Inland waters around the globe are home to diverse communities of fish and wildlife. Yet, life in freshwater is often cryptic as a result
of turbidity, entrained air, algal blooms, emergent macrophytes, depth, and ice cover (Hussey et al., 2015). As such, even the most
basic natural history is unknown and ecological data are lacking for many freshwater species. Fundamental questions such as
(i) When do they breed?, (ii) What are their critical habitats?, and (iii) What are their environmental tolerances? remain largely
unanswered for many species.
The advent of electronic tagging and tracking tools (i.e., biotelemetry and biologging devices; see Glossary for definitions) has
enabled biologists to begin to unravel these mysteries of life in freshwaters (Cooke et al., 2013). Researchers use these tools to
position individuals and recreate a path or network of movements for analysis. Calculating the time and distance between
individual positions can contribute to improved understanding of the where, when, why, and how animals move, revealing
information about an individual or a population, and how they interact with their ecosystem (Cooke et al., 2016a). The knowledge
obtained from an animal’s location in the environment, the timing of changes in their location, and the factors that might have
driven those changes, can contribute to improved understanding of not only the life history of that species, but also to their
conservation and/or management.
Animals move on a scale of centimeters to kilometers, and across microseconds to years, depending on various internal and
external factors. For example, light levels and temperature may dictate the position of an organism in the water column, with
fine-scale shifts in depth based on the time of day (Stangel and Semlitsch, 1987; Mehner et al., 2007; Mehner and Kasprzak, 2011),
but also have been known to cue longer annual spawning/reproductive migrations (Jonsson, 1991). Aspects of the natural history of
an animal can also be explored using telemetry, including any site fidelity, or homing behavior they may exhibit, the size of their
home range and how this may change throughout the year and their lifespan (Minns, 1995; Tucker, 2010). Telemetry with
biologging technology could also further our understanding of the resources an animal is selecting (e.g., depth, altitude, temperature,
dissolved oxygen), and the bioenergetics of an individual, i.e., how they use their energy, and the various abiotic and biotic
factors that can influence this energy expenditure (Cooke et al., 2016b).
Understanding animal movements, and how they may be affected by anthropogenic factors, can assist in management and
conservation of fish and wildlife. Unfortunately, inland aquatic ecosystems suffer from issues concerning habitat/ecological
fragmentation and connectivity (Grill et al., 2015; Reid et al., 2019). Telemetry can be used to determine the efficacy of passageways
at dams, for example, at restoring the up and downstream connectivity (Castro-Santos et al., 1996; Aarestrup et al., 2003). Locally
extirpated species can be captively bred and reintroduced. Tracking these individuals can allow for a better understanding of the
success and ramifications of these reintroductions, helping inform conservation efforts (Peters et al., 2009; Wang et al., 2011; Brooks
et al., 2019a). Knowing the location of an animal can provide information about the resources that the animal is selecting for
(chemical, physical, biological), which can be beneficial when planning and monitoring habitat restoration efforts (Brooks et al.,
2017). Fish and wildlife are often managed within a particular geographical area, i.e., a waterbody, a watershed, or a jurisdictional
boundary; however animals rarely stick to these boundaries (Hussey et al., 2017; Brooks et al., 2019b). More broadly, temperature is a major driving force for any ectotherm and understanding how an animal may respond to changes...
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