What's a Biologger?

Miniaturization of technology and advancements in battery life have allowed scientists to tag and track animals as they act naturally in their environments. We can now track tuna as they migrate across oceans, sea turtles as they leave beaches after laying eggs, and migratory birds as the fly from continent to continent. The term "biologger" refers to any of the archival tags, electronic recorders or some other kind of data storage tag that could be attached to an animal for collecting information. Scientists have even applied the term "biologging" as the use of these tags on animals.

Biologgers have sensors that can collect all kinds of information including GPS location, conditions of the surrounding environment, conditions of the animal's body, traveling speeds, and depth and pressure of water surrounding aquatic or marine animals. As a consequence of these different features, biologgers are made in all kinds of shapes and sizes.

 

The biologgers we are using for this project are made by Cefas Technology Limited. We chose the G5 Long Life data storage tags because they are capable of staying on the animal for an extended period of time due to the long battery life (24 months!) and large data storage capabilities. It can store up to 2 million temperature or pressure readings. This means we will not have to revisit the island to constantly download data or switch out tags. That's pretty important since Isla Palma, Colombia isn't exactly next door to Monroe, Louisiana.

 

Another key feature about these tags is that they are very light (only 2.25 grams in water) and small (35.5 millimeters long) so they will presumably have a reduced effect on the turtles' habits. The biologgers have a wet/dry switch to tell us when the turtle is above or below water. We will also be able to measure the temperature and pressure to show the depth the turtle swims in the water.

 

Once we recover the tags, we can connect them to a computer using an adapter and download all of the data that it has stored away. This is where the real fun begins in uncovering the hidden life of the Chocoan River Turtle.

For more information on specifications and products visit Cefas Technology Limited at http://www.cefastechnology.co.uk/index.htm.