Development of an acoustic telemetry transmitter for identifying predation events

声学遥测是研究鱼类、水生爬行动物和海洋哺乳动物运动和行为的一种快速发展的方法。声学遥测使用插入水生动物体内或水生动物身上的发射器(即标签)，由放置在水生生态系统中的接收器检测到。除了增加我们对水生动物的科学知识外，声学遥测已经成为制定有效的水生生态系统和濒危物种管理计划的重要工具。限制声学遥测的一个重要问题是，假设检测到的声学发射器代表最初标记的动物的运动，而不是捕食者在被标记的动物被捕食后的运动(即标记继续从捕食者的胃内传输)。在专注于面临重大捕食风险的动物(例如，回流到海洋中的幼年迁徙鲑鱼)的研究中，这一假设可能导致错误的死亡率估计，并最终导致对这一宝贵资源的感染管理。VEMCO是一家专注于开发和制造声学遥测仪器和技术的公司，该公司开发了一种捕食标签，当最初标记的鱼被另一种动物吃掉时，它会发送一个新的唯一代码；从而识别捕食事件。这样的标签可以让研究人员量化研究动物的捕食率，从而给声学遥测带来革命性的变化。这项建议试图通过使用捕食者和捕食者鱼的受控水族馆研究，为一系列鱼类大小和温度优化和参数化这种捕食标签。

Acoustic telemetry is a rapidly expanding and developing method to study the movement and behavior of fish, aquatic reptiles and marine mammals. Acoustic telemetry uses transmitters (i.e. tags), inserted in or on aquatic animals, which are detected by receivers placed in aquatic ecosystem. In additional to increasing our scientific knowledge about aquatic animals, acoustic telemetry has become an important tool when developing effective management plans for aquatic ecosystems and endangered species. One important problem that limits acoustic telemetry is the assumption that the detected acoustic transmitter represents the movements of the originally tagged animal and not the movements of a predator following predation of the tagged animal (i.e. the tag continues transmitting from within the predator's stomach). In studies focused on animals that face a significant risk of predation (e.g. young migrating salmon returning to the ocean), this assumption could lead to erroneous mortality estimates and ultimately infective management of this valuable resource. Vemco, a company focused on the development and manufacturing of acoustic telemetry instruments and technologies, has developed a predation tag that transmits a new and unique code when the originally tagged fish is consumed by another animal; thus identifying predation events. Such a tag could revolutionize acoustic telemetry by allowing researchers to quantify predation rates on study animals. This proposal seeks to optimize and parameterize this predation tag for a range of fish sizes and temperatures through controlled aquarium studies using prey and predator fish.