Integrating research using animal‐borne telemetry with the needs of conservation management

Abstract

Summary Animal‐borne telemetry has revolutionized our ability to study animal movement, species physiology, demography and social structures, changing environments and the threats that animals are experiencing. While there will always be a need for basic ecological research and discovery, the current conservation crisis demands we look more pragmatically at the data required to make informed management decisions. Here, we define a framework that distinguishes how research using animal telemetry devices can influence conservation. We then discuss two critical questions which aim to directly connect telemetry‐derived data to applied conservation decision‐making: (i) Would my choice of action change if I had more data? (ii) Is the expected gain worth the money and time required to collect more data? Policy implications. To answer questions about integrating telemetry‐derived data with applied conservation, we suggest the use of value of information analysis to quantitatively assess the return‐on‐investment of animal telemetry‐derived data for conservation decision‐making.