updates

Old updates from the beginning of ARTS in 2002 until December 2004 December, 2004 Roland Kays attends the NEON meeting in Seattle (www.neoninc.org)			Newest updates => here
November, 2004 We are currently conducting accuracy tests according to standard programs along a grid systm.			Tests of understanding receiver units showed that we get an approximately 200-meter range and high accuracy by supplementing the tower system with understory units.
Map of BCI showing the locations of 50 hectare forest plot (red square), arts towers (yellow circle) and the new 25 hectare forest plot (yellow square).			Further transmitter range test on BCI: Size of points represents the signal strength as received by the ARTS central tower. Note that the transmitter had good reception on most parts of the island.
October, 2004 We held our analysis workshop at the New York State Museum in Albany. Attached summary of outcome.
July, 2004 Graduate Student Meg Crofoot (right) attaches a radio-collar to a tranquilized capuchin monkey. She now has 9 monkeys from 6 groups marked.			Post-doc Patrick Jansen (front) uses a tiny drill-bit to attach thin threads to seeds to track their dispersal by agoutis.
Diversity of Radio Transmitters being used with ARTS.			Astrocaryum seed with prototype 4g transmitter attached to monitor seed with dispersal and survival.
May, 2004 Predation of a radio-collared agouti by a radio-collared ocelot recorded live with the ARTS.			Andy preparing to deploy another automated receiver in the forest.
Botanist using two ARTS towers for study of wind dispersed seeds with seed-traps and sonic anemometers.			Map of active receivers. ARTS now includes automated receivers on 6 towers and 1 understory unit, all sending data live through our wireless Freewave network.
April, 2004 Iain Couzin developing new tracking algorithms.			Axel Haenssen installing the ARTS database server.
March, 2004 Testing the system accuracy: from left, Franz Kuemmeth, George Swenson, Daniel Obando & Martin Wikelski.
February, 2004 Home range of the largest ocelot ever caught, "Bobby", for the week starting 28 Jan 04.
January, 2004 Raf Mares and a new collared ocelot on BCI. A success for Roland Kays in collaboration with the Jason project.
December, 2003
Dr. Roland Kays filming with the JASON project (www.jason.org)			A mockup of the design for the seed tracking in collaboration with Dr. Patrick Jansen, Holland.
Graphs showing locations (dots) or residence probabilities (color shades) of a radio-tagged agouti (black dots or yellow shades) in relation to an ocelot (blue dots, blue shades). The data represent 4 weeks of agouti data (44845 datapoints) and 1 week of ocelot data (2817 datapoints). Data are only based on triangulation from the 3 currently active tracking towers on BCI (yellow triangles).

Prof. Ran Nathan, a collaborator from Israel, holding a radio-tagged white hawk, with McCoy Klink (system manager) and assistants.
November, 2003 Frank Kuemmeth standing on BCI in front of a mobile understory ARU subunit. Several such subunits will complement the ARTS system.

September, 2003 Systems Manager McCoy Klink starts installing the next-generation (final) Automated Recording Units on BCI.
July, 2003
Activity data for the predation of an agouti.
May, 2003
Insect traps installed on the telemetry towers.	Martin Wikelski test driving an amphibious ultralight.
April, 2003 12-13 April 2003 - Conference on Plant-Animal Interactions using the Automated Radio Telemetry System on Barro Colorado Island. Speakers: Dr. S.J. Wright, Dr. Jose Fragoso, Dr. Iain Couzin, Dr. Roland Kays, Dr. Martin Wikelski, Dr. Helene Muller-Landau & Dr. Steve Pacala. Workshop Summary.
March, 2003 25 March - 12 April 2003 - Princeton field course on tropical vertebrate ecology on Barro Colorado Island. Students ground-truth ARTS-collected agouti behavioral patterns.
February, 2003 ARTS 2002 Annual Report
Jamie Mandel readjusting antenna on repaired Fausto tower.	The construction team in Illinois and BCI established a design for the data flow to be implemented on BCI.
January, 2003 ARTS is presently following the activity of agoutis from Donato tower. This study is part of our efforts to understand the importance of agouti-ocelot interactions for rainforest diversity (the agouti is a seed predator).
	a) graph showing activity data from an experimental agouti during Jan. 13 '03. Dots represent activity for 1 min. Red = activity; Green = inactivity. b) same data shown as actogram (x-axis scale differs w/different threshold levels for activity.
December, 2002 Arlo Raim, Iain Couzin and Martin Wikelski conducted antenna array calibrations at CERL in Champaign, IL. Antenna pattern of log-period antenna are fully satisfactory. Results will be implemented on BCI immediately.

November , 2002 Tree falls on Fausto tower.
September , 2002
Fausto tower as seen from Gatun lake in the BCI cove.		Vegetation reclaims the small open spot around the Fausto tower construction site; Silke Steiger and Patrick Kelley start work on Spotted Antbird heart rate telemetry.
The ARTS team meets head engineer Bill Cochran in Illinois.		The ARTS team visits Cornell Lab of Ornithology (not in picture) to plan future collaborations.
July, 2002
The first tower antenna array is up in Panama.			View of the Lab lagoon and Barbour Peninsula from the Fausto tower antenna.
Eight ocelots now radio-collared on BCI.			Iain Couzin retrieves first ocelot data at the laboratory through a wireless link to the Fausto tower.
June, 2002
The team in Champaign, IL is continuing to develop software and hardware that is currently being shipped to Panama. From left, Jim Cochran, Tony Borries, Bill Cochran, Franz Kummeth, Arlo Raim & Sarah Yaremych.			Almost 200 antennae and cables are currently being shipped to Panama.
All 7 canopy towers are installed on BCI. Segments piled at tower site before installation			Minor clearing of vegetation for installation of anchor wires on towers. *note: the pair of central communication towers on BCI & associated vegetation clearing are not part of the telemetry project.
4 ocelots were radio-collared during the Princeton University field course and will be the first animals tracked by the embryonic automated system (to be installed in mid-July).			Dr. Iain Couzin, postdoctural collaborator, has developed a 3D virtual landscape of BCI to be used for tracking simulations and triangulation accuracy studies.