A small long-life acoustic transmitter for studying the behavior of aquatic animals

Abstract

Acoustic telemetry is an important tool for studying the behavior of aquatic animals and assessing the environmental impact of structures such as hydropower facilities. However, the physical size, signal intensity, and service life of off-the-shelf transmitters are presently insufficient for monitoring certain species. In this study, we developed a small, long-life acoustic transmitter with an approximate length of 24.2 mm, diameter of 5.0 mm, and dry weight of 0.72 g. The transmitter generates a coded acoustic signal at 416.7 kHz with a selectable source level between 159 and 163 dB relative to 1 µPa at 1 m, allowing a theoretical detection range of up to 500 m. The expected operational lifetime is 1 yr at a pulse rate interval of 15 s. The new technology makes long-term acoustic telemetry studies of small fish possible, and is being deployed for a long-term tracking of juvenile sturgeon. C 2016 Author(s). All article content, except where otherwise noted, is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution (CC BY) license

Evaluation of four surgical implantation techniques for age‐0 white sturgeon ( Acipenser transmontanus Richardson, 1836) with a new acoustic transmitter

“…Our study consisted of five treatments replicated in two separate circular tanks ( n = 75 sturgeon per tank; representing all five treatments): (i) unmarked (Control), (ii) a flank incision located just dorsal of the ventral scutes closed with a single suture (FL1S; examples shown in Figure ), (iii) the same flank incision location without a suture (FLNS), (iv) an offline incision on the ventral side of the fish, centered between the linea alba and the ventral scutes closed with a single suture (OL1S), and (v) the same offline incision location without a suture (OLNS). Fish were implanted with a non‐functioning AT with the same dimensions as a functioning AT; however it contained a Passive Integrated Transponder (PIT) tag (0.1 g, 12.5 × 2.1 mm) to allow for individual ID (Figure ; functioning transmitter details are described in Lu et al., ). Controls were used for tests of survival and pooled growth.…”

“…Our study consisted of five treatments replicated in two separate circular tanks (n = 75 sturgeon per tank; representing all five treat- (Figure 2; functioning transmitter details are described in Lu et al, 2016). Controls were used for tests of survival and pooled growth.…”

“…A new acoustic transmitter (AT) was developed and is being tested in age-0 sturgeon. It is very small in size (cylindrical, 0.7 g in air, 24.2 × 5.0 mm, up to 365 days battery life; Lu et al, 2016) compared to other acoustic transmitters recently used in sturgeon telemetry research (e.g., 2.9-3.6 g (Acolas, Rochard, Le Pichon, & Rouleau, 2012); 25 g (Boone et al, 2013); 4.6 g (Crossman, Hammell, & Litvak, 2013); 4.1-4.8 g (Miller et al, 2014); 1.8 g (Snobl et al, 2015)). This AT allows researchers to implant a smaller size class of sturgeon, track them for an extended period (with the basic telemetry research assumption that implanted fish are representative of the overall population; Peven et al, 2005), and minimize potential negative effects caused by transmitter burden.…”

Addressing Challenges in the Application of Animal Movement Ecology to Aquatic Conservation and Management

“…In aquatic systems, technologies have expanded from inexpensive traditional mark-recapture tagging approaches (Kohler and Turner, 2008) to coordinated electronic telemetry efforts costing millions of dollars and scaled to cover ocean basins (Block et al, 2011;Cooke et al, 2011;Hussey et al, 2015). Innovative tags have enabled movement studies throughout a greater range of life stages and for longer durations (Hazen et al, 2012;Pinnix et al, 2013;Mansfield et al, 2014;Lu et al, 2016). New platforms (moored buoys, autonomous marine vehicles) are extending the reach of acoustic telemetry studies, with the potential for global networks of oceanographic, and other infrastructure (Hayes et al, 2013).…”

Robust Reconstruction of Sensor Swarms Floating through Enclosed Environments

“…The nodes receive ultrasound ping signals from nearby buoys (at kilometre distance) such that afterwards their positions can be reconstructed using general lateration. The researchers in [9] developed millimetre-sized sensor nodes that can be injected into living fish to study how e.g. dams and ocean energy devices affect their behaviour.…”