The Cutting Edge of Technology

Technological advances have led to unprecedented insights into animal movements, and this study by Eric Richer and his colleagues added GPS capability to radio- frequency identification (RFID) tags to accurately determine near- exact locations of fi sh within streams such that far more precise estimates of habitat use are now attainable. As a bonus, it gave precise abundance estimates of tagged fish, and the bigger the system, the more accurate the results. How often does that happen? We feature this paper not only because it was a cool study, but it portrays how cutting edge technology can be both evaluated, and transferred to people who need it to answer management questions. And, by the way, you saw it at North American Journal of Fisheries Management first.

Reference:  Richer, E. , E. Fetherman, M. Kondratieff, and T. Barnes. 2017. Incorporating GPS and mobile radio frequency identification to detect PIT- tagged fish and evaluate habitat utilization in streams. North American Journal of Fisheries Management 37: 1249 – 1264.