Three decades of wildlife radio telemetry in India: a review

Authors: Bilal Habib, Shivam Shrotriya, Kuppusamy Sivakumar, Priya R Sinha and Vinod B Mathur

Abstract:

 

From 1983, there have been three decades of the application and development of radio telemetry for wildlife studies in India. In this article, we review 82 studies from India, covering 47 species from four taxonomic classes. We examine and discuss the trends in the selection of study species, habitats and objectives of radio-telemetry studies and the functional success of radio collars and tags. A strong bias for study species and study region is observed and researchers generally tend not to look beyond the traditional research questions. Habitats that are difficult to access, such as the Trans-Himalayas, the Himalayas and north-eastern India, are overlooked. Most of the studies aimed to infer primary information only, such as home range, migration and movement patterns and habitat preference (53.7%, 47.6% and 28.1% studies, respectively). We expect these trends to change with time as the development of technology allows researchers to explore further. We investigated the tracking histories of 483 animals and the records of 496 radio collars or tags, but detailed information could be acquired for only 330 collars or tags. Of the collars, 49% malfunctioned before the end of their anticipated life due to a variety of reasons, early battery drainage being the prevalent cause. The performance of different technologies and collar manufacturers was also analysed but the small sample size was an issue for most of the cases. Argos-based collars and tags generally failed to record most of the locations precisely and failed to transmit them successfully. Issues with permissions and capturing animals for tagging, particular to India, are also discussed. A uniform and centralized system for granting permissions and guidelines for capturing and handling animals would be beneficial to future telemetry studies. 

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citation: Bilal Habib, Shivam Shrotriya, Kuppusamy Sivakumar, Priya R Sinha and Vinod B Mathur. Three decades of wildlife radio telemetry in India: a review. Animal Biotelemetry 2014, 2:4  doi:10.1186/2050-3385-2-4

Radio-Telemetry Studies in India - Issues and Way-Forward

Bilal Habib, Shivam Shrotriya, K. Sivakumar, V. B. Mathur, P. R. Sinha

Abstract:

Radio-telemetry was first introduced in India in 1976. Since then telemetry technology has advanced significantly and has been used to study a wide array of animal species in different habitats. We have reviewed information obtained from 76 studies conducted so far in India using telemetry and evaluated the performance of the transmitters used, mainly for their functional success. We have reviewed the tracking histories of 455 animals from four major taxa: Mammalia (28 species), Aves (11 species), Reptilia (7 species) and Pisces (1 species). The transmitters used in the studies were of 6 types: conventional VHF collars, Argos-only equipment (PTT tags and collars), GPS collars with Argos uplinks, GPS collars with Iridium uplink, GPS collars with VHF or UHF ground downloads and GPS collars with GSM download. Detailed information was obtained for 221 VHF collars, 82 Argos-only tags, 15 GPS-Argos collars, 4 GPS-Iridium collars, 8 GPS-ground download collars and 5 GPS-GSM collars. These transmitters were from 13 companies, with Telonics (n=119), Sirtrack (n=71), Advanced Telemetry Systems (n=46), Wildlfie Materials (n=30), AVM instruments (n=24) and Vectronics (n=13) being the major suppliers. Of 328 different collars/tags checked for failure during use, problems had been encountered with 161 collars/tags, i.e., 49 % of the total number of collars used. Other issues related to telemetry studies, namely the efficiency of equipment, cost considerations, appropriateness of studies, animal handling and care, permissions, need for national guidelines and future directions, are discussed in the paper.

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Citation:Habib, B., Shrotriya, S., Sivakumar, K., Mathur, V. B., & Sinha, P. R. (2010). Radio-Telemetry Studies in India- Issues and Way Forward. In K. Sivakumar & B. Habib (Eds.), Telemetry in Wildlife Science, Envis Bulletin: Wildlife and Protected Area, Vol. 13, No. 1 (pp. 03–19). Dehradun: Wildlife Institute of India.