Publication & Studies
Our data loggers based on the iButtons® have been used worldwide for fisheries and biological research. The following publications and posters are examples of how the iButton® based tags were used. The list is updated regularly as soon as we receive new studies.
Fisheries
- High Seas Salmon Research Program 2004
(North Pacific Anadromous Fish Commission) - Thermal Refugia Use by Adult Salmonids in the Klamath River
Basin
(Josh strange, University of Washington) - Growth And Temperature Preference Of Juvenile Steelhead In Small Central California Estuaries (National Marine Fisheries Service, Santa Cruz Laboratory)
- Basking patterns and thermal regulatory behaviors of western
pond turtles
(U. S. Fish and Wildlife Service, Arcata, California) - Cod recovery poster for fisherman (DFO, Canada)
Biology
- The iBBAT : A Small Datalogger for Recording Body Temperature
(Don Thomas and Marie-Hélène Pitre, Université de Sherbrooke) - Torpor patterns of hibernating eastern chipmunks
(Département de Biologie, Université de Sherbrooke) - The Use of Torpor by the Siberian Hamster in the Thermal
Gradient System
(Department of Animal Physiology, Nicolas Copernicus University)
Industry
- Info to come
Fisheries
High Seas Salmon Research Program, 2004
K.W. Myers, R.V. Walker, N.D. Davis, and J.L. ArmstrongUniversity of Washington, School of Aquatic and Fishery Sciences
Box 355020, Seattle, Washington 98195-5020.
Introduction
In 2004 the grant and contract work of the High Seas Salmon Research Program, Fisheries Research Institute (FRI), School of Aquatic and Fishery Sciences (SAFS), University of Washington, included five projects: (1) “North Pacific Anadromous Fish Commission (NPAFC) Research Coordination,” (2) “Migration Studies of Salmon in the Bering Sea,” (3) “Diet Overlap and Potential Feeding Competition Between Yukon River Chum Salmon and Hatchery Salmon in the Gulf of Alaska in Summer,” (4) “Estimates of the Bycatch of Yukon River Chinook Salmon in U.S. Groundfish Fisheries in the Eastern Berng Sea, 1997-1999,” and (5) “Global Ocean Ecosystems Dynamics (GLOBEC) 2000: Feeding, Growth, Condition, and Energetics of Juvenile Pink Salmon in the Northern Gulf of Alaska.” This final report for 2004 includes reports on specific tasks as described in the Statement of Work for “NPAFC Research Coordination” (National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration (NOAA) Contract No. 50ABNF-1-0002), as well as related tasks funded by the other grants and contracts.
Top List...
Thermal Refugia Use by Adult Salmonids in the Klamath River Basin
Josh Strange, University of Washington (SAFS) & Yurok Tribal FisheriesProject Description
This collaborative project uses temperature sensitive radio
transmitters to track the movements and monitor the internal body
temperatures of adult spring chinook during upriver migration in the
Klamath River Basin, California. Salmon are tagged throughout the run in
or near the Klamath River estuary and tracked to their respective
holding areas or natal tributaries. Combined with data from automated
listening stations, external archival temperature tags, river
temperature monitoring, and snorkel surveys of thermal refugia the
results of this study will provide valuable information on thermal
refugia use, thermal experience, migration behavior, and stock specific
run timing for adult spring chinook. This project is a critical step
towards understanding the role of
thermal refugia in mitigating stress and mortality from elevated
temperatures during upriver migration.
GROWTH AND TEMPERATURE PREFERENCE OF
JUVENILE STEELHEAD IN
SMALL CENTRAL CALIFORNIA ESTUARIES
Ellen V. Freund and R. Bruce MacFarlane
National Marine Fisheries Service, Santa Cruz Laboratory
110 Shaffer Road, Santa Cruz CA 95060
Introduction
• The importance of estuaries in salmonid early life history has been
debated, with most research focusing on large estuaries that remain
open to the ocean all year. Smaller estuaries, many of which are
closed seasonally by sandbars, have received little study.
• The small estuaries along the California coast may be important
rearing areas for steelhead (Oncorhynchus mykiss) and coho
salmon (O. kisutch).
• We report preliminary findings on steelhead growth in four small
estuaries that empty into the Monterey Bay National Marine
Sanctuary (Gazos Creek, Scott Creek, Soquel Creek and Aptos
Creek).
• PIT tags were used to identify individual juvenile steelhead. Fish
were sampled in each estuary by seining approximately once a
month throughout most of 2003 and 2004.
• Results show very different growth rates among the estuaries.
• Small archival temperature loggers were deployed to explore
steelhead temperature preferences and habitat utilization within the
estuary. These data can be incorporated into future restoration and
enhancement plans.
Basking patterns and thermal regulatory behaviors of western pond turtles (Clemmys marmorata) between two thermal regimes in a dammed and undammed Trinity River system.
James B. Bettaso, U. S. Fish and Wildlife Service, Arcata, California
Don T. Ashton & Hart H. Welsh, Jr., U. S. Forest Service, Redwood
Sciences Laboratory, Arcata, California
Bob Sullivan, Bureau of Reclamations, Trinity River Restoration Program
Weaverville, California, February 16, 2005
Abstract
Basking activity of western pond turtles (Clemmys marmorata) was studied on two forks of the Trinity River in northern California, the dammed Mainstem Trinity River and the undammed South Fork Trinity River. The thermal regime between these two riverine systems is extreme due to the hypolimnetic release from the Lewiston Dam on the Mainstem Trinity River. Turtles studied on the Mainstem Trinity River were exposed to summer water temperatures that are >10°C lower than the control population on the South Fork Trinity River. We tested the null hypothesis that there would be no difference in thermal regulatory behavior times between the two populations of C. marmorata. However, there was a significant difference between the two population’s thermal regulatory behavior, with the Mainstem Trinity River population of C. marmorata spending more time seeking aquatic thermal refugia and basking than the South Fork Trinity River population (Yates chi-square value = 2368.07, P = 0.0000, and t-value = -3.4048, P = 0.0078) when compared to the river maximum water temperatures. Individual turtles from the undammed South Fork Trinity River tended to bask for shorter periods of time per day and also utilized aquatic basking behaviors compared to the turtles from the Mainstem Trinity River population. The artificially colder thermal regime created by the hypolimnetic releases from the Lewiston Dam may be influencing the turtles thermoregulatory behavior on the Mainstem Trinity River and having these animals seeking alternative aquatic thermal refugia.
Cod Recovery Poster
Fisheries and Ocean Canada, Institute Maurice-Lamontagne
Biology
The iBBAT : A Small Datalogger for Recording Body Temperature
Don Thomas and Marie-Hélène Pitre, Université de Sherbrooke,
Sherbrooke, Qc J1K 2R1;
Tomasz Kokurewicz, Agricultural Univ. of Wroclaw,
Kozuchowska 5b, 51-631 Wroclaw, Poland;
Robert Turcotte, Alpha Mach, 349 de Ramsay, Mont St-Hilaire,
Qc J2H 2W4 (rtur@alphamach.com)
Introduction
Bats are among the most thermo-labile of all mammals. Many species and individuals regulate their rate of energy expenditure by adjusting body temperature in response to either the immediate size of their on-board fat reserves or to past or future foraging success. For this reason, monitoring body temperature can tell us much about foraging success and the energetic challenges that individuals face. This is particularly true for hibernating bats, most of which must survive for up to 8 months on a fixed energy reserve. Hibernating bats may adjust the depth of torpor in response to the size of their fat stores by selecting specific microclimates. They may also adjust the frequency and duration of winter arousals. Torpor parameters are difficult to study by direct observation because hibernating bats are sensitive to human disturbance. Here, we present a new self-contained datalogger that now allows the measurement of body temperature for bats as small as 10g.
Torpor patterns of hibernating eastern chipmunks
DANIEL MUNRO, DONALD W. THOMAS and MURRAY M. HUMPHRIES†
Département de Biologie, Université de Sherbrooke,
Sherbrooke, QC, Canada J1K 2R1;
†Department of Natural Resource Sciences, Macdonald Campus, McGill
University, 21 111 Lakeshore Road, Ste-Anne-de-Bellevue,
Quebec,H9X 3V9, Canada
Introduction
1. Many endotherms employ torpor during periods of resource scarcity,
but this
state of substantially reduced body temperature and metabolism appears
to impose significant physiological costs. Accordingly, individuals can
be expected to vary the expression of torpor according to the size of
their energy reserves.
2. Although dietary polyunsaturated fatty acids (PUFAs) are important
for maintaining the fluidity of membrane phospholipids and depot fats at
low body temperatures, they are also prone to autoxidation, which can
result in significant somatic damage. Dietary PUFA may thus influence
the depth and duration of torpor during hibernation.
3. We evaluated the hypothesis that both an increase in the size of the
burrow food hoard and an elevation of its PUFA composition can cause
chipmunks to reduce their use of torpor both by reducing the time spent
torpid and by maintaining higher body temperature during torpor.
4. We provided individual chipmunks with equicaloric natural-PUFA and
high-PUFA
supplements 10 days prior to autumn immergence. We measured seven
parameters that characterize the depth and duration of torpor used by
hibernating chipmunks using temperature-sensitive data loggers mounted
on neck collars. We compared torpor patterns for the natural-PUFA,
high-PUFA and control groups at a study site in southern Quebec, Canada.
We also compared control animals from Quebec with unsupplemented
controls from a more southerly site in Pennsylvania, USA characterized
by higher food availability and less severe winters.
5. Chipmunks provided ...
Download PDF Document...
The Use of Torpor by the Siberian Hamster in the Thermal
Gradient System
Department of Animal Physiology, Nicolas Copernicus University
Industrial Applications
To come