Biologging technologies: new tools for conservation. Introduction

Biologging technology allows researchers to take measurements from free-ranging animals as they move undisturbed through their environment. Recent advances in biologging technology, including electronic tag miniaturization and improved animal movement models, have revolutionized our understanding of the ecology of top predators and have permitted observations well beyond the reach of standard measurement techniques. Engineering has provided the biologging community with ever more sophisticated tags, and advances in the application of statistical methods to interpret these data have yielded powerful new tools for understanding animal behavior. The technology has also reached sufficient sophistication and reliability such that the data collected is often equivalent to industry standards for environmental sampling, which has led to profound advancements in the marine realm, where the sheer vastness, in 3 dimensions, limits our ability to observe. Biologging data is now being increasingly applied to marine management and conservation policy. In this introduction, we highlight a few of the research themes presented at the Third International Conference on Biologging Science, and comment on the future challenges of biologging science.