage of the newly created habitat.</p>
<p>Ibis, spoonbills, egrets, herons, cormorants and pelicans all congregate in large numbers, tens to hundreds of thousands, to breed when wetland conditions are good. These gatherings of birds are spectacular, but a mystery remains: where do they come from, and where do they go?</p>
<p>These questions aren’t trivial. <a href="https://www.ecosystem.unsw.edu.au/content/rivers-and-wetlands/waterbirds/eastern-australian-waterbird-survey">Over the past 30 years waterbird populations have declined</a> as opportunities for breeding have disappeared, mainly <a href="http://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/pii/S0006320708000451">due to water resource development</a>. </p>
<p>Worldwide, wetlands have been lost or are under threat from water resource development, agricultural development and climate change. In Australia we have <a href="http://link.springer.com/article/10.1023%2FA%3A1008495619951#page-1">lost an estimated 50% of wetlands since European settlement</a>. </p>
<p>The loss of wetlands has serious implications for wildlife. Many species are wetland-dependent throughout their lives while others, such as some species of waterbirds, rely on wetlands as places to breed.</p>
<p>Knowing which wetlands waterbirds use when they aren’t breeding will help us figure out which places we need to protect. So the Centre for Ecosystem Science, UNSW and the Australian Nuclear Science Technology Organisation have developed a new technique to analyse Australian bird feathers using nuclear physics. </p>
<p>Now we want you to <a href="http://feathermap.ansto.gov.au/">send us waterbird feathers</a> so we can build an Australia-wide map of where our waterbirds go. </p>
<h2>High-tech tracking</h2>
<p>Traditional tracking methods such as leg banding and satellite trackers have had limited success and can be expensive. So we looked for a cheaper and more effective method. And what could be easier than collecting bird feathers? </p>
<p>Feathers are made of keratin (the same material as human hair and nails) and as they grow record the diet of the bird in chemical elements. Once fully grown, feathers are inert – they no longer change. </p>
<p>Chemical elements (carbon, nitrogen, hydrogen, oxygen) exist in a number of different forms known as isotopes. Some isotopes of some elements are radioactive, but many elements have stable, non-radioactive isotopes. The relative proportion of different isotopes can be <a href="http://www.pnas.org/content/95/26/15436.full">explicitly linked to a specific location</a>, as has been done for monarch butterflies in North America.</p>
<p>To test whether this could be applied to Australian wetlands and waterbirds I did a pilot study in 2010-11. Widespread flooding in the Murray-Darling Basin resulted in colonial waterbirds breeding at a number of wetlands including the Gwydir wetlands, Macquarie Marshes and Lowbidgee wetlands. These three wetlands are geographically distinct, spread across the Basin from north to south. </p>
<iframe src="https://www.google.com/maps/d/u/0/embed?mid=zXUWIAKxCpHk.kEeaM7o1lrDI" width="100%" height="480"></iframe>
<p>We used feathers from chicks and juveniles, because they are eating food from only the wetland where they were hatched and so provide a unique signature for that wetland. </p>
<p>We tested the feathers using two techniques: one to look at the elemental composition of feathers, and the other to measure the amount of two particular isotopes, carbon-13 and nitrogen-15.</p>
<p>Results from these analyses showed that we were able to distinguish between the three wetland sites based on the elemental composition of the feather and the isotopic composition. </p>
<p>Either technique showed the ability to distinguish between wetland sites. Combined, they should be able to provide greater spatial accuracy in identifying the wetland at which the feather was grown. With the knowledge that wetlands have their own unique elemental and isotopic signature, we are expanding the study nationally. </p>
<figure class="align-center zoomable">
<a href="https://images.theconversation.com/files/118237/original/image-20160412-21989-1l2w9sl.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=1000&fit=clip"><img alt="" src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/118237/original/image-20160412-21989-1l2w9sl.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&fit=clip" srcset="https://images.theconversation.com/files/118237/original/image-20160412-21989-1l2w9sl.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=600&h=400&fit=crop&dpr=1 600w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/118237/original/image-20160412-21989-1l2w9sl.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=600&h=400&fit=crop&dpr=2 1200w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/118237/original/image-20160412-21989-1l2w9sl.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=600&h=400&fit=crop&dpr=3 1800w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/118237/original/image-20160412-21989-1l2w9sl.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&h=503&fit=crop&dpr=1 754w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/118237/original/image-20160412-21989-1l2w9sl.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=754&h=503&fit=crop&dpr=2 1508w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/118237/original/image-20160412-21989-1l2w9sl.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=754&h=503&fit=crop&dpr=3 2262w" sizes="(min-width: 1466px) 754px, (max-width: 599px) 100vw, (min-width: 600px) 600px, 237px"></a>
<figcaption>
<span class="caption">Sunset at an ibis colony.</span>
<span class="attribution"><span class="source">Kate Brandis</span>, <span class="license">Author provided</span></span>
</figcaption>
</figure>
<h2>Building a ‘feather map’</h2>
<p>The Feather Map of Australia is a citizen science project that aims to map the signatures for as many wetlands across Australia as possible. To do this we have asked interested members of the public to collect feathers from their local wetlands and contribute them for analyses. </p>
<p>Once analysed, we will have an isotopic map of wetlands against which we can track waterbird movements. Feathers collected from chicks and birds that don’t move large distances will provide us with a signature for that particular wetland. We can then analyse the feathers of birds that do travel long distances and match the signature in their feathers against those of wetlands, telling us where these birds have been. </p>
<p>The signature will not tell us all the movements a bird has made, but it will tell us where it was when it grew the feather. And this will also give us information about the health of the wetland based on what food the bird has eaten and how long it took to grow the feather.</p>
<p>Knowing the movements of waterbirds helps identify wetlands that are important waterbird habitats. This knowledge can be used to provide information to policymakers and land and water managers for improved water delivery, wetland management and decision-making, and ultimately protect wetlands and waterbirds. </p>
<p><em>Read more on how to <a href="http://feathermap.ansto.gov.au/GetInvolved/index.htm">send feathers to scientists</a> and help build the Feather Map of Australia.</em></p><img src="https://counter.theconversation.com/content/57044/count.gif" alt="The Conversation" width="1" height="1" />
<p class="fine-print"><em><span>Kate Brandis receives funding from Australia Nuclear Science Technology Organistion and the UNSW.</span></em></p>Bird feathers can tell us a lot about their owners and the places they visit.Kate Brandis, Joint Research Fellow, Centre for Ecosystem Science, UNSW and Australia Nuclear Science Technology Organisation, UNSW SydneyLicensed as Creative Commons – attribution, no derivatives.