Recent advances in bio-logging science: Technologies and methods for understanding animal behaviour and physiology and their environments

The deployment of an ever-evolving array of animal-borne telemetry and data logging devices is rapidly increasing our understanding of the movement, behaviour and physiology of a variety species and the complex, and often highly dynamic, environments they use and respond to. The rapid rate at which new technologies, improvements to current technologies and new analytical techniques are being developed has meant that movements, behaviour and physiological processes are being quantified at finer spatial and temporal scales than ever before. The Fourth International Symposium on Bio-logging Science, held on 14–18 March in Hobart, Australia, brought together scientists across multiple disciplines to discuss the latest innovations in technology, applications and analytical techniques in bio-logging science, building on research presented at three previous conferences. Here we present an update on the state of bio-logging research and provide some views on the future of this field of research. Papers were grouped into five theme areas: (i) Southern Ocean ecosystems; (ii) fishery and biodiversity management applications; (iii) from individuals to populations—inferences of population dynamics from individuals; (iv) conservation biology and (v) habitat modelling. Papers reflected wider uptake of newer technologies, with a greater proportion of studies utilising accelerometry and incorporating advances in statistical modelling of behaviour and habitats, especially via state space modelling methods. Environmental data collected by tags at increasing accuracies are now having wider application beyond the bio-logging community, providing important oceanographic data from regions difficult to sample using traditional methodologies. Partnerships between multiple organisations are also now enabling regional assessments of species movements, behaviour and physiology at population scales and will continue to be important for applying bio-logging technologies to species conservation and management applications.