QUANTITATIVE MARINE CONSERVATION ECOLOGY LAB
  • Home
  • People
    • Dr. Susan Piacenza
    • Lab Members
  • Research
    • Kemp's ridley Spatial MSE
    • Stereo-video Cameras for sea turtle length measurements
    • Sea Turtle Behavior at Artificial Reefs
    • Patterns and drivers of sea turtle bycatch at fishing piers in the eastern Gulf of Mexico
    • Sea turtle Photo ID at Fishing Piers
    • Developing a Stereo-video Camera Mounting System for UAVs
    • Animal Navigation and Bioinspired Design
    • Investigating Design Improvements to Marine Megafauna Tracking Devices
    • Sea Turtle Hatchling Dispersal
    • Quantitative Tools for Monitoring and Assessment
    • Characteristics of High Fish Biomass Rocky Reefs
    • Spatiotemporal Patterns of Benthic Biodiversity in the California Current
    • Data-poor stock assessments for the Oregon Nearshoore Fisheries
  • Publications
  • Courses Taught
    • Fishery Biology
    • Marine Vertebrate Zoology
    • Conservation Biology

Investigating Design Improvements for Tracking Devices for Marine Megafauna

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Investigators: Susan Piacenza, Joseph Piacenza (OSU), John Faller (CSU Fullerton), Brian Taylor (UNC Chapel Hill), Salvador Mayoral (CSU Fullerton), Bethany Kelly, Delaney O'Connell (UNC Chapel Hill)

This is a collaborative research project involving undergraduate engineering and biology students and faculty. The project has two primary goals: (1)  to identify deficiencies in state of the art of sea turtle satellite tags, and identify design improvement opportunities using formal methods of mechanical design engineering, while considering the biological needs and restraints of the organisms and (2) to educate undergraduate STEM students in collaborative and interdisciplinary research projects across the divide of biology and engineering. Biologists lack primary life history information, including movements and behavior, of juveniles of many sea turtle populations. Satellite tags are a key technology in aiding biologists to better understand sea turtle ecology, as sea turtles are pelagic and highly migratory. However, satellite tags were originally developed for terrestrial organisms and then subsequently adapted to marine animals, including sea turtles. As such, satellite tags have many deficiencies from a sea turtle biologist’s perspective, and are limited by size, weight, attachment method, battery life, antenna robustness, and the drag imposed may bias the animal’s behavior. We propose to design a satellite tag that takes all these factors into consideration, and provides a novel and pragmatic solution using engineering tools such as computational fluid dynamics, and methods for extending battery life such as energy harvesting, while limiting the cost to the researcher.
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  • Home
  • People
    • Dr. Susan Piacenza
    • Lab Members
  • Research
    • Kemp's ridley Spatial MSE
    • Stereo-video Cameras for sea turtle length measurements
    • Sea Turtle Behavior at Artificial Reefs
    • Patterns and drivers of sea turtle bycatch at fishing piers in the eastern Gulf of Mexico
    • Sea turtle Photo ID at Fishing Piers
    • Developing a Stereo-video Camera Mounting System for UAVs
    • Animal Navigation and Bioinspired Design
    • Investigating Design Improvements to Marine Megafauna Tracking Devices
    • Sea Turtle Hatchling Dispersal
    • Quantitative Tools for Monitoring and Assessment
    • Characteristics of High Fish Biomass Rocky Reefs
    • Spatiotemporal Patterns of Benthic Biodiversity in the California Current
    • Data-poor stock assessments for the Oregon Nearshoore Fisheries
  • Publications
  • Courses Taught
    • Fishery Biology
    • Marine Vertebrate Zoology
    • Conservation Biology