Autor/a:
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Sardà Amills, Francesc; Aguzzi, Jacopo; Sbragaglia, Valerio; Sarriá Gandul, David; García, José Antonio; Costa, Corrado; Río Fernandez, Joaquín del; Manuel Lázaro, Antonio; Menesatti, Paolo
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Abstract:
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Radio frequency identification (RFID) devices are currently used to quantify
several traits of animal behaviour with potential applications for the study of marine
organisms. To date, behavioural studies with marine organisms are rare because of the
technical difficulty of propagating radio waves within the saltwater medium. We present a
novel RFID tracking system to study the burrowing behaviour of a valuable fishery
resource, the Norway lobster (Nephrops norvegicus L.). The system consists of a network
of six controllers, each handling a group of seven antennas. That network was placed
below a microcosm tank that recreated important features typical of Nephrops’ grounds,
such as the presence of multiple burrows. The animals carried a passive transponder
attached to their telson, operating at 13.56 MHz. The tracking system was implemented to
concurrently report the behaviour of up to three individuals, in terms of their travelled
distances in a specified unit of time and their preferential positioning within the antenna network. To do so, the controllers worked in parallel to send the antenna data to a
computer via a USB connection. The tracking accuracy of the system was evaluated by
concurrently recording the animals’ behaviour with automated video imaging. During the
two experiments, each lasting approximately one week, two different groups of three
animals each showed a variable burrow occupancy and a nocturnal displacement under a
standard photoperiod regime (12 h light:12 h dark), measured using the RFID method.
Similar results were obtained with the video imaging. Our implemented RFID system was
therefore capable of efficiently tracking the tested organisms and has a good potential for
use on a wide variety of other marine organisms of commercial, aquaculture, and
ecological interest. |