title: Automated image-based tracking and its application in ecology.
abstract: The behavior of individuals determines the strength and outcome of ecological interactions, which drive population, community, and ecosystem organization. Bio-logging, such as telemetry and animal-borne imaging, provides essential individual viewpoints, tracks, and life histories, but requires capture of individuals and is often impractical to scale. Recent developments in automated image-based tracking offers opportunities to remotely quantify and understand individual behavior at scales and resolutions not previously possible, providing an essential supplement to other tracking methodologies in ecology. Automated image-based tracking should continue to advance the field of ecology by enabling better understanding of the linkages between individual and higher-level ecological processes, via high-throughput quantitative analysis of complex ecological patterns and processes across scales, including analysis of environmental drivers.
authors.affiliation: Systemic Conservation Biology, Department of Biology, Georg-August University Göttingen, Göttingen, Germany. Electronic address: adell@gwdg.de.
authors.forename: Anthony I
authors.initials: AI
authors.lastname: Dell
authors.affiliation: HasOffers Inc., 2220 Western Ave, Seattle, WA, USA.
authors.forename: John A
authors.initials: JA
authors.lastname: Bender
authors.affiliation: Howard Hughes Medical Institute, Janelia Farm Research Campus, Ashburn, VA, USA.
authors.forename: Kristin
authors.initials: K
authors.lastname: Branson
authors.affiliation: Department of Ecology and Evolutionary Biology, Princeton University, Princeton, NJ, USA.
authors.forename: Iain D
authors.initials: ID
authors.lastname: Couzin
authors.affiliation: Instituto Cajal, CSIC, Av. Doctor Arce, 37, Madrid, Spain.
authors.forename: Gonzalo G
authors.initials: GG
authors.lastname: de Polavieja
authors.affiliation: Noldus Information Technology BV, Nieuwe Kanaal 5, 6709 PA Wageningen, The Netherlands.
authors.forename: Lucas P J J
authors.initials: LP
authors.lastname: Noldus
authors.affiliation: Instituto Cajal, CSIC, Av. Doctor Arce, 37, Madrid, Spain.
authors.forename: Alfonso
authors.initials: A
authors.lastname: Pérez-Escudero
authors.affiliation: Computation and Neural Systems Program, California Institute of Technology, Pasadena, CA, USA.
authors.forename: Pietro
authors.initials: P
authors.lastname: Perona
authors.affiliation: Research Institute of Molecular Pathology (IMP), Vienna, Austria.
authors.forename: Andrew D
authors.initials: AD
authors.lastname: Straw
authors.affiliation: Max Planck Institute for Ornithology, Radolfzell, Germany; Biology Department, University of Konstanz, Konstanz, Germany.
authors.forename: Martin
authors.initials: M
authors.lastname: Wikelski
authors.affiliation: Systemic Conservation Biology, Department of Biology, Georg-August University Göttingen, Göttingen, Germany.
authors.forename: Ulrich
authors.initials: U
authors.lastname: Brose
mesh_terms: D063147:Animal Distribution; D000818:Animals; D001522:Behavior, Animal; D004463:Ecology / Q000639:trends*; D013686:Telemetry
keywords: automated image-based tracking; behavior; bio-logging; ecological interactions; tracking