Data from: A phylogenetically controlled meta-analysis of biologging device effects on birds: deleterious effects and a call for more standardized reporting of study data

1.The use of biologging devices continues to increase, with technological advances yielding remarkable ecological insights and generating new research questions. However, as devices develop and are deployed more widely, there is a need to update our knowledge of the potential ethical impacts to allow scientists to balance these against the knowledge gained.

2.We employed a suite of phylogenetically controlled meta-analyses on a dataset comprising more than 450 published effect sizes across 214 different studies to examine the effects of biologger tagging on five key traits in birds.

3.Overall, we found small but significant negative effects of tagging on survival, reproduction, parental care. In addition, tagging was positively associated with foraging trip duration, but had no effect on body mass. Meta-regressions revealed that flying style, migration distance and proportional tag mass were significant influences producing these deleterious effects, with attachment type and position additionally important covariates influencing survival- and reproduction-based effect sizes.

4.There was a positive correlation between the effects of tagging on survival and reproduction, highlighting that effects may be cumulative, with the full effects of tagging not necessarily apparent in studies focused on single traits. We discuss the tradeoff between these negative effects and the advances gained through the use of biologgers.

5.Finally, given the number of studies from our initial literature search that lacked sufficient data for inclusion in analyses, we provide recommendations on the essential information that all biologging studies should report in order to facilitate future assessments of impacts on animals.

1. 生物记录设备（biologging devices）的应用持续增长，技术进步为生态学研究提供了显著洞见，同时催生了新的研究课题。然而随着设备技术发展与部署范围拓宽，我们需要更新对其潜在伦理影响的认知，以便科研人员能够在这些影响与所获得的研究价值之间达成平衡。
2. 本研究针对一套涵盖214项独立研究、超过450个已发表效应量（effect sizes）的数据集，开展了多组系统发育对照元分析（phylogenetically controlled meta-analyses），以探究生物记录标签贴附（biologger tagging）对鸟类五项关键生命特征的影响。
3. 整体分析结果显示，贴附标签对鸟类的存活率、繁殖成功率与育幼行为均存在微弱但显著的负面效应。此外，贴附标签与觅食时长呈正相关，但对体重无显著影响。元回归分析（meta-regressions）表明，飞行方式、迁徙距离以及标签相对质量（proportional tag mass）是产生这些有害效应的关键影响因素；安装方式与安装位置则是影响存活率与繁殖相关效应量的重要协变量（covariates）。
4. 贴附标签对存活率与繁殖成功率的效应呈正相关，这表明此类影响可能具有累积性，仅针对单一特征开展的研究未必能完全揭示贴附标签的全部影响。我们还讨论了这类负面效应与使用生物记录设备所获得的研究进展之间的权衡取舍（tradeoff）。
5. 最后，鉴于本研究初始文献检索（literature search）中存在大量因数据不足无法纳入分析的研究，我们为所有生物记录相关研究提出了必要的信息报告规范建议，以助力未来开展的动物影响评估工作。