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Low relative error in consumer-grade GPS units make themideal for measuring small-scale animal movement patterns

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https://ir.library.oregonstate.edu/concern/articles/n296x1062

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Abstract
  • Consumer-grade GPS units are a staple of modern field ecology, but the relatively large error radii reported by manufacturers (up to 10 m) ostensibly precludes their utility in measuring fine-scale movement of small animals such as insects. Here we demonstrate that for data collected at fine spatio-temporal scales, these devices can produce exceptionally accurate data on step-length and movement patterns of small animals. With an understanding of the properties of GPS error and how it arises, it is possible, using a simple field protocol, to use consumer grade GPS units to collect step-length data for the movement of small animals that introduces a median error as small as 11 cm. These small error rates were measured in controlled observations of real butterfly movement. Similar conclusions were reached using a ground-truth test track prepared with a field tape and compass and subsequently measured 20 times using the same methodology as the butterfly tracking. Median error in the ground-truth track was slightly higher than the field data, mostly between 20 and 30 cm, but even for the smallest ground-truth step (70 cm), this is still a signal-to-noise ratio of 3:1, and for steps of 3mor more, the ratio is greater than 10:1. Such small errors relative to the movements being measured make these inexpensive units useful for measuring insect and other small animal movements on small to intermediate scales with budgets orders of magnitude lower than survey-grade units used in past studies. As an additional advantage, these units are simpler to operate, and insect or other small animal trackways can be collected more quickly than either survey-grade units or more traditional ruler/gird approaches.
  • Keywords: Insect movement, Butterfly movement, Checkerspot butterflies, Tracking methods, Animal tracking, Euphydrays, Movement ecology
  • This is the publisher’s final pdf. The published article is copyrighted by the author(s) and published by PeerJ. The published article can be found at: https://peerj.com/
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  • Breed, G. A., & Severns, P. M. (2015). Low relative error in consumer-grade GPS units make them ideal for measuring small-scale animal movement patterns. PeerJ, 3, e1205. doi:10.7717/peerj.1205
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  • Funding was provided by an NSERC Banting postdoctoral fellowship to GAB and partial support was provided by SERDP (Strategic Environmental Research and Development Program).
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