The BioTrack Initiative: data contributors wanted for the next phase of BioTrack

The US-Marine Biodiversity Observation Network’s (MBON) BioTrack initiative is assessing and monitoring biodiversity hotspots where marine species share habitats. Building on a history of success in its initial phase, BioTrack is expanding to include acoustic and satellite tracking data from the Western North Atlantic. The goal of this phase is to deliver science-based data products that empower marine managers, councils, and policymakers to make decisions that protect biodiversity, support sustainable fisheries, and balance multiple ocean uses. Operational BioTrack is seeking collaborators and co-authors to join this initiative.

Relying on acoustic telemetry from project collaborators in the previous phase of the project, BioTrack combined the data of 51 participating investigators from across OTN, the integrated Tracking of Aquatic animals in the Gulf of Mexico (iTAG) network, the FACT Network, and the Atlantic Cooperative Telemetry (ACT) Network to create a 40+million occurrence data series spanning 69 species heard at 3,500 listening stations across the Western North Atlantic and Caribbean.

Putting all of this data together allows BioTrack to identify multi-species distribution and habitat connectivity hotspots, building a better picture of which parts of the global ocean are important to many key aquatic species. See some examples of what the combined data might be able to do with shiny.oceanmetrics.io/indicators/.

Example of shiny.oceanmetrics.io/indicators/ showing species richness in summer.

In its next phase, Operational BioTrack is looking to determine metrics from tracking data for operational reporting, integrate satellite telemetry and acoustic telemetry, forecast species distributions in scenarios of environmental change, and create custom data products for managers and policy makers.

To build this, BioTrack needs more collaborators and contributors to share their data and give input on the direction of the program. As a participant in an acoustic telemetry network, joining is a simple 2 step process:

1. Tell your network managers that your dataset should be included in Operational BioTrack
2. Register with the BioTrack PIs through this form