Document Type

Article

Publication Title

Wildlife Society Bulletin

Publisher

Wiley

Rights and Access Note

This Item is protected by copyright and/or related rights. You are free to use this Item in any way that is permitted by the copyright and related rights legislation that applies to your use. In addition, no permission is required from the rights-holder(s) for educational uses. For other uses, you need to obtain permission from the rights-holder(s).

Publication Date

7-2015

Publisher location

Hoboken, NJ

First Page

610

Last Page

615

Issue Number

3

Volume Number

39

Abstract/ Summary

Radiotelemetry provides fine-scale temporal and spatial information about an individual's movements and habitat use; however, its use for monitoring amphibians has been restricted by transmitter mass and lack of suitable attachment techniques. We describe a novel waistband for attaching external radiotransmitters to anurans and evaluate the percentages of resulting abrasions, lacerations, and shed transmitters. We used radiotelemetry to monitor movements and habitat use of wood frogs (Lithobates sylvaticus) in 2006 and 2011–2013 in Maine, USA; American toads (Anaxyrus americanus) in 2012 in North Carolina, USA; and, wood frogs, southern leopard frogs (L. sphenocephalus), and green frogs (L. clamitans) in 2012 in South Carolina, USA. We monitored 172 anurans for 1–365 days (56.4 ± 59.4) in a single year and 1–691 days (60.5 ± 94.1) across years. Our waistband resulted in an injury percentage comparable to 7 alternative anuran waistband attachment techniques; however, 12.5% fewer anurans shed their waistband when attached with our technique. Waistband retention facilitates longer monitoring periods and, thus, provides a greater quantity of data per radiotagged individual. © 2015 The Wildlife Society.

Citation/Publisher Attribution

Groff, L. A., Pitt, A. L., Baldwin, R. F., Calhoun, A. J. K. and Loftin, C. S. (2015), Evaluation of a waistband for attaching external radiotransmitters to anurans. Wildl. Soc. Bull., 39: 610–615. doi:10.1002/wsb.554

Publisher Statement

© 2015 The Wildlife Society

DOI

DOI: 10.1002/wsb.554

Version

post-print (i.e. final draft post-refereeing with all author corrections and edits)

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In Copyright - Educational Use Permitted.