The center of the research project “Icarus” is an antenna at the International Space Station (ISS). It receives the position data of animals carrying a mini transmitter. Birds, for example, get the transmitter strapped to their backs like a tiny backpack. When the ISS flies over a transmitter, it wakes up from power-saving mode and sends its position up. He does it one or four times a day. The collected data gives a movement profile of the animal.
Well-known routes save birds
The knowledge of how and where migratory birds fly can be used to protect them. Sometimes, in spring, far fewer birds return from where they spent the winter than in the previous year. Scientists can then use transmitter data to identify the migratory birds’ preferred resting places and encourage them to establish protected areas there.
LBV waits for smaller transmitters
Currently, the Icarus transmitters weigh around five grams. Over the next three years, the weight is expected to drop to just one gram. This is also hoped for by the Bavarian Federal Association for the Protection of Birds (LBV). With such light transmitters, it would be possible to provide a transmitter to even small birds such as the Ortolan. In this species, the population in Bavaria has shrunk by more than half in 14 years. The LBV therefore runs a species aid program for the Ortolan and would like to know more about where the remaining birds are and for how long.
The LBV would also like to equip bats with transmitters. For them, however, not only the weight of the transmitter is a challenge, but also its energy supply. The battery is recharged by solar cells. However, bats are nocturnal and therefore rarely appear in sunlight.
Use against avian influenza
In the future, “Icarus” should also prevent or at least curb the spread of infectious diseases. For this purpose, the position data of ducks are collected from the ISS. Billions of birds breed in siberia in summer and spend the winter in Africa or Southeast Asia. However, what they do in between and which routes they fly is hardly known.
But this information would be very interesting, because ducks can transmit contagious diseases such as avian influenza and antibiotic-resistant bacteria. The “Icarus” researchers therefore plan to test ducks in Siberia for pathogens and equip them with transmitters. They then want to track the birds’ flight routes to see how pathogens spread among the animals.
Animals warn of earthquakes
“Icarus” will also be used as an early warning system in the event of natural disasters. Some animals behave strangely before earthquakes and volcanic eruptions. Before the devastating 2004 earthquake in Southeast Asia, elephants fled inland in Sri Lanka. Some people followed them and saved their lives.
The Max Planck Institute for Ornithology in Radolfszell now wants to test whether animals can serve as a biological early warning system for natural disasters. Scientists have already tracked the movements of goats on Mount Etna with transmitters and studied their behaviour shortly before volcanic eruptions. With the “Icarus” transmitters, they also want to observe animals that live in remote or uninhabited regions in the future.
