GPS and Conservation

Have you ever wondered what a Global Positioning System (GPS) can be used for other than getting YOU from place to place?

Lets start with how it works

GPS was invented by the United States Air Force  and became fully operational in 1995 (Air Force Space Command, 2013). GPS is a global coordination of 24 satellites that  circle the earth and submit signals that help users detect positioning, navigation and timing  (Adams, Dickinson, Robertson, Van Heezik, 2013) . The satellites send signals to earth and  use geometry to determine the location on earth (National Coordination Office for Space-Based Positioning, Navigation, and Timing, 2014).

As you can see in the video, GPS can be used for  farming, fertilizing, air crafts, banking, forecasting weather, connecting family and friends with phones, and for the military just to name a few! (Air Force Space Command, 2013)

So how is it related to conservation? 

Endangered Monk seal with a GPS tracker

Gathering accurate and timely information is one of the main challenges facing both government and private organizations and GPS helps to address that need.  In an environmental setting GPS can be used to analyze environmental problems, view areas that are not accessible to humans, evaluate wildlife's terrain, evaluate the needs of species and help forecast environmental changes and tides.

GPS help crews respond to the Golf of Mexico oil spill in 2010

GPS  can be attached to buoys help track oil spills, helicopters to track forest fires, and on endangered species can track movements providing data that can help preserve, assess and protect those animals (National Coordination Office for Space-Based Positioning, Navigation, and Timing, 2014).

 

GPS and Wildlife - Whats the link?

GPS has helped researchers investigate habitats, use of space, movement patterns and selection of resources in wildlife providing data that helps us better understand the world around us  (Adams, Dickinson, Robertson, Van Heezik, 2013). GPS collars can  also help researchers identify if endangered animals are entering dangerous areas where poachers or natural dangers exist or other options for habitats (NTV Kenya, 2008). 

One of the greatest advantages of GPS in animal research is that it allows information and data to become available without the influence of human intersection (Pebsworth, Morgan, & Huffman, 2012). GPS devises are attached to animals and contain their own power supply, data storage, memory, wireless signals and transmit the data so humans do not have to be present with the animals eliminating the possibility of inaccurate research (Handcock, Swain, Bishop-Hurley, Patison, Wark, Valencia & O'Neill, 2009).

GPS can also be very helpful when used with other technology such as camera traps or  wireless sensor networks. One study used GPS trackers to discover the best area to place camera traps to track a jaguar population saving valuable time and resources (Soisalo & Cavalcanti, 2006).

West African giraffe fitted with a camouflaged GPS collar.

A  great example of  research  efforts that have been used to help endangers species is  the West African giraffe that were fitted with GPS collars in 2010. The data collect has been used to educate the public about their home ranges, helped the conservation efforts of restoring the population, and to help compensate locals for crop loss due to the giraffe's travels and  avoided unnecessary giraffe killings by locals (Vaughan, 2010).

The Olympics, Snow Leopards and GPS

As the olympic games are upon us it's interesting  to note that the link between GPS technology and wildlife conservation can be easy connected to the host country of Russia.  Russia may have as few as 100  snow leopards left in the Altay mountains –  although it is far away from town of Sochi (Snow Leopard Trust, 2014).

Snow Leopards trust says it best  "in order to protect wild snow leopards, we first need to understand where they live" (Snow Leopard Trust, 2014).  They participate in the GPS collar, long-term ecological study in the South Gobi region of Mongolia. This study has allowed researchers to track and look at the lives of 16 amazing big cats to help understand them and create strategies  for conservation of the endangered species. They have also used this research to assess the needs of the snow leopards, track home ranges and educate the natives. The education component helps decrease   poaching and  unnecessary killings of snow leopards. 

If you are a big cat lover, like myself, this is an awesome use for this extraordinary technology.  Visit their blog to learn more about Snow Leopards and the technology and research used to protect them.

A rare look at an endangered snow leopard

The Downsides

Unfortunately, with every piece of technology there are downsides and limitations. One ongoing debate is the  heath implications of using this technology and what potential cell damage the signals can cause (Heller, 2010).  

Other limitations include the need for medicine to temporally put large animals under to attach the GPS collars, the cost of the collar and staff, the safety of the animals when they are under and the time, money, and resources it can take, to trap and collar an animal (NTV Kenya, 2008).   

KWS elephant collaring exercise: Behind the scenes video

When collecting data samples with GPS trackers there are no set standards as to what is an acceptable sampling interval. This is an ongoing challenge for most researchers working with GPS trackers. 

One would think the most amount of data or samples would be the best and easiest option however,  GPS trackers have a limited amount of battery life and data storage space. The other concern is that as the battery life starts to fade so does the accuracy of the readings causing unusable data (Johnson & Ganskopp, 2008). The GPS trackers also requires three of the 24 satellites to be lined up to produce accurate data so data can be missed and valuable information can be lost if the triangulation fails (Pebsworth, Morgan, & Huffman, 2012). 

  

Think Global!

As you can see GPS can be used for much more than just guiding you from one place to the next. It is an essential  tool for every day life. Conservationist and researchers use GPS to help endangered species and manage disasters that effect everyone. So the next time you turn on your GPS think about all the amazing creatures the depend on GPS for survival even more than you do! 

References:

 Adams, A. L., Dickinson, K. M., Robertson, B. C., & Van Heezik, Y. (2013). An Evaluation of    the Accuracy and Performance of Lightweight GPS Collars in a Suburban Environment. Plos   ONE, 8(7), 1-8. doi:10.1371/journal.pone.0068496

        Air Force Space Command. (2013, May 14). GPS Modernization Video - YouTube. Retrieved February 17, 2014, from http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=chNQW22vVNI#t=20

Handcock, R. N., Swain, D. L., Bishop-Hurley, G. J., Patison, K. P., Wark, T., Valencia, P., & ... O'Neill, C. J. (2009). Monitoring Animal Behavior and Environmental Interactions Using Wireless Sensor Networks, GPS Collars and Satellite Remote Sensing. Sensors (14248220), 9(5), 3586-3603. doi:10.3390/s90503586

 Heller, P. B. (2010). Frankenstein's Monster: The Downsides of Technology. International Journal Of Technology, Knowledge & Society, 6(3), 121-132.

 Johnson, D. D., & Ganskopp, D. C. (2008). GPS Collar Sampling Frequency: Effects on Measures of Resource Use. Rangeland Ecology & Management, 61(2), 226-231.

National Coordination Office for Space-Based Positioning, Navigation, and Timing. (2014, February 11). GPS.gov. GPS.gov. Government. Retrieved February 17, 2014, from http://www.gps.gov/systems/gps

NTV Kenya. (2008). KWS elephant collaring exercise: Behind the scenes - YouTube. Retrieved from http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=sNOfbXIdO

Pebsworth, P., Morgan, H., & Huffman, M. (2012). Evaluating home range techniques: use of Global Positioning System (GPS) collar data from chacma baboons. Primates; Journal Of Primatology, 53(4), 345-355. doi:10.1007/s10329-012-0307

Snow Leopard Trust. (2014). GPS Collars. Snow Leopard Trust. Origination. Retrieved February 17, 2014, from http://www.snowleopard.org/learn/research-tools/gps-collars

Soisalo, M. K., & Cavalcanti, S. C.(2006). Estimating the density of a jaguar population in the Brazilian Pantanal using camera-traps and capture–recapture sampling in combination with GPS radio-telemetry. Biological Conservation, 129 (4), 487-496. doi:10.1016/j.biocon.2005.11.023

Vaughan, A. (2010, February 15). Giraffes fitted with GPS collars in pioneering conservation project. The Guardian. Retrieved from http://www.theguardian.com/environment/2010/feb/15/giraffes-gps-collars-conservation

Xu, Y., & Liu, J. (2012, December 11). Low-energy GPS sensing looms large. Phys.org. Retrieved February 18, 2014, from http://phys.org/news/2012-12-low-energy-gps-looms-large.html