Deer Online

The telemetry project of deer started in 2009 in Doupovské Mts. and this website has been created to present results of this project. At the beginning of the project, first sika deer male was marked with a collar containing GPS transmitter enabling to record the exact animal´s location. First collars were funded by the Vojenské lesy a statky, s.p. Afterwards, Czech University of Life Sciences Prague has started to collaborate in the project and nowadays an intense research on cervids has been conducted in Doupovské Mts.

Initial activities within the project were funded by the Vojenské lesy a statky, s.p. and by the Czech University of Life Sciences Prague (University-wide Internal Grant Agency – CIGA and Internal Grant Agency of Faculty of Forestry and Wood Sciences – IGA).

Nowadays, the project is funded by the ´Harmonization of management of game species and forest ecosystems in terms of forecasted climate changes and reduction of ungulate-caused damage on forest stands´ grant (no. QJ1220314) of the Ministry of Agriculture in the Czech Republic. The main aim of this project is to evaluate effects of game species on natural ecosystems in terms of forecasted climate change and climatic variables. The project aims to mark individuals of sika deer, red deer as well as other species with more than 20 GPS collars.

The website has been created and maintained by the Department of Information Technologies of Czech University of Life Sciences Prague and the system uses GPS Trace Route 1.0, Ground Station Harvester (GSH 1.0) software.

Wildlife telemetry

Marked animals are tracked by the Global Positioning System (GPS) in the form of a collar which records animal´s location with accuracy of within few meters. A GPS receiver records animal´s location, time and date at programmed intervals (i.e. usually 1hour-intervals). The collar also contains an activity sensor which records animal´s activity (whether it is feeding, resting, or moving). Moreover, the activity sensor records the temperature and measurement accuracy. Newer collars are equipped with GSM modules containing telephone SIM cards, which enable data transport into the user´s computer.