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A guide for ecologists to build a low-cost selective trap using radio frequency identification detection

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Abstract

Behavioral studies often aim to perform specific actions on focal individuals and could benefit from automated procedures. With this paper, our goal is to demonstrate to ecologists that building a selective, automated device triggered by radio frequency identification detection (RFID) running on a battery is easy and affordable (~ 100 Euros). We provide a step-by-step description of how to build such an RFID triggered trap for small animals. We built and tested our selective traps in a colony of 300 captive bats, flying in a 40-m-diameter dome. Our device proved successful in trapping focal individuals using RFID identification while recording every single visit to the trap-feeder. Our guide not only provides information for building RFID-triggered traps, but also offers a general framework for building any device triggered by RFID and can thus help build tailored setups matching specific studies requirement. Home-made selective device using RFID detection have a great potential in opening-up exciting new possibilities for a wide range of studies on animals, ranging from trapping specific individuals, to automatically monitoring activities at the nest-box, or supplementing specific individuals in a population.

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Acknowledgments

We are very thankful to the Papiliorama, for allowing us to study their bat colony under such excellent research conditions. We are especially thankful to the technical team, for installing electricity and helping with installing the traps, Michel Ruegger, Tiago Marques, and Erland Mühlheim. We warmly thank Idonus, Paul Buckley, and Robert Accardi, from Priority 1 design. We also thank Lucie Masseboeuf for her help with the bats. Finally, we are thankful to the reviewers who provided helpful comments on a previous version of the manuscript.

Funding

This study was supported by grants from the Swiss National Science Foundation n ° PP00P3_139011 and n° PP00P3_165840 to FH.

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Authors and Affiliations

  1. Laboratory of Evolutionary Ecophysiology, Institute of Biology, University of Neuchâtel, Neuchâtel, Switzerland

    Magali Meniri, Anthony Farley & Fabrice Helfenstein

  2. Leibniz Institute for Zoo and Wildlife Research, Berlin, Germany

    Nicolas Fasel

  3. Department of Ecology and Evolution, University of Lausanne, Lausanne, Switzerland

    Nicolas Fasel

Authors
  1. Magali Meniri
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  2. Anthony Farley
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  3. Fabrice Helfenstein
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  4. Nicolas Fasel
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Contributions

MM, AF, NF, and FH conceived the ideas.

MM and AF designed the methodology.

MM and AF build the set-up.

MM wrote the manuscript, with contributions from all authors.

All the authors accepted the final version of the manuscript.

Corresponding author

Correspondence to Magali Meniri.

Ethics declarations

Ethical approval

This study was performed under the authorization 2015_43_FR, delivered by the veterinary office of the Canton Fribourg, Switzerland after examination by its ethical committee. All applicable international, national, and/or institutional guidelines for the use of animals were followed.

Conflict of interest

The authors declare that they have no conflict of interest.

Additional information

Communicated by L. Z. Garamszegi

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Fabrice Helfenstein and Nicolas Fasel shared last authorship

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Meniri, M., Farley, A., Helfenstein, F. et al. A guide for ecologists to build a low-cost selective trap using radio frequency identification detection. Behav Ecol Sociobiol 73, 80 (2019). https://doi.org/10.1007/s00265-019-2675-y

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  • DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/s00265-019-2675-y

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