Earth Observation and Biologging Data for Marine Conservation
Wildlife Tracker v0.3: a real-time geo technology tool
The “Wildlife Tracker” has reached its desired level and it is hosted by gis4 wildlife movement analytics. Nowadays the cloud geo-framework is on the version v0.3 which lets marine scientists overlap Earth Observation data from Marine Copernicus Service with biologging data. The web app has more features developed to satisfy user needs. For example, marine scientists download earth observation datasets from the desired date. The “Wildlife Tracker” displays the current date of ocean variables by default but users can also choose historical data. At the moment it is available variables like Sea Surface Temperature and Chl-a concentration but more variables are coming like Oxygen concentration, salinity, and ocean floor depth.
The geo-framework is used for animal movement analysis and it helps scientists finding animals’ meaningful spots (such as foraging areas, migration routes, etc). Some marine species are sensitive to anthropogenic threats and it is here where the “Wildlife Tracker” is also taking action. The software supports marine conservation and marine spatial planning towards a more effective MPA demarcation and better government of wildlife protection. The aim is to become a data-driven source for biodiversity conservation and MPA assessment.
Partnership in Galapagos Marine Reserve
Thanks to the support of the “Galapagos Whale Shark Project” the “Wildlife Tracker” is monitoring whale sharks in real-time. Scientists follow the movements of these individuals and are aware of the anthropogenic risks like shipping strikes that might affect the pathways. The first pilot demo of “Wildlife Tracker” v0.3 has been developed and tested in the Galapagos Islands. Here is a promo video of the pilot project:
The pilot demo has been done with 10 tagged whale sharks. The one we are allowed to present is Sky a juvenile whale shark that has been around the Galapagos Marine Reserve. The tests with Earth Observation data are a success and it supports the understanding of the movements of whale sharks. Here is a view of Sky with Sea Surface Temperature on the “Wildlife Tracker”
Users are able to download the map animation and share it online as web maps. Same as the image shared on the top of this article.
Conservation Efforts
Unfortunately, 3 of the tagged whale sharks started giving signals from land. This means that either the whale shark was caught or only the tag. In order to support early action and awareness of these events, the “Wildlife Tracker” developed a bot connected with the user’s mobile phone, and every time the tags start sending locations from land it will alert the user. The alert system is customizable and it can send messages like signals not received since 2 weeks ago, individuals out of MPA, individuals in a high fishery pressure zone, etc. Here is a view of the whale sharks found on land.
Data license
The biologging datasets collected through the “Galapagos Whale Shark Project” are private and can not be shared. The “Wildlife Tracker” and host are able to share only visualizations of Sky the whale shark and the 3 individuals found on land.
The material created with “Wildlife Tracker” can be used for non-commercial purposes and for commercial purposes with the agreement of its data owner the “Galapagos Whale Shark Project”
Analytics and open source code
The backend analysis has been published in short geospatial data science articles that provide the coding workflow in some specific cases. The solution is offered not only for marine fauna but also for different species such as birds. Check here for some code about how the product works in the backend.
Finding nesting sites during Black-backed seagulls migration
This article is key to understanding how the Stop Detection algorithm works and how its parameters can be configured.
Discovering foraging spots in Blue Whales' movements
This article may help to automate the Stop Detection algorithm in your own workflow. It makes easier the configuration of the algorithm parameters and helps users to do more tests.
Visualizing Adélie penguin moves in Antarctica
This article is supportive of the visualization of animal tracking datasets in the poles: Antarctica and the Arctic. It gives instructions about the projection of spatial data to the Orthographic coordinate reference system.
Filtering Great Whales migration routes by year
This article teaches how to create LineString geometries from GPS tracks. Then it gives a time-filtered perspective of the whales’ migration routes by year.
Finding foraging activity of Great Whales which decided not to migrate
This article aims to find foraging activity with the Stop Detection algorithm and makes reference to Silva et al (2013). The usage of the algorithm is experimental and the validation of results requires the critical view of marine scientists. But, the analysis matches the conclusion of the research journal so this article is a showcase of other methodologies that can be used to find insight into whale migration.
About the business model
The next step is to keep funding the platform and keep it online. We are open to creating partnerships with ocean conservation institutions dedicated to wildlife monitoring with biologging data. The aim is to develop an agreement where the “Wildlife Tracker” is used as a technological asset.
We are willing to keep adding value to our software and we require sponsorship to keep the platform online. If you are willing to join this inspiring project and be part of ocean conservation do not hesitate to be in touch on our website.
