title: A new laboratory radio frequency identification (RFID) system for behavioural tracking of marine organisms.
abstract: Radio frequency identification (RFID) devices are currently used to quantify several traits of animal behaviour with potential applications for the study of marine organisms. To date, behavioural studies with marine organisms are rare because of the technical difficulty of propagating radio waves within the saltwater medium. We present a novel RFID tracking system to study the burrowing behaviour of a valuable fishery resource, the Norway lobster (Nephrops norvegicus L.). The system consists of a network of six controllers, each handling a group of seven antennas. That network was placed below a microcosm tank that recreated important features typical of Nephrops' grounds, such as the presence of multiple burrows. The animals carried a passive transponder attached to their telson, operating at 13.56 MHz. The tracking system was implemented to concurrently report the behaviour of up to three individuals, in terms of their travelled distances in a specified unit of time and their preferential positioning within the antenna network. To do so, the controllers worked in parallel to send the antenna data to a computer via a USB connection. The tracking accuracy of the system was evaluated by concurrently recording the animals' behaviour with automated video imaging. During the two experiments, each lasting approximately one week, two different groups of three animals each showed a variable burrow occupancy and a nocturnal displacement under a standard photoperiod regime (12 h light:12 h dark), measured using the RFID method. Similar results were obtained with the video imaging. Our implemented RFID system was therefore capable of efficiently tracking the tested organisms and has a good potential for use on a wide variety of other marine organisms of commercial, aquaculture, and ecological interest.
authors.affiliation: Instituto de Ciencias del Mar del Consejo Superior de Investigaciones Científicas, Paseo Maritimo de la Barceloneta, 37-49, 08003 Barcelona, Spain. jaguzzi@cmima.csic.es
authors.forename: Jacopo
authors.initials: J
authors.lastname: Aguzzi
authors.forename: Valerio
authors.initials: V
authors.lastname: Sbragaglia
authors.forename: David
authors.initials: D
authors.lastname: Sarriá
authors.forename: José Antonio
authors.initials: JA
authors.lastname: García
authors.forename: Corrado
authors.initials: C
authors.lastname: Costa
authors.forename: Joaquín
authors.initials: J
authors.lastname: del Río
authors.forename: Antoni
authors.initials: A
authors.lastname: Mànuel
authors.forename: Paolo
authors.initials: P
authors.lastname: Menesatti
authors.forename: Francesc
authors.initials: F
authors.lastname: Sardà
mesh_terms: D000374:Aggression; D000818:Animals; D059001:Aquatic Organisms / Q000502:physiology*; D001522:Behavior, Animal / Q000502:physiology*; D002940:Circadian Rhythm / Q000502:physiology; D007753:Laboratories; D008124:Locomotion / Q000502:physiology; D008522:Mediterranean Sea; D008121:Nephropidae / Q000502:physiology*; D057233:Radio Frequency Identification Device / Q000379:methods*; D013030:Spain; D014741:Video Recording; D058067:Wavelet Analysis