Overview
- Biodiversity loss, marked by a 73% decline in wildlife populations and the imminent extinction of one million species, threatens essential ecosystem services like pollination, water purification, and climate regulation. This crisis jeopardizes global economies, as over 55% of the world's GDP depends on nature, and undermines human health and well-being through the loss of medicinal resources and natural spaces. Urgent action is critical to safeguard the planet's ecological balance and secure a sustainable future.
- In November 2024, Dr. Yanco, a Research Fellow at the University of Michigan's School for Environment and Sustainability (SEAS), co-authored a study with Assistant Professor Brian Weeks and an international team, titled "Tracking individual animals can reveal the drivers of species loss," Trends in Ecology & Evolution highlighting the potential of animal tracking data to advance conservation strategies. The research emphasizes how detailed tracking of individual animals can reveal the impacts of threats such as pollution, climate change, and habitat loss on species populations.
- Dr. Scott Yanco has employed various tracking technologies in his research to monitor animal movements and behaviors:
- Archival GPS Units: These devices record precise location data over time, allowing researchers to study movement patterns and habitat use. For instance, Dr. Yanco used archival GPS units to track flammulated owls, providing insights into their migratory behaviors. (Source: Michigan News)
- Motus Automated Radio-Telemetry Tags: These small tags emit radio signals detected by a network of receiving stations, facilitating the tracking of smaller species over large areas. Dr. Yanco utilized Motus tags to monitor juvenile tree swallows, enhancing understanding of their movement ecology. (Source: Michigan News)
- Implanted Biologgers: These devices are surgically implanted to collect physiological data such as heart rate and body temperature. In collaboration with researchers at the Max Planck Institute of Animal Behavior, Dr. Yanco used implanted biologgers in Eurasian blackbirds to study metabolic dynamics across different migratory strategies. (Source: Scott Yanco)
- Emerging technologies like ICARUS (International Cooperation for Animal Research Using Space) and miniaturized sensors are expanding the range of species that can be tracked, even small birds. These tools gather vital data on physiological and environmental factors affecting survival and reproduction. ICARUS is a global initiative that leverages satellite technology to track and study the movements of animals around the world using space-based receivers on the International Space Station (ISS) to collect data from small tracking devices (tags) attached to animals.
- These technologies have enabled Dr. Yanco to gather detailed data on animal movements and behaviors, contributing to a deeper understanding of ecological patterns and informing conservation efforts.
- This technology could be used to enhance conservation locally,
- Monitoring Wildlife Movements: Utilizing GPS collars and biologgers allows for precise tracking of species such as deer, foxes, and migratory birds. This data helps identify critical habitats, migration corridors, and breeding grounds, informing habitat protection and restoration initiatives. (Source: Fauna Flora)
- Assessing Human-Wildlife Interactions: Tracking technologies can reveal patterns of wildlife movement in urban and suburban areas, aiding in the development of strategies to mitigate human-wildlife conflicts and promote coexistence. (Source: WEMU)
- Detecting Environmental Changes: By monitoring animal behaviors and movements, these technologies can serve as indicators of environmental health, signaling issues like pollution or habitat degradation. (Source: MIT Technology Review)
- Informing Conservation Policies: Data collected from tracking can guide local conservation policies, ensuring they are based on accurate, real-time information about wildlife populations and their needs. (Source: Michigan News)
- Monitoring Wildlife Movements: Utilizing GPS collars and biologgers allows for precise tracking of species such as deer, foxes, and migratory birds. This data helps identify critical habitats, migration corridors, and breeding grounds, informing habitat protection and restoration initiatives. (Source: Fauna Flora)
Study: Tracking individual animals can reveal the mechanisms of species loss
Today’s ecologists have more data than ever before to help monitor and understand the world’s biodiversity. Yet researchers are still working to get more detailed information to better combat declining animal populations that can eventually lead to species extinctions, says animal ecologist Scott Yanco of the University of Michigan.
Yanco, a research fellow at the U-M School for Environment and Sustainability, believes that change is on the horizon thanks to advances in animal tracking technology. Researchers affix these devices to individual animals to monitor their locations and other information over time. With these technologies, scientists are accumulating more detailed information throughout the lives of individual animals to understand the specific impacts of threats like pollution, climate change, and habitat loss and fragmentation.
Working with U-M evolutionary ecologist Brian Weeks and an international team, Yanco authored a new study highlighting the opportunity for animal tracking data to help usher in a new era of conservation.
Transcription
David Fair: This is 89 one WEMU, and welcome to our weekly exploration of our environment. We call it Issues of the Environment. Today, we're going to take a look into some groundbreaking research out of the University of Michigan. The rudimentary concept is that by tracking individual animals, we can learn about environmental impacts and threats while also advancing conservation strategies. Now, as I suspect, we're all about to learn the research and its findings are far more complex. Our guest today is Dr. Scott Yanco, and Dr. Yanco is a postdoctoral research fellow in the U of M's School for Environment and Sustainability. And he's co-author of the study called, "Tracking individual animals can reveal the mechanisms of species loss." Dr. Yanco, thanks for the time today! I appreciate it!
Dr. Scott Yanco: Thanks so much for having me! Glad to be here!
David Fair: What led you and your colleagues to decide to track individual animals, as opposed to a more broad look at a species?
Dr. Scott Yanco: Yeah. So, in this study, we didn't actually do any tracking ourselves, but we're suggesting that, by tracking these individual animals, we can get information that we critically need to make conservation decisions and actions. And the reason that we need individual animals is that to understand when and where animals are dying and how they're reproducing, we need to be able to observe animals more than one time. This is how we've traditionally estimated things like the probability an animal will survive. And what we're suggesting here is that this new technology that's allowing us to track animals with greater and greater resolution across the globe, even, is a real opportunity to do an even better job of estimating these types of things.
David Fair: Now, there are certain species of animals that are considered good bio-indicators when it comes to ecological health. Crayfish, for example, can indicate the quality of freshwater, and peregrine falcons are an indicator of pesticides. How do you go about choosing the animals, worldwide and locally, that you want to follow?
Dr. Scott Yanco: It's a good question. And, one, we honestly don't have great answers. I mean, you can choose these indicator species, and there's great ways to think about doing that. Often, we look at what their specific habitat requirements are or, as you mentioned, sensitivities to aspects of the environment. They also need to be good, well-behaved study subjects. So, they need to be things that we can observe in one way or another, potentially capture and measure things about. But I think more broadly, one of the points we try to make in this paper is that, beyond indicators, we need to be able to assess these demographic rates--in other words, when and where animals are dying and what causes their populations to go up and down even for non-indicator species. And we know that the planet is undergoing a biodiversity crisis. There's been a mountain of research showing us that populations of various groups are declining. A really famous one a few years ago showed that a nearly 30% decline in the total abundance of birds in North America. And for many of those species, one of the shocking findings is that we don't actually know what's causing it. And so, outside of the handful of really well-studied species, if we want to reverse these declines, we need to be able to apply these techniques to a broader swath of the tree of life. And again, as these tracking technologies become more accessible and more easily applied, we're entering a phase where we're able to actually ask these questions about the full set of species that we need to be able to ask them about.
David Fair: WEMU's Issues of the Environment continues. And today, we're talking with Dr. Scott Yanco from the University of Michigan School of Environment and Sustainability about a study he coauthored entitled, "Tracking individual animals can reveal the mechanisms of species loss." As you just pointed out, it's about biodiversity loss. The research I've read says we're losing anywhere from 100 to 10,000 species a year. Now, that includes everything from microscopic organisms to large plants and animals. But what are the repercussions of widespread extinction?
Dr. Scott Yanco: They're severe and widespread. I mean, I think that many of us get into this kind of work because we think that biodiversity has value in its own right. And I'm certainly one of those people. And so, every species lost is a tragedy. But even people that don't care about biodiversity should care about biodiversity. And that's because healthy biospheres are the predicate for healthy human societies. We know that ecosystem services are the way that we get clean water or clean air. These are the things that provide buffering from disease dynamics or provide buffering from extreme storm events. This is integrally related to our food systems. And so, it's critically important that we're able to manage this stuff, not just for its own right, but in order to manage healthy, effective and just human societies. I mean, it's not an accident that life on air and life underwater are two of the UN's sustainable development goals. That's about developing human societies and acknowledging that it's critical that we understand these processes to allow that to happen.
David Fair: So, as you assess the current trajectory of our natural biodiversity and the health of our ecosystems at this juncture, as you really begin to dive into this research, what do you see? Are we in trouble?
Dr. Scott Yanco: Yeah, we're definitely in a tough position. We know that there are population declines widespread, and there are other changes that we're observing on our planet that may be related to these declines. We know that things like climate change are shifting the timing of natural events and the shifting of the distribution of animals, and those may have population level consequences. And so, we really need to close those knowledge gaps quickly, so that we can start developing actions that are targeted and effective. That said, we know how to manage wildlife populations. In that 3 billion birds paper I mentioned, one of the groups that was doing quite well was waterfowl--so ducks and geese. And that's thanks to really strong targeted management--the harvested group of species. There's a lot of money invested, both private and public. There's well-designed conservation reserves. There's people doing the on-the-ground work of monitoring these populations. And so, if we bring the resources to bear, we know how to do it. And you've heard me say a couple of times now that we're able to track these animals with GPS's attached to them. And it's increasingly high resolution data, the same type of stuff that in all of our cell phones. That just makes it easier for us to do that work. We just need to develop the resources and the teams of folks and really the political will to do that stuff. So, it's mixed. We're in a tough situation, but I'm optimistic that if we choose to solve it, we could do it. We know how to do these things.
David Fair: This is Issues of the Environment on 89 one WEMU. We're talking with U of M postdoctoral research fellow, Dr. Scott Yanco, and you've talked about the technologies. What role will the new and emerging technologies play in not only collecting the research and the data, but ultimately direct conservation initiatives of the future?
Dr. Scott Yanco: Yeah. So, we're entering--or we're really in the middle of--what we think of as a golden age for this type of technology. So, a lot of the data that I work with are devices that we affix on individual animals that tell us all kinds of things. They tell us about their position on the globe. They can tell us about their activity level, almost like the pedometer in your smartwatch. I was recently involved in a study where we used surgically implanted bio-loggers that measured heart rate and temperature for animals throughout almost an entire year as they transitioned across their migrations. These technologies allow us to get a window into the lives of these animals that we've never before seen. And so, as a scientist, it's incredibly exciting! We are rewriting the textbooks every day. But this information also turns out to be exactly the kind of thing we need for this conservation action. And that's really the subject of our paper, pointing out that what we used to do with aluminum bands on birds' legs, now we can do with GPS trackers that we never have to capture that animal again. And we're able to follow their lives sometimes for multiple years as they make these journeys sometimes halfway across the globe. It's going to be easier to apply to the species that most critically need it, and it's going to provide us better data for making better and much more specific decisions about how to protect these animals.
David Fair: The species that needs the most assistance and needs their behavior addressed most is people. And how do you imagine that using this technology and collecting that data can potentially give humans the incentive to change behaviors enough to preserve biodiversity in a healthy manner for the future?
Dr. Scott Yanco: Well, I think it can do two really important things. And I'm glad you asked this question because it's a really exciting part of this that we often don't get to talk about. You know, when we get this really high resolution data, we're not just measuring when and where these animals die, but also the environmental conditions they're experiencing, including the human and built environment. And we're getting information about their behavior. So, it allows us to think about really subtle ways that humans might be affecting wildlife and how those effects might propagate to population changes. So, in other words, how might our disturbances and our activities change an animal's behavior that changes its probability of surviving? That's a totally unique window that we've never had before. And so, it produces this opportunity to think about conservation actions that are much more targeted and much more subtle. Obviously, area-based conservation, where we design reserves that protect pieces of the landscape from human activities, are a critical part of the conservation toolbox. But this might open up new tools. I think the other thing that it does is provide a tremendous tool for showing people what these animals incredible lives are like. These are just incredibly compelling data to look at. And you get a map of an animal's migration going from Michigan down to South America. And you can imagine the environmental conditions that is experienced, and you can watch its subtle movements, sometimes on a minute-by-minute basis. It tells a story of that individual animal's life that I think connects with people in a way that's really powerful.
David Fair: Well, I look forward to the stories this research is going to tell us in the years to come, and I hope we have an opportunity to discuss it further as you take it further down the line!
Dr. Scott Yanco: Likewise! Thanks so much!
David Fair: That is Dr. Scott Yanco. He is a postdoctoral research fellow at the University of Michigan School for Environment and Sustainability. He is coauthor of the innovative and forward-thinking study, "Tracking individual animals can reveal the mechanisms of species loss." For more information on the study and our conversation, stop by our website at wemu.org. Issues of the Environment is produced in partnership with the office of the Washtenaw County Water Resources Commissioner. You hear it every Wednesday. I'm David Fair, and this is your community NPR station, 89 one WEMU FM Ypsilanti.
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