Finding a clear signal: a systematic review of desert radio telemetry research

Radio telemetry is a common tool to monitor animals in many ecosystems. Radio telemetry, or radio tracking, typically uses a tag or collar with a radio transmitter attached to an animal that is monitored by researchers with a receiver. This technique is used for research in many disciplines such as wildlife ecology or conservation biology. Within desert ecosystems, this approach has been used since the 1960s in many different research capacities. Many desert species exist at low density and can range widely within a region due to scarce resources, which can make radio telemetry a useful method to use in these environments. Here, we examined the peer-reviewed literature to assess how radio telemetry is used in deserts. Using the Web of Science with additional search validation on Google Scholar to formally summarize this research, we found 97 studies that fit our criteria. Most primary studies used radio telemetry to examine individual behavior and/or habitat use. The majority of published studies were done in the United States. The most common classes of animal studied were mammals (29.9 % large mammals and 25.8 % small mammals). Most species studied were classified as ‘least concern’ for risk status. Vhf radio telemetry devices predominated the technology selected (80.4 %) whilst GPS devices were used in 19.6 % of studies. Radio telemetry devices are an effective tool to survey individual animals and animal populations in harsh desert environments. However, future research can be improved using these tools to improve reproducibility encourage data reuse and comparison between studies. We encourage authors using radio telemetry to publish their data and include details of their study area and tracking methods to accomplish these goals.