Contact Detection for Social Networking of Small Animals

Berkvens, Rafael; Olivares, Ivan Herrera; Mercelis, Siegfried; Kirkpatrick, Lucinda; Weyn, Maarten

doi:10.1007/978-3-030-02607-3_37

Cited by 7 publications

(11 citation statements)

References 15 publications

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“…Rodents are some of the best‐studied model systems for disease ecology, yet because rodents are generally too small for battery‐powered high‐resolution GPS tracking, the tools available for studying their spatial behaviour at high resolution in the wild are limited. To fill this gap, the development of lightweight Bluetooth technology has facilitated the use of highly sensitive proximity loggers in wild Mastomys mice (Berkvens et al., 2019). Using environmentally placed loggers with wide ranges and extended battery lives, it is possible to collect regular spatial locations alongside social contact data, providing an exciting model system with which to investigate space and sociality simultaneously (Berkvens et al., 2019).…”

Section: Synthesis and Future Directionsmentioning

confidence: 99%

“…To fill this gap, the development of lightweight Bluetooth technology has facilitated the use of highly sensitive proximity loggers in wild Mastomys mice (Berkvens et al, 2019). Using environmentally placed loggers with wide ranges and extended battery lives, it is possible to collect regular spatial locations alongside social contact data, providing an exciting model system with which to investigate space and sociality simultaneously (Berkvens et al, 2019). This methodology could be combined with the considerable literature on trapping-based contact networks in field voles (Davis et al, 2015;Farine, 2019) and other rodents (e.g.…”

Section: Model Systemsmentioning

confidence: 99%

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Unifying spatial and social network analysis in disease ecology

Albery

Kirkpatrick

Firth

et al. 2020

Journal of Animal Ecology

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109

126

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1. Social network analysis has achieved remarkable popularity in disease ecology, and is sometimes carried out without investigating spatial heterogeneity. Many investigations into sociality and disease may nevertheless be subject to cryptic spatial variation, so ignoring spatial processes can limit inference regarding disease dynamics. 2. Disease analyses can gain breadth, power and reliability from incorporating both spatial and social behavioural data. However, the tools for collecting and analysing these data simultaneously can be complex and unintuitive, and it is often unclear when spatial variation must be accounted for. These difficulties contribute to the scarcity of simultaneous spatial-social network analyses in disease ecology thus far. 3. Here, we detail scenarios in disease ecology that benefit from spatial-social analysis. We describe procedures for simultaneous collection of both spatial and social data, and we outline statistical approaches that can control for and estimate spatial-social covariance in disease ecology analyses. 4. We hope disease researchers will expand social network analyses to more often include spatial components and questions. These measures will increase the scope of such analyses, allowing more accurate model estimates, better inference of transmission modes, susceptibility effects and contact scaling patterns, and ultimately more effective disease interventions. K E Y W O R D S disease ecology, methodology, parasite transmission, social network analysis, spatial analysis GPS: animals are marked and tracked over relatively large distances using satellites. Spatial: summarise individuals' movements across the landscape. Social: parameterise activity patterns to identify groups or interactions.

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Section: Synthesis and Future Directionsmentioning

confidence: 99%

Section: Model Systemsmentioning

confidence: 99%

Unifying spatial and social network analysis in disease ecology

Albery

Kirkpatrick

Firth

et al. 2020

Journal of Animal Ecology

Self Cite

109

126

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“…As no statistical difference between these two management methods was observed, we recommend the use of daily trapping as a rodent pest management tool, as this is a non-toxic, sustainable method that costs less than rodenticide use, particularly as purchased traps can last for many years. Furthermore, the use of rodenticides is known to have a negative impact on the environment, where non-target species, including humans, can be affected [49,50], and where problems with development of rodenticide resistance are growing globally [51]. Other studies on rodent management methods also found daily rodent removal trapping to be effective [8,52,53].…”

Section: Discussionmentioning

confidence: 99%

“…Although the cats were fed daily to keep them in and around the households and mill, we think many of the cats strayed away during the trial monitoring period, and both the feeding and the dispersal of cats are likely to have influenced their potential predation impact. New innovations in low energy blue tooth tracking systems and GPS collars could be used to increase our understanding of domestic cat foraging activity and home ranges [49,50]. Despite the fact that some rodent species in Bangladesh are larger than cats, e.g., Bandicota indica, the presence of domestic predators could make effective contributions to an integrated rodent management strategy [51,52].…”

Section: Discussionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Efficacy of Management and Monitoring Methods to Prevent Post-Harvest Losses Caused by Rodents

Krijger

Gort

Belmain

et al. 2020

Animals

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The presence of pest rodents around food production and storage sites is one of many underlying problems contributing to food contamination and loss, particularly influencing food and nutrition security in low-income countries. By reducing both pre- and post-harvest losses by rodents, millions of food-insecure people would benefit. As there are limited quantitative data on post-harvest rice losses due to rodents, our objectives were to assess stored rice losses in local households from eight rural communities and two rice milling factories in Bangladesh and to monitor the effect of different rodent control strategies to limit potential losses. Four treatments were applied in 2016 and 2017, (i) untreated control, (ii) use of domestic cats, (iii) use of rodenticides, (iv) use of snap-traps. In total, over a two-year period, 210 rodents were captured from inside people’s homes, with Rattus rattus trapped most often (n = 91), followed by Mus musculus (n = 75) and Bandicota bengalensis (n = 26). In the milling stations, 68 rodents were trapped, of which 21 were M. musculus, 19 R. rattus, 17 B. bengalensis, 8 Rattus exulans, and 3 Mus terricolor. In 2016, losses from standardised baskets of rice within households were between 13.6% and 16.7%. In 2017, the losses were lower, ranging from 0.6% to 2.2%. Daily rodent removal by trapping proved to be most effective to diminish stored produce loss. The effectiveness of domestic cats was limited.

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“…Here, we present the system we have developed using Bluetooth Low Energy (BLE). Bluetooth Low Energy is highly efficient, capable of operating in high interference environments and is supported by modern phones and laptops, which means that user configuration does not require complex hardware[32], particularly in areas where infrastructure can be lacking. Our system consists of three components (Figure 1): Contact loggers, which record the time stamp and the RSSI of the contact between individuals; The gateways which store the logs downloaded from the contact loggers onto a microSD card; A mobile phone application which allows real time programming, monitoring, and downloading of the loggers …”

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

ProxLogs: Miniaturised proximity loggers for monitoring association behaviour in small mammals

Kirkpatrick

Hererra-Olivares

Sabuni

et al. 2021

Preprint

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The ability to monitor associations between wild animals is essential for understanding the processes governing gene transfer, information transfer, competition, predation and disease transmission.Until recently, such insights have been confined to large, visible or captive animals. However, the rapid development of miniature sensors for consumer electronics is allowing ecologists to monitor the natural world in ways previously considered impossible.Here we describe miniature (<1g) proximity loggers we have developed that use Bluetooth Low Energy transmission to register contacts between individuals. Our loggers are open source, low cost, rechargeable, able to store up to 2000 contacts, can be programmed in situ and can download data remotely or through a mobile phone application, increasing their utility in remote areas or with species which are challenging to recapture.We successfully trialled our loggers in a range of field realistic conditions, demonstrating that Bluetooth Low Energy is capable of logging associations in structurally complex habitats, and that changes in received signal strength can be equated to short range changes in distance between loggers. Furthermore, we tested the system on starlings (Sturnidae vulgaris).The ability to include other sensors is retained in our prototypes, allowing for the potential integration of physiological and behavioural inference into social networks derived from our approach. Due to its open source nature, small size, flexibility of use and the active research currently being undertaken with Bluetooth Low Energy, we believe that our approach is a valuable addition to the biologging toolkit.

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Contact Detection for Social Networking of Small Animals

Cited by 7 publications

References 15 publications

Unifying spatial and social network analysis in disease ecology

Unifying spatial and social network analysis in disease ecology

Efficacy of Management and Monitoring Methods to Prevent Post-Harvest Losses Caused by Rodents

ProxLogs: Miniaturised proximity loggers for monitoring association behaviour in small mammals

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