Abstract
Tracking devices are used in a broad range of species for a broad range of questions, but their potential effects on study species are debated. Outcomes of earlier studies on effects are equivocal: some studies find negative effects on behaviour and life history traits, while others do not. Contrasting results might be due to low sample sizes, temporal scale (no repetition of the study over multiple years) and a limited range of response variables considered. We investigated effects of geolocators on a range of response variables: body condition, physiological states, reproductive performance and, ultimately, annual apparent survival for a medium-sized Palaearctic-African long-distance migrant, the Eurasian Hoopoe Upupa epops, for the combined study period (2009–2014) and for individual years. We investigated response variables 1 year after deployment of the geolocator and found no differences in body condition, physiological states and several components of reproductive performance between individuals with and without geolocators when data were combined. Also, apparent annual survival did not differ between geolocator and control birds. We did, however, find effects in some years possibly related to environmental stochasticity or chance events due to lower sample sizes. We argue that results of studies on the effects of tracking devices should be interpreted and generalized with great caution and suggest that future studies on the effects of tracking devices are conducted over multiple years. Future studies should also apply capture–recapture models to estimate survival, rather than focus solely on return rates.
Zusammenfassung
Keine nachweisbaren Effekte von Leichtgewicht-Geodatenloggern bei einem Langstrecken ziehenden paläarktisch-afrikanischen Zugvogel Technische Instrumente zur individuellen Verfolgung von Tieren werden für viele Arten und verschiedene Verwendungszwecke benutzt. Ob diese jedoch einen Effekt auf das Individuum haben, wird vielfach diskutiert. Ältere Studien zeigen unterschiedliche Resultate auf: manche Studien fanden negative Effekte auf das Verhalten und populationsdynamische Faktoren, während andere Studien keine Effekte nachweisen konnten. Diese kontroversen Resultate entstehen womöglich wegen zu niedrigen Stichprobengrößen, der Zeitspanne (keine mehrjährigen Studien) und weil nur einzelne Faktoren untersucht worden sind. In unserer Studie haben wir die möglichen Effekte von Geodatenloggern auf eine Vielzahl von Variablen untersucht: Körperlicher Zustand, physiologischer Zustand, Reproduktionsleistung und jährliche lokale Überlebensrate. Dies wurde an einem Paläarktisch-Afrikanischen Langstreckenzieher mittlerer Größe, dem Wiedehopf (Upupa epops), untersucht, für die gesamte Dauer unserer Studie (2009–2014) sowie für einzelne Jahre. Wir untersuchten Effekte auf diese Variablen ein Jahr nach dem Einsatz der Geodatenlogger und konnten keine Effekte auf die Körperkondition, den physiologischen Zustand und verschiedene Aspekte der Reproduktionsleistung für die kombinierten Daten über alle Jahre nachweisen. Ebenfalls war die jährliche lokale Überlebensrate nicht unterschiedlich zwischen Vögeln mit und ohne Geodatenlogger. Bei Betrachtung der einzelnen Jahre fanden wir aber in manchen Jahren doch gewisse Effekte, welche möglicherweise mit Umweltstochastizität oder zu kleiner Stichprobengröße zusammenhängen. Wir raten zu Vorsicht bei Interpretation und Verallgemeinerung von Ergebnissen von Studien zu Auswirkungen von Ortungsgeräten und empfehlen, dass zukünftige Studien über mehrere Jahre laufen sollten. Zusätzlich empfehlen wir die Verwendung von „Fang-Wiederfang“-Modellen, um damit jährliche Überlebensraten zu untersuchen anstatt nur auf Rückkehrraten zu fokussieren.
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Acknowledgments
We thank the people that conducted the fieldwork, and Nico Guillod and Alain Jacot for the prey delivery data. We thank three anonymous reviewers that helped improve an earlier version of this manuscript. RVW is supported by a Grant of the Swiss National Science Foundation (Nr. 31003A_138354). All applicable guidelines for animal welfare were followed.
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Communicated by F. Bairlein.
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van Wijk, R.E., Souchay, G., Jenni-Eiermann, S. et al. No detectable effects of lightweight geolocators on a Palaearctic-African long-distance migrant. J Ornithol 157, 255–264 (2016). https://doi.org/10.1007/s10336-015-1274-6
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DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/s10336-015-1274-6