Dear Eco-loggers Following Ankes email which she wrote on my behalf, please find a more detailed summary of the project.
The study aims to look at the impact of feral cats on small mammals populations in the Northern Territory of Australia. We wish to place radio-transmitter collars on populations of native rats (average size ~140g). We are planning to monitor their survival (potentially with a mortality switch) and will use some to follow more intensively to collect data on home range and general movement in cat presence. Rat populations will be reintroduced into 36ha enclosures (600m x 600m). The enclosures will be paired and each pair will share one fence, giving each pair a survey area of 12,000m x 600m. We would like to monitor them for as long as possible, somewhere in the region of a year would be ideal. Information that I have received so far from the companies suggests we may not be able to have a mortality switch due to the weight, however with one company there is the option of an activity switch - I am not entirely sure what this does as yet and have asked for clarification - but maybe this will be of use for basic survival information. We are also interested in using an automated system for monitoring as often the field site is inaccessible due to the weather, and would provide us with a lot more information than if we were to do it by hand. Any advice or information about potential transmitters or operating systems for automatic monitoring would be fantastic. Thank you in advance Mary-Anne Collis On 14 January 2011 09:26, Anke Frank <[email protected]> wrote: > Hi all, > > > > I am seeking some advice on monitoring rats and their survival using > radio-transmitters with an inbuilt mortality switch. Any information > would be great! > > > > Cheers, > > Anke > > > > Anke Frank > > PhD > > > > Institute of Wildlife Research > > School of Biological Science > > Heydon-Laurence Building A08 > > The University of Sydney > > NSW 2006 > > Australia > > ph (work): +61 (0)2 9351 7267 > > Email: [email protected] > > > > > -- E-mail: [email protected] UK mobile: +44 (0)7743 208436 Skype: macollis1984
