Description of biologging instrument impacts from scoping literature review

Over the last six decades, the biologging research community has reduced
instrument effects on study animals by miniaturizing devices, employing
sophisticated release mechanisms, and developing other novel technological
advancements. However, biologging devices can still impact animal
physiology, behavior, and demography - the very biological metrics the
instruments are meant to measure. Recent meta-analyses have emphasized the
subjectivity of field-wide “rules of thumb” such as the 3% rule, but
opportunities to quantify effects more objectively can be expensive or
impossible to implement when instrumenting new species. There is therefore
a time-sensitive need for systematic reporting of biologging instrument
characteristics based on known effects to animal welfare and data quality.
We used 202 biologging impact studies from the last thirty years to draw
broad, multispecies connections between instrument characteristics and
animal physiology, behavior, and/or demography. We build on impact studies
that focus on a single species, instrument type, or attachment method to
offer solutions applicable across those taxa, technologies, and
methodologies. From the literature, we distilled eight best practices for
biologging researchers with a particular focus on minimum reporting
standards as a low-cost, high-impact way to promote animal welfare and
data quality. We propose a preliminary minimum reporting standard,
informed by the literature and presented as a machine-readable checklist,
that biologging researchers can include with their manuscripts or data
submissions to provide data for future meta-analyses. We also present an
example of a completed checklist to demonstrate the feasibility of such a
standard and a plan for community input and adoption via the International
Bio-Logging Society. Robust biologging infrastructure, beginning with a
minimum reporting standard informed by the literature on instrument
impacts, will facilitate the expansion of biologging across the globe and
across disciplines while ensuring animal welfare and improving data
quality. As biologging instruments become less expensive and more
accessible, researchers, journals, and funders are better positioned than
ever to broaden and implement these standards.