Search

The global lockdown to mitigate COVID-19 pandemic health risks has altered human interactions with nature. Here, we report immediate impacts of changes in human activities on wildlife and environmental threats during the early lockdown months of 2020, based on 877 qualitative reports and 332 quantitative assessments from 89 different studies. Hundreds of reports of unusual species observations from around the world suggest that animals quickly responded to the reductions in human presence. However, negative effects of lockdown on conservation also emerged, as confinement resulted in some park officials being unable to perform conservation, restoration and enforcement tasks, resulting in local increases in illegal activities such as hunting. Overall, there is a complex mixture of positive and negative effects of the pandemic lockdown on nature, all of which have the potential to lead to cascading responses which in turn impact wildlife and nature conservation. While the net effect of the lockdown will need to be assessed over years as data becomes available and persistent effects emerge, immediate responses were detected across the world. Thus, initial qualitative and quantitative data arising from this serendipitous global quasi-experimental perturbation highlights the dual role that humans play in threatening and protecting species and ecosystems. Pathways to favorably tilt this delicate balance include reducing impacts and increasing conservation effectiveness.

Telemetry has major potential for application to fish habitat science and management, but to date it is underutilized in this regard. We posit this is because (1) fish telemetry projects are often geared towards detecting fish movement, opposed to systematically sampling habitat selection, and (2) there are often differences in scale between telemetry data and management decisions. We discuss various ways in which telemetry can contribute to fish habitat science and present some considerations for improving its application to this field. To date, most fish telemetry studies have been descriptive (e.g., fish use area A more than area B); greater adoption of more inferential study approaches that assess causal ecological drivers of movement and space use would be of value and require more extensive measurement of environmental conditions. We conclude by presenting a conceptual framework for scaling from individual studies to broad applications in habitat management. Established telemetry networks can readily support synthesis activities, although fish tracking data and environmental data are rarely stored together, and current disconnects among repositories may constrain broad integration and scalability. Si le potentiel d'application de la telemetrie a l'etude et a la gestion des habitats du poisson est important, l'approche demeure sous-utilisee a ce jour. Nous postulons que les causes en sont (1) le fait que les projets de telemetrie appliquee au poisson sont souvent axes sur la detection des deplacements des poissons, par opposition a l'echantillonnage systematique de la selection d'habitats et (2) les differences d'echelles frequentes entre les donnees de telemetrie et les decisions de gestion. Nous abordons differentes approches par lesquelles la telemetrie peut contribuer a l'etude de l'habitat du poisson et certaines considerations permettant d'en ameliorer l'application a ce domaine d'etude. La plupart des etudes telemetriques sur les poissons a ce jour sont descriptives (p. ex. les poissons utilisent plus la region A que la region B). Une adoption plus large d'approches plus inferentielles qui evaluent les facteurs ecologiques causals des deplacements et de l'utilisation de l'espace serait utile et necessiterait des mesures plus vastes des conditions environnementales. Nous concluons en presentant un cadre conceptuel pour passer de l'echelle d'etudes individuelles a celle d'applications plus larges en gestion des habitats. Des reseaux telemetriques etablis peuvent aisement appuyer des activites de synthese, mais les donnees de suivi des poissons et les donnees environnementales sont rarement conservees ensemble et le manque d'harmonisation des depots de donnees peut limiter l'integration et l'extensibilite de ces dernieres. [Traduit par la Redaction], Introduction Effective management of fish populations requires careful consideration of their habitat requirements, including the physical/ structural (e.g., substrate, macrophytes), chemical/limnological (e.g., water temperature, dissolved oxygen concentration), and biological (e.g., [...]

Understanding detection range is a key factor for the use of acoustic telemetry in fisheries research. Lakes have strong seasonal changes in thermal stratification, as well as short-term changes due to internal seiches. These thermal gradients in lakes imply strong sound-speed gradients that can refract and diverge acoustic signals, leading to acoustic attenuation and smaller detection range. Using field-based range testing and the Bellhop acoustic model, we investigated how changes in stratification lead to changes in detection range within Hamilton Harbour, Ontario, Canada. During the summer stratified period, the detection range was less than 350 m, whereas in the isothermal fall, range was up to 500 m. Range test data from three separate field observations showed a good correlation with Bellhop predictions. Owing to the intense internal seiches in Hamilton Harbour, the stratification in the shallower littoral regions essentially switched between stratified and isothermal conditions over short timescales, which is predicted to lead to high temporal variability in detection range that must be accounted for during the analysis and interpretation of telemetry-derived data. La comprehension de la portee de detection est un aspect cle de l'utilisation de la telemetrie acoustique dans la recherche sur les peches. Les lacs presentent de fortes variations saisonnieres de leur stratification thermique, ainsi que des variations a court terme decoulant de seiches internes. Ces gradients thermiques dans les lacs sous-entendent d'importants gradients de la vitesse du son qui peuvent entrainer une refraction et une divergence des signaux acoustiques, produisant une attenuation acoustique et une reduction de la portee de detection. Nous avons examine, en utilisant des essais de portee sur le terrain et le modele acoustique Bellhop, les modifications de la portee de detection decoulant des variations de la stratification dans le port de Hamilton (Ontario, Canada). Durant la periode de stratification estivale, la portee de detection est inferieure a 350 m, alors que durant la periode d'isothermie automnale, elle peut atteindre 500 m. Les donnees d'essais de portee issues de trois observations distinctes sur le terrain montrent une bonne correlation avec les predictions du modele Bellhop. En raison des intenses seiches internes dans le port de Hamilton, la stratification dans les secteurs littoraux moins profonds alterne entre des conditions stratifiees et des conditions isothermiques sur de courtes periodes, ce qui, selon les predictions, devrait produire une grande variabilite dans le temps de la portee de detection, dont l'analyse et l'interpretation de donnees issues de la telemetrie doivent tenir compte. [Traduit par la Redaction], Introduction Acoustic telemetry is an important tool that is being used to advance and improve conservation and management of fishes in lakes and coastal regions. Acoustic telemetry enables ecologists to [...]

The potential for telemetry data to answer complex questions about aquatic animals and their interactions with the environment is limited by the capacity to store, manage, and access data across the research community. Large telemetry networks and databases exist, but are limited by the actions of researchers to share their telemetry data. Promoting data sharing and understanding researchers' views on open practices is a major step toward enhancing the role of big data in ecology and resources management. We surveyed 307 fish telemetry researchers to understand their perspectives and experiences on data sharing. A logistic regression revealed that data sharing was positively related to researchers with collaborative tendencies, who belong to a telemetry network, who are prolific publishers, and who express altruistic motives for their research. Researchers were less likely to have shared telemetry data if they engage in radio and (or) acoustic telemetry, work for regional government, and value the time it takes to complete a research project. We identify and provide examples of both benefits and concerns that respondents have about sharing telemetry data. Le potentiel que presentent les donnees de telemetrie pour repondre a des questions complexes sur les animaux aquatiques et leurs interactions avec le milieu est limite par la capacite de stocker et de gerer les donnees et de les rendre accessibles a l'ensemble des chercheurs. De grands reseaux et ensembles de donnees de telemetrie existent, mais ils sont limites par les mesures que prennent les chercheurs pour partager leurs donnees. La promotion du partage de donnees et la comprehension des perspectives des chercheurs sur les pratiques ouvertes constituent un pas important vers l'accroissement du role des donnees massives en ecologie et en gestion des ressources. Nous avons sonde 307 chercheurs qui utilisent la telemetrie pour etudier les poissons afin de comprendre leurs points de vue et experiences en matiere de partage de donnees. Une regression logistique revele que le partage de donnees est positivement relie aux chercheurs ayant tendance a collaborer, qui font partie d'un reseau de telemetrie, qui publient abondamment et qui mentionnent des raisons altruistes motivant leurs travaux. Les chercheurs sont moins susceptibles d'avoir partage des donnees de telemetrie s'ils font de la radiotelemetrie ou de la telemetrie acoustique, travaillent pour un gouvernement regional et accordent de la valeur au temps necessaire pour realiser un projet de recherche. Nous avons cerne des avantages et preoccupations souleves par les repondants concernant le partage de donnees de telemetrie et en presentons des exemples. [Traduit par la Redaction], Introduction Telemetry is an extraordinary tool for monitoring animal movement in the wild, with applications in the aquatic, aerial, and terrestrial realms (Cooke et al. 2004; Hussey et al. 2015; [...]

Copyright of Canadian Journal of Remote Sensing is the property of Taylor & Francis Ltd and its content may not be copied or emailed to multiple sites or posted to a listserv without the copyright holder's express written permission. However, users may print, download, or email articles for individual use. This abstract may be abridged. No warranty is given about the accuracy of the copy. Users should refer to the original published version of the material for the full abstract. (Copyright applies to all Abstracts.)

Invasive species are a key threat to biodiversity in freshwater ecosystems; and, as such, their management can be an important part of ecosystem restoration and conservation. In Hamilton Harbour, an impaired Lake Ontario embayment, invasive species are an important threat. In the early 2000s, an increase in invasive goldfish (Carassius auratus) was identified during monitoring surveys. This population of goldfish was studied via acoustic telemetry to gain knowledge about its biology to support management control options. Hamilton Harbour goldfish exhibited seasonal patterns in site and depth use, and clear preferences for over-wintering and spawning areas. Goldfish were largely resident to Hamilton Harbour with the exception of one individual. To predict when goldfish would move into spawning areas, we examined goldfish presence, abundance, and temperature at a fish-barrier connected to the harbour and developed models to predict goldfish presence based on Cumulative Growing Degree Days (CGDD) and Day of Year (DOY). Goldfish were captured in large numbers (>100 day−1) at the fishway when CGDD > 25.0 and DOY > 100; therefore, we predicted that our tagged fish would move to spawning areas when these thresholds were reached. Both models accurately predicted when tagged fish moved to spawning areas which largely occurred when water temperatures were lower (≥ 9.7 °C) than thresholds previously identified in the literature (i.e., 15.0 °C − 22.0 °C). This suggested that pre-spawn/staging behaviour was detected using telemetry driven by factors including water temperature. Results from this work will inform control strategies for goldfish, including active removal during aggregation prior to spawning. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Conservation decisions surrounding which fish habitats managers choose to protect and restore are informed by fish habitat models. As acoustic telemetry has allowed for improvements in our ability to directly measure fish positions year‐round, so too have there been opportunities to refine and apply fish habitat models. In an area with considerable anthropogenic disturbance, Hamilton Harbour in the Laurentian Great Lakes, we used telemetry‐based fish habitat models to identify key habitat variables, compare habitat associations among seasons, and spatially identify the presence distribution of six fish species. Using environmental data and telemetry‐based presence–absence from 2016 to 2022, random forest models were developed for each species across seasons. Habitat variables with the highest relative importance across species included fetch, water depth, and percentage cover of submerged aquatic vegetation. The presence probability of each species was spatially predicted for each season within Hamilton Harbour. Generally, species showed a spatial range expansion with greater presence probability in the fall and winter to include parts of the harbor further offshore, and a range contraction in the spring and summer toward the nearshore, sheltered areas, with summer having the most limited habitat availability. Greater habitat suitability was predicted in western Hamilton Harbour for the majority of species, whereas the east end was less suitable and may benefit from habitat restoration. These types of fish habitat models are highly flexible and can be used with a variety of data, not just telemetry, and should be considered as an additional tool for fish habitat and fisheries managers alike. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]