Miniaturized GPS to boost research on the link between pace-of-life profiles, habitat matching, and ecological niche specialisation in small mammals

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Technologies have boosted the recent research developments of field ecology. Not only the release of novel molecular tools (e.g. genomics, transcriptomics, epigenetics) has refined studies on the evolutionary and ecological processes in natural populations, but also the recent electronic revolution has produced bio-logging tools to collect data at spatial and temporal scales that could not be studied before. One cutting-edge domain of this endeavour is the miniaturisation of tools to study the movements, locations, and social interactions of small animals with high levels of details and accuracy. Among these tools, miniaturized GPS (GPS, accelerometer, and gyro meter) are now available at a weight and size that can be fitted on small mammals (e.g. 80-100g). ******These tools are a key factor in the race among research teams to publish the most influential studies in their field. With a 13-year research project on a wild eastern chipmunk (Tamias striatus) population, our team has produced innovative research on the combined evolution of life history and behaviour traits and has played a major role in the development of the Pace-Of-Life Syndrome hypothesis in evolutionary ecology. ******We have collected a large diversity of high quality data (e.g. several hundred individuals phenotyped for ecologically relevant traits; spatial and temporal data on micro-habitat quality; paternity and pedigree data; individual fitness), and we propose to combine these data with fine-scale movement and location data from such miniaturised GPS to tackle important ecological questions with an unequalled level of details. In particular, we plan to use GPS collars fitted on chipmunks to study the links between differences in pace-of-life and individual (spatial, temporal, and social) niche specialisations. ******These tools will therefore put our program at the forefront of research in ecology and evolution, and play a pioneering role in the development of research in evolutionary ecology, with implications for biodiversity and conservation biology studies. We already plan to use the miniaturized GPS for 10 research projects involving several HQPs within the next 5 years. As a tool that will increasingly be used in wildlife studies, the miniaturized GPS will provide a great opportunity for our HQPs to diversify their skills and become sought-after modern wildlife ecologists. ********