By Greg Bartlett

Guess what? You have a new neighbor. No, not someone in the house across the street that’s been for sale for a year. Not even someone in the new apartment buildings down the street. No, your new neighbor lives in town, but you might not even see her. She’s a mountain lion.

Prescott, Arizona, did actually have a mountain lion which lived in town. She recently died when hit by an automobile, but she provided researchers with information about mountain lion habits and activities. Back in 2006, she was outfitted with a GPS tracking collar, which allowed the Game and Fish Department to monitor the mountain lion and see if she needed to be removed from the urban area. Instead, they learned new information about urban mountain lions, and the Prescott mountain lion lived for longer than most mountain lions, and, although spotted a few times, rarely threatened people or their pets.

GPS tracking enabled the Game and Fish Department to study this mountain lion closely, getting an idea of how mountain lions behave when living in urban areas. They were even able to change their policy about killing mountain lions just because of their urban location. The Prescott mountain lion also allowed researchers to find out new information about mountain lions and their habitats, eating patterns, and urban activities. Although the mountain lion once went after a house cat and ended up trapped, which was when the GPS tracking collar was put on, she evidently never hunted another pet and never injured any humans. Despite her close location to humans, the urban mountain lion apparently didn’t pose a serious threat.

The mountain lion is, depending on its variety, a somewhat endangered species. Studying these cats can be a great aid in determining how to help protect these animals from becoming increasingly threatened and eventually extinct. Using a GPS collar to study a mountain lion or other endangered creature allows researchers to learn more about habitats and ways to protect the animals while still permitting the animal to live in the wild. In Prescott, the GPS collar also protected the community, since the Game and Fish Department could monitor the mountain lion if she appeared to be threatening humans.

Research is a valuable aid to helping protect endangered and threatened species. Prescott’s mountain lion provided the Game and Fish Department with valuable new information about urban mountain lions, simply because she wore a GPS tracking collar. Maybe your new neighbor should, too.

By Greg Bartlett

Scientists have studied fish migration habits for years for the purpose of gaining knowledge about the creatures that inhabit the greatest portion of our planet, yet are perhaps some of the least understood. Until recently following a fish through the ocean was an extremely difficult task. With the advent of GPS tracking, however, scientists have been able to take much of the guess work out of the process and can reliably track and in some cases even extrapolate data to predict the behavior of certain fish species.

Questions at the forefront of researchers’ minds include how long fish stay in a certain area, how far they travel over time, whether there are seasonal or other patterns to their behavior, and whether their movements can be predicted to aid in research, the fishing industry and human safety. For example, current tracking of schools of cod can provide fisherman with information about what fishing methods to use, where to find the best fishing grounds, and what the expected progression of the fish might be.

Scientists can use GPS tracking tags to study fish distribution, migration, shoal behavior, and temperature patterns. This information provides data to improve our understanding of fish navigational processes, a subject that has made little progress and remains mostly speculation. Equipping ocean vessels with GPS tracking devices allows scientists to receive nearly continuous data signals via the ships’ sonar equipment.

GPS tracking can also provide information about dangerous or protected species. One group of students placed a GPS tag on a whale shark and tracked its movements over several months, providing information about depth, speed of travel, and behavior patterns. Another research project, headed up by a Texas State University professor, used GPS tracking to monitor shark killing behavior. His study found that sharks do not attack randomly, but rather work around a centralized area. This information has been valuable in determining the likelihood of people being the victims of shark attack in specified areas and also provides useful knowledge for shark habitat identification and protection.

While much about ocean life remains a mystery, GPS tracking has been a valuable tool to aid scientists in the study of our underwater counterparts. Perhaps one day we’ll know as much about fish as we do about mammals. Until then, however, we can rely on GPS tracking to continue to provide the most accurate and up to date information possible in our continued efforts to explore the deep.