Performance and detection range of acoustic receivers in mangrove habitats
Kanno, Shiori, Heupel, Michelle R., Hoel, Kristin, Schlaff, Audrey, Siddiqi, Aliya, and Simpfendorfer, Colin A. (2025) Performance and detection range of acoustic receivers in mangrove habitats. Journal of Fish Biology, 106 (5). pp. 1540-1553.
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Abstract
Acoustic telemetry has been used to monitor the movement of aquatic animals in a broad range of aquatic environments. Despite their importance, mangrove habitats are understudied for the spatial ecology of elasmobranchs, with acoustic telemetry rarely used inside mangrove habitats. One reason for this may be a general assumption that acoustic signals would not be able to be detected by receivers in such shallow, structurally complex, environments. This study tested whether acoustic receivers can be used inside mangrove habitats to track the movement of sharks and rays. Thirty-eight receivers were deployed in a mangrove system in Pioneer Bay, Orpheus Island, Great Barrier Reef, including inside mangroves, mangrove edges, and adjacent reef flat areas. The detection range and receiver performance metrics, such as code detection efficiency, rejection coefficient, and noise quotient, were examined and tested among habitats. The results highlighted that the signal from transmitters was successfully detected inside mangrove habitats as well as on the adjacent reef flat. The range to detect at least 50% of transmissions was up to 20 m inside mangroves and up to 120 m outside mangroves. The performance metrics of acoustic receivers inside the mangrove habitat were characterized by low background noise, low rejection rates, and reasonably high code detection efficiency. Furthermore, this study tested the application of this method on juvenile blacktip reef shark Carcharhinus melanopterus and mangrove whipray Urogymnus granulatus, and demonstrated that it can be used to successfully track animals inside mangrove habitat. This novel method could reveal further information on how sharks and rays use mangrove habitats.
| Item ID: | 88076 |
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| Item Type: | Article (Research - C1) |
| ISSN: | 1095-8649 |
| Keywords: | acoustic telemetry, blacktip reef shark, IMOS ATF, mangrove whipray, range testing, vegetated coastal wetlands |
| Copyright Information: | © 2024 The Author(s). Journal of Fish Biology published by John Wiley & Sons Ltd on behalf of Fisheries Society of the British Isles. This is an open access article under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial License, which permits use, distribution and reproduction in any medium, provided the original work is properly cited and is not used for commercial purposes. |
| Date Deposited: | 23 Mar 2026 01:44 |
| FoR Codes: | 31 BIOLOGICAL SCIENCES > 3103 Ecology > 310305 Marine and estuarine ecology (incl. marine ichthyology) @ 50% 41 ENVIRONMENTAL SCIENCES > 4104 Environmental management > 410402 Environmental assessment and monitoring @ 50% |
| SEO Codes: | 18 ENVIRONMENTAL MANAGEMENT > 1805 Marine systems and management > 180505 Measurement and assessment of marine water quality and condition @ 100% |
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