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DOI

  • Florian Huels
    Julius Kühn Institute
  • Bram Van den Broeke
    University of Antwerp
  • Vincent Sluydts
    University of Antwerp
  • Lucinda Kirkpatrick
    University of Antwerp
  • Ivan Hererra Olivares
    IoSA BV
  • Hendrik Ennen
    Julius Kühn-Institut
  • Dries Vermeiren
    University of Antwerp
  • Herwig Leirs
    University of Antwerp
  • Jens Jacob
    Julius Kühn-Institut
Small rodents can cause problems on farms such as infrastructure damage, crop losses or pathogen transfer. The latter threatens humans and livestock alike. Frequent contacts between wild rodents and livestock favour pathogen transfer and it is therefore important to understand the movement patterns of small mammals in order to develop strategies to prevent damage and health issues. Miniaturised proximity loggers are a newly developed tool for monitoring spatial behaviour of small mammals. The strength of the Bluetooth Low Energy (BLE) signal can be used as an indicator of close contacts between wild rodents and livestock feeding sites, which is relevant for identifying possible transmission routes. This method study focussed on the use of the technology in an agricultural setting as well as dry runs for testing and calibrating this technology in farming environments used for animal husbandry. Results show that the battery life of the loggers was mainly influenced by the pre-set scan interval. Short scan intervals resulted in reduced battery lifespan and should be maximised according to the activity patterns of the target species. Habitat affects BLE signal strength resulting in higher signal strength indoors than outdoors. The height of the location of the loggers positively affected signal strength in livestock stables. Signal reception generally decreased with increasing distance and differed among loggers making calibration necessary. Within habitat specific distances, BLE proximity logging systems can identify contacts among small mammals and between animals and particular structures of interest. These results support the use of BLE based …
Original languageEnglish
Pages (from-to)e0312553
JournalPLoS ONE
Volume20
Issue number1
DOIs
Publication statusPublished - 3 Jan 2025
Externally publishedYes
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