Welcome to Movebank's data repository!

Through this repository, Movebank allows users to publish animal tracking datasets that have been uploaded to Movebank (www.movebank.org). Published datasets have gone through a submission and review process, and are typically associated with a written study published in an academic journal. All animal tracking data in this repository are available to the public.

We invite you to read more about the repository and browse the datasets.

 

Collections

Recent Publications

Data package
Data from: HPAIV outbreak triggers short‐term colony connectivity in a seabird metapopulation
(2024-09-24) Jeglinski, Jana W. E.; Lane, Jude V.; Votier, Stephen C.; Furness, Robert W.; Hamer, Keith C.; McCafferty, Dominic J.; Nager, Ruedi; Sheddan, Maggie; Wanless, Sarah; Matthiopoulos, Jason
Disease outbreaks can drastically disturb the environment of surviving animals, but the behavioural, ecological, and epidemiological consequences of disease-driven disturbance are poorly understood. Here, we show that an outbreak of High Pathogenicity Avian Influenza Virus (HPAIV) coincided with unprecedented short-term behavioural changes in Northern gannets (Morus bassanus). Breeding gannets show characteristically strong fidelity to their nest sites and foraging areas (2015–2019; n = 120), but during the 2022 HPAIV outbreak, GPS-tagged gannets instigated long-distance movements beyond well-documented previous ranges and the first ever recorded visits of GPS-tagged adults to other gannet breeding colonies. Our findings suggest that the HPAIV outbreak triggered changes in space use patterns of exposed individuals that amplified the epidemiological connectivity among colonies and may generate super-spreader events that accelerate disease transmission across the metapopulation. Such self-propagating transmission from and towards high density animal aggregations may explain the unexpectedly rapid pan-European spread of HPAIV in the gannet.
Data package
Data from: Strong breeding colony fidelity in northern gannets following high pathogenicity avian influenza HPAIV outbreak
(2024-09-24) Jeglinski, Jana W. E.; Matthiopoulos, Jason; Votier, Stephen C.; Lane, Jude V.
High pathogenicity avian influenza virus (HPAIV) caused the worst seabird mass-mortalities in Europe across 2021–2022. The northern gannet (Morus bassanus) was one of the most affected species, with tens of thousands of casualties in the northeast Atlantic between April–September 2022. Disease outbreaks can modify the movement ecology of animals by diminishing spatial consistency, thereby increasing the potential for disease transmission. To detect potential changes in movement behaviour, we GPS-tracked breeding adults following the initial HPAIV outbreak, at three of the largest northern gannet breeding colonies where major mortality of adults and chicks occurred (Bass Rock, Scotland, UK; Grassholm, Wales, UK; Rouzic, Brittany, France). We also gathered background epidemiological information and northern gannet colony dynamics during the outbreak. Our data indicate that HPAIV killed at least 50 % of northern gannets, and suggest the presence of HPAIV H5N1 antibodies in juveniles. GPS-tracked adult northern gannets remained faithful to their breeding sites despite the HPAIV outbreak and did not prospect other breeding colonies. They performed regular foraging trips at sea, similar to their behaviour before the outbreak. Comparison with GPS-tracking data gathered in 2019, i.e. before the HPAIV outbreak, suggested lower foraging effort in birds which survived HPAIV in 2022, potentially as a consequence of reduced intra- and interspecific food competition. Breeding colony fidelity of surviving adult northern gannets following HPAIV mass-mortalities indicates limited capacity for viral spread during our study. This may contrast with the behaviour of adults during the initial disease outbreak, and with that of younger individuals.
Data package
Data from: Study "LifeTrack Mongolia Demoiselle cranes"
(2024-09-19) Batbayar, Nyambayar; Galtbalt, Batbayar; Natsagdorj, Tseveenmyadag; Sukhbaatar, Tuvshintugs; Wikelski, Martin
Movement is a key means by which animals cope with variable environments. As they move, animals construct individual niches composed of the environmental conditions they experience. Niche axes may vary over time and covary with one another as animals make tradeoffs between competing needs. Seasonal migration is expected to produce substantial niche variation as animals move to keep pace with major life history phases and fluctuations in environmental conditions. Here, we apply a time-ordered principal component analysis to examine dynamic niche variance and covariance across the annual cycle for four species of migratory crane: common crane (Grus grus, n = 20), demoiselle crane (Anthropoides virgo, n = 66), black-necked crane (Grus nigricollis, n = 9), and white-naped crane (Grus vipio, n = 9). We consider four key niche components known to be important to aspects of crane natural history: enhanced vegetation index (resources availability), temperature (thermoregulation), crop proportion (preferred foraging habitat), and proximity to water (predator avoidance). All species showed a primary seasonal niche “rhythm” that dominated variance in niche components across the annual cycle. Secondary rhythms were linked to major species-specific life history phases (migration, breeding, and nonbreeding) as well as seasonal environmental patterns. Furthermore, we found that cranes’ experiences of the environment emerge from time-dynamic tradeoffs among niche components. We suggest that our approach to estimating the environmental niche as a multidimensional and time-dynamical system of tradeoffs improves mechanistic understanding of organism–environment interactions.
Data package
Data from: Study "1000 Cranes. Mongolia."
(2024-09-19) Batbayar, Nyambayar; Galtbalt, Batbayar; Natsagdorj, Tseveenmyadag; Sukhbaatar, Tuvshintugs; Wikelski, Martin
Movement is a key means by which animals cope with variable environments. As they move, animals construct individual niches composed of the environmental conditions they experience. Niche axes may vary over time and covary with one another as animals make tradeoffs between competing needs. Seasonal migration is expected to produce substantial niche variation as animals move to keep pace with major life history phases and fluctuations in environmental conditions. Here, we apply a time-ordered principal component analysis to examine dynamic niche variance and covariance across the annual cycle for four species of migratory crane: common crane (Grus grus, n = 20), demoiselle crane (Anthropoides virgo, n = 66), black-necked crane (Grus nigricollis, n = 9), and white-naped crane (Grus vipio, n = 9). We consider four key niche components known to be important to aspects of crane natural history: enhanced vegetation index (resources availability), temperature (thermoregulation), crop proportion (preferred foraging habitat), and proximity to water (predator avoidance). All species showed a primary seasonal niche “rhythm” that dominated variance in niche components across the annual cycle. Secondary rhythms were linked to major species-specific life history phases (migration, breeding, and nonbreeding) as well as seasonal environmental patterns. Furthermore, we found that cranes’ experiences of the environment emerge from time-dynamic tradeoffs among niche components. We suggest that our approach to estimating the environmental niche as a multidimensional and time-dynamical system of tradeoffs improves mechanistic understanding of organism–environment interactions.
Data package
Data from: Study "White-naped crane Mongolia WSCC"
(2024-09-19) Batbayar, Nyambayar; Galtbalt, Batbayar; Natsagdorj, Tseveenmyadag; Sukhbaatar, Tuvshintugs; Wikelski, Martin
Movement is a key means by which animals cope with variable environments. As they move, animals construct individual niches composed of the environmental conditions they experience. Niche axes may vary over time and covary with one another as animals make tradeoffs between competing needs. Seasonal migration is expected to produce substantial niche variation as animals move to keep pace with major life history phases and fluctuations in environmental conditions. Here, we apply a time-ordered principal component analysis to examine dynamic niche variance and covariance across the annual cycle for four species of migratory crane: common crane (Grus grus, n = 20), demoiselle crane (Anthropoides virgo, n = 66), black-necked crane (Grus nigricollis, n = 9), and white-naped crane (Grus vipio, n = 9). We consider four key niche components known to be important to aspects of crane natural history: enhanced vegetation index (resources availability), temperature (thermoregulation), crop proportion (preferred foraging habitat), and proximity to water (predator avoidance). All species showed a primary seasonal niche “rhythm” that dominated variance in niche components across the annual cycle. Secondary rhythms were linked to major species-specific life history phases (migration, breeding, and nonbreeding) as well as seasonal environmental patterns. Furthermore, we found that cranes’ experiences of the environment emerge from time-dynamic tradeoffs among niche components. We suggest that our approach to estimating the environmental niche as a multidimensional and time-dynamical system of tradeoffs improves mechanistic understanding of organism–environment interactions.