Ellis-Soto Diego, Flack Andrea, Strandburg-Peshkin Ariana, Wild Timm A, Williams Hannah J, O'Mara M Teague
Department of Environmental Science Policy and Management, University of California, Berkeley, CA 94720.
Department of Ecology and Evolutionary Biology, Yale University, New Haven, CT 06520.
Proc Natl Acad Sci U S A. 2025 Aug 5;122(31):e2410947122. doi: 10.1073/pnas.2410947122. Epub 2025 Jul 28.
Under an accelerating biodiversity crisis, increased urbanization, habitat fragmentation, and climate change require new approaches to assess conservation impact. We argue that animal biologging is a cost-effective method for monitoring biodiversity at its source, including tracked animals and the habitats they occupy. Biologging, or animal-mounted sensors to record data, can act as a reporting, measurement, and verification system, and deliver direct insights into environments of selection. Using a case study of migrating white storks (), we show that biologging yields real-time measurements of individual performance, mechanistic insights into environments of selection, and the potential for gene flow across anthropogenically influenced habitats. These insights can inform the success of biodiversity targets and conservation initiatives and improve real-time species management. At the global scale, we further illustrate that biologging studies display substantial bias in the types of environments and human conditions sampled. Studies appear biased toward sparsely populated areas and remain particularly rare in highly urbanized areas, areas experiencing high rates of recent forest fragmentation, and key areas for global biodiversity conservation efforts. We highlight the need for equitable access to technology to leverage the biodiversity potential of biologging in the Global South. Advances in software-defined tracking technology will soon give real-time information on energy budgets, survival, reproduction, and ultimately demographic processes and population-level parameters. When deployed into areas most needed, biologging can operationalize access to key measures of biodiversity maintenance such as gene flow, especially in difficult-to-access areas that are key to the future persistence of a species.
在生物多样性危机加速的背景下，城市化进程加快、栖息地破碎化以及气候变化要求采用新方法来评估保护成效。我们认为，动物生物记录是一种经济高效的方法，可在源头监测生物多样性，包括被追踪的动物及其所占据的栖息地。生物记录，即安装在动物身上用于记录数据的传感器，可充当报告、测量和验证系统，并直接洞察选择环境。通过对白鹳迁徙的案例研究，我们表明生物记录能够实时测量个体表现，深入了解选择环境，并揭示跨越受人为影响栖息地的基因流动潜力。这些见解可为生物多样性目标和保护举措的成功提供参考，并改善实时物种管理。在全球范围内，我们进一步说明，生物记录研究在采样的环境类型和人类条件方面存在显著偏差。研究似乎偏向人口稀少地区，而在高度城市化地区、近期森林破碎化率高的地区以及全球生物多样性保护工作的关键地区仍然极为罕见。我们强调，在全球南方需要公平获取技术，以利用生物记录的生物多样性潜力。软件定义跟踪技术的进步将很快提供有关能量预算、生存、繁殖以及最终种群动态过程和种群水平参数的实时信息。当部署到最需要的地区时，生物记录可实现获取生物多样性维持关键指标（如基因流动）的途径，特别是在对物种未来生存至关重要的难以进入的地区。
