Technological Advances Increase Fix-Success for White-Tailed Deer GPS Collars

Bradley D. Smith; Glenn D. Delgiudice; William J. Severud

doi:10.1002/wsb.1174

Technological Advances Increase Fix-Success for White-Tailed Deer GPS Collars

Bradley D. Smith, Glenn D. Delgiudice, William J. Severud

Veterinary Population Medicine

Research output: Contribution to journal › Article › peer-review

1 Scopus citations

Abstract

The incorporation of quick fix pseudoranging (QFP) technology into global positioning system (GPS) collars has the potential to increase location-fix success for terrestrial species. Units enabled with QFP obtain the data necessary to calculate an accurate GPS location-fix during post-processing with just a 3–5 second view of a satellite constellation. Fix-success rate is one of the main sources of error in GPS telemetry studies, creating an inherent bias resulting in misleading data interpretations and incorrect inferences about habitat use. During winter 2017–2018, we captured 20 adult female white-tailed deer (Odocoileus virginianus) and fitted them with QFP-enabled GPS collars on 2 study areas (10/site) in northcentral and northeastern Minnesota, with an additional 40 collars (20/site) deployed during winter 2018–2019. Prior to deployment of the GPS collars on free-ranging deer, we conducted stationary tests to evaluate location-fix-success and spatial accuracy of 48 (of the 60) collars distributed among 4 different vegetative cover types. We recovered 100% of the expected 3,024 location-fixes during the stationary tests. The overall mean location error of the GPS collars was 5.7 m (±0.15 [SE], range = 0–189 m), with errors in dense conifer (10.3 ± 0.52, range = 0–189 m) being greater than in hardwood stands (6.2 ± 0.22, range = 0–91 m), browse patches (3.2 ± 0.08, range = 0–26 m), and openings (3.2 ± 0.08, range = 0–32 m). Similarly, we evaluated the performance of 30 collars deployed on free-ranging deer. We deployed collars for a mean 79.5 days (±7.22, range = 1.8–153.8 days) with a fix-success rate of 100% (34,758 location-fixes); QFP accounted for 11.3% of the 34,758 location-fixes. Our results suggest that the addition of QFP capabilities effectively increased fix-success of GPS collars on free-ranging deer by 11%. An increase in fix-success rate can be of considerable value to movement, distribution, and habitat selection studies, where bias associated with missing data can create unreliable or even false inferences.

Original language	English (US)
Pages (from-to)	333-339
Number of pages	7
Journal	Wildlife Society Bulletin
Volume	45
Issue number	2
DOIs	https://doi.org/10.1002/wsb.1174
State	Published - Jun 2021

Bibliographical note

Funding Information:
We thank B. Matykiewicz, M. Pike, C. Marvet, and B. Wagner for all of their efforts applied to capture and handling deer, and recovering GPS collars in the field. We are thankful to P. Backman, P. Coy, and C. Humpal for their efforts with mortality investigations and laboratory analyses. We appreciate R. Wright, A. Jenks, and J. Knight for their technical GIS support. We acknowledge the United States Forest Service LaCroix and Deer River Ranger Districts for providing housing during the winter field seasons. The Minnesota Department of Natural Resources Section of Wildlife and the Wildlife Restoration (Pittman-Robertson) Program supports this project. We appreciate the Minnesota Deer Hunters Association for providing supplemental funding for post-doctoral research assistance. We also thank C. Anderson (Associate Editor), A. Knipps (Editorial Assistant), and 2 anonymous reviewers for their suggestions, which improved the manuscript.

Publisher Copyright:
© 2021 The Wildlife Society

Keywords

GPS collar performance
Minnesota
Odocoileus virginianus
QFP
land cover effects
quick fix pseudoranging
white-tailed deer

Access

10.1002/wsb.1174

OpenUrl availability

Full text

Cite this

@article{77697d987a224ce4807e925d67044669,

title = "Technological Advances Increase Fix-Success for White-Tailed Deer GPS Collars",

abstract = "The incorporation of quick fix pseudoranging (QFP) technology into global positioning system (GPS) collars has the potential to increase location-fix success for terrestrial species. Units enabled with QFP obtain the data necessary to calculate an accurate GPS location-fix during post-processing with just a 3–5 second view of a satellite constellation. Fix-success rate is one of the main sources of error in GPS telemetry studies, creating an inherent bias resulting in misleading data interpretations and incorrect inferences about habitat use. During winter 2017–2018, we captured 20 adult female white-tailed deer (Odocoileus virginianus) and fitted them with QFP-enabled GPS collars on 2 study areas (10/site) in northcentral and northeastern Minnesota, with an additional 40 collars (20/site) deployed during winter 2018–2019. Prior to deployment of the GPS collars on free-ranging deer, we conducted stationary tests to evaluate location-fix-success and spatial accuracy of 48 (of the 60) collars distributed among 4 different vegetative cover types. We recovered 100% of the expected 3,024 location-fixes during the stationary tests. The overall mean location error of the GPS collars was 5.7 m (±0.15 [SE], range = 0–189 m), with errors in dense conifer (10.3 ± 0.52, range = 0–189 m) being greater than in hardwood stands (6.2 ± 0.22, range = 0–91 m), browse patches (3.2 ± 0.08, range = 0–26 m), and openings (3.2 ± 0.08, range = 0–32 m). Similarly, we evaluated the performance of 30 collars deployed on free-ranging deer. We deployed collars for a mean 79.5 days (±7.22, range = 1.8–153.8 days) with a fix-success rate of 100% (34,758 location-fixes); QFP accounted for 11.3% of the 34,758 location-fixes. Our results suggest that the addition of QFP capabilities effectively increased fix-success of GPS collars on free-ranging deer by 11%. An increase in fix-success rate can be of considerable value to movement, distribution, and habitat selection studies, where bias associated with missing data can create unreliable or even false inferences.",

keywords = "GPS collar performance, Minnesota, Odocoileus virginianus, QFP, land cover effects, quick fix pseudoranging, white-tailed deer",

author = "Smith, {Bradley D.} and Delgiudice, {Glenn D.} and Severud, {William J.}",

note = "Funding Information: We thank B. Matykiewicz, M. Pike, C. Marvet, and B. Wagner for all of their efforts applied to capture and handling deer, and recovering GPS collars in the field. We are thankful to P. Backman, P. Coy, and C. Humpal for their efforts with mortality investigations and laboratory analyses. We appreciate R. Wright, A. Jenks, and J. Knight for their technical GIS support. We acknowledge the United States Forest Service LaCroix and Deer River Ranger Districts for providing housing during the winter field seasons. The Minnesota Department of Natural Resources Section of Wildlife and the Wildlife Restoration (Pittman-Robertson) Program supports this project. We appreciate the Minnesota Deer Hunters Association for providing supplemental funding for post-doctoral research assistance. We also thank C. Anderson (Associate Editor), A. Knipps (Editorial Assistant), and 2 anonymous reviewers for their suggestions, which improved the manuscript. Publisher Copyright: {\textcopyright} 2021 The Wildlife Society",

year = "2021",

month = jun,

doi = "10.1002/wsb.1174",

language = "English (US)",

volume = "45",

pages = "333--339",

journal = "Wildlife Society Bulletin",

issn = "0091-7648",

publisher = "Wiley-Blackwell",

number = "2",

}

TY - JOUR

T1 - Technological Advances Increase Fix-Success for White-Tailed Deer GPS Collars

AU - Smith, Bradley D.

AU - Delgiudice, Glenn D.

AU - Severud, William J.

N1 - Funding Information: We thank B. Matykiewicz, M. Pike, C. Marvet, and B. Wagner for all of their efforts applied to capture and handling deer, and recovering GPS collars in the field. We are thankful to P. Backman, P. Coy, and C. Humpal for their efforts with mortality investigations and laboratory analyses. We appreciate R. Wright, A. Jenks, and J. Knight for their technical GIS support. We acknowledge the United States Forest Service LaCroix and Deer River Ranger Districts for providing housing during the winter field seasons. The Minnesota Department of Natural Resources Section of Wildlife and the Wildlife Restoration (Pittman-Robertson) Program supports this project. We appreciate the Minnesota Deer Hunters Association for providing supplemental funding for post-doctoral research assistance. We also thank C. Anderson (Associate Editor), A. Knipps (Editorial Assistant), and 2 anonymous reviewers for their suggestions, which improved the manuscript. Publisher Copyright: © 2021 The Wildlife Society

PY - 2021/6

Y1 - 2021/6

N2 - The incorporation of quick fix pseudoranging (QFP) technology into global positioning system (GPS) collars has the potential to increase location-fix success for terrestrial species. Units enabled with QFP obtain the data necessary to calculate an accurate GPS location-fix during post-processing with just a 3–5 second view of a satellite constellation. Fix-success rate is one of the main sources of error in GPS telemetry studies, creating an inherent bias resulting in misleading data interpretations and incorrect inferences about habitat use. During winter 2017–2018, we captured 20 adult female white-tailed deer (Odocoileus virginianus) and fitted them with QFP-enabled GPS collars on 2 study areas (10/site) in northcentral and northeastern Minnesota, with an additional 40 collars (20/site) deployed during winter 2018–2019. Prior to deployment of the GPS collars on free-ranging deer, we conducted stationary tests to evaluate location-fix-success and spatial accuracy of 48 (of the 60) collars distributed among 4 different vegetative cover types. We recovered 100% of the expected 3,024 location-fixes during the stationary tests. The overall mean location error of the GPS collars was 5.7 m (±0.15 [SE], range = 0–189 m), with errors in dense conifer (10.3 ± 0.52, range = 0–189 m) being greater than in hardwood stands (6.2 ± 0.22, range = 0–91 m), browse patches (3.2 ± 0.08, range = 0–26 m), and openings (3.2 ± 0.08, range = 0–32 m). Similarly, we evaluated the performance of 30 collars deployed on free-ranging deer. We deployed collars for a mean 79.5 days (±7.22, range = 1.8–153.8 days) with a fix-success rate of 100% (34,758 location-fixes); QFP accounted for 11.3% of the 34,758 location-fixes. Our results suggest that the addition of QFP capabilities effectively increased fix-success of GPS collars on free-ranging deer by 11%. An increase in fix-success rate can be of considerable value to movement, distribution, and habitat selection studies, where bias associated with missing data can create unreliable or even false inferences.

AB - The incorporation of quick fix pseudoranging (QFP) technology into global positioning system (GPS) collars has the potential to increase location-fix success for terrestrial species. Units enabled with QFP obtain the data necessary to calculate an accurate GPS location-fix during post-processing with just a 3–5 second view of a satellite constellation. Fix-success rate is one of the main sources of error in GPS telemetry studies, creating an inherent bias resulting in misleading data interpretations and incorrect inferences about habitat use. During winter 2017–2018, we captured 20 adult female white-tailed deer (Odocoileus virginianus) and fitted them with QFP-enabled GPS collars on 2 study areas (10/site) in northcentral and northeastern Minnesota, with an additional 40 collars (20/site) deployed during winter 2018–2019. Prior to deployment of the GPS collars on free-ranging deer, we conducted stationary tests to evaluate location-fix-success and spatial accuracy of 48 (of the 60) collars distributed among 4 different vegetative cover types. We recovered 100% of the expected 3,024 location-fixes during the stationary tests. The overall mean location error of the GPS collars was 5.7 m (±0.15 [SE], range = 0–189 m), with errors in dense conifer (10.3 ± 0.52, range = 0–189 m) being greater than in hardwood stands (6.2 ± 0.22, range = 0–91 m), browse patches (3.2 ± 0.08, range = 0–26 m), and openings (3.2 ± 0.08, range = 0–32 m). Similarly, we evaluated the performance of 30 collars deployed on free-ranging deer. We deployed collars for a mean 79.5 days (±7.22, range = 1.8–153.8 days) with a fix-success rate of 100% (34,758 location-fixes); QFP accounted for 11.3% of the 34,758 location-fixes. Our results suggest that the addition of QFP capabilities effectively increased fix-success of GPS collars on free-ranging deer by 11%. An increase in fix-success rate can be of considerable value to movement, distribution, and habitat selection studies, where bias associated with missing data can create unreliable or even false inferences.

KW - GPS collar performance

KW - Minnesota

KW - Odocoileus virginianus

KW - QFP

KW - land cover effects

KW - quick fix pseudoranging

KW - white-tailed deer

UR - http://www.scopus.com/inward/record.url?scp=85105620297&partnerID=8YFLogxK

UR - http://www.scopus.com/inward/citedby.url?scp=85105620297&partnerID=8YFLogxK

U2 - 10.1002/wsb.1174

DO - 10.1002/wsb.1174

M3 - Article

AN - SCOPUS:85105620297

SN - 0091-7648

VL - 45

SP - 333

EP - 339

JO - Wildlife Society Bulletin

JF - Wildlife Society Bulletin

IS - 2

ER -

Technological Advances Increase Fix-Success for White-Tailed Deer GPS Collars

Abstract

Bibliographical note

Keywords

Access

OpenUrl availability

Other files and links

Fingerprint

Cite this