A device for monitoring radio-marked animals
A simplen portable, and economical recording system consisting of a receiver, signal conditioner, recorder, and power source is described. The system was designed to monitor the signal strength from a radio-marked animal at a particular location. Information is stored on recorder chart paper. Radio-marked ucks have been successfully monitored at nest sites, potholes, and other locations. Within the last 10 years, radiotelemetry as a technique to study wild animals has developed rapidly. Because most field telemetry projects are not designed to obtain data on a continuous basis, as described by Cochran et al. ( 19&5 ) and Cochran ( 1967), a large proportion of ffie available information is not collected. Our recording system was developed to monitor radiomarked animals at particular locations in field studies when ruggedness, portability, and cost of the recording system were of primary concern. Williams and Williams ( 1970) briefly described a recording system for monitoring ie presence and relative adivity of radio-marked bats. A recording device for monitoring the presence of radiomarked seals on ffie surface of sea ioe was mentioned by Siniff et al. ( 1969). Funds for development of the system were provided by the Northem Prairie Wildlife Research Center, Jamestown, North Dakota; by NIH Training Grant No. 5 TQ1 GMO177W04 from the National Institute of General Medical Sciences; and by the U.S. Atomic Energy Commission, COO-133b63. We acknowledge J. R. Tezster, L. M. Cowardin, and H. W. Miller for reviewing the manuscript and R. A. Reichle for preparing the drags MATERIALS AND METHODS The recording system, block-diagrammed in Fig. 1, consists of a receiver, signal conditioner, recorder, and power source. The receiver produees an audio output from an incoming signal. A signal conditioner converts the receiver output into a d-c current activating the recorder stylus. Stylus movement of a single channel d-c recorder (Model No. 288, recorder paper Style A, Rustrak Instrument Division, Gulton Industties Inc. Manchester7 New Hampshire ) is recorded on pressure-sensitive paper. The receiver is tuned aurally by using headphones to select the desired frequency and by obselrving the rearder to obtain the desired deflections of the stylus. Range of the system can be varied by adjusting the rf gain of the receiver or antenna gain. Selection of the type of antenna will depend on the relative positions of the antenna and the animal to be monitolred. If the antenna can be placed near ffie center of the area to be monitored, a nondirectional ntenna is the best choice. When the antenna must be 829 BRIEFER ARTICLES 830 Jot4rnal of Wildlife Manugement, Vol. 35i, No. 4, October 1971 | t v +12 VDC SUPPLY C l g 1 < GROUND 50 MFD 712K_ i < F TERMINAL ON
Automatic Radio-Tracking System for Monitoring Animal Movements
The effects of physical and biological factors on the activity patterns and movements of animals are of major interest to biologists. Much speculation has arisen on the stimuli for specific motile responses. However, published reports on the influence of physical and biotic factors in the environment on activity patterns and movement are relatively infrequent and usually treat the subject qualitatively rather than quantitatively. This report describes an automatic radio-tracking system designed to provide quantitative data on animal behavior under natural conditions.
Instrumentation and Automated Photometric Titration Procedure for Total Acidity Determination in Red Wine Employing a Multicommuted Flow System
An automated procedure for photometric titration of red wine and associated instrumentation is described. The procedure was based on the flow-batch approach implemented employing multicommutation. The photometric detection was carried out using a homemade LED-based photometer. The mixing device, LED, and photodetector were attached to the titration chamber in order to form a compact and small-sized unit. The flow system comprised an automatic injector and three-way solenoid valves, which were controlled by a microcomputer through an electronic interface card. The software, written in Quick BASIC 4.5, was designed with abilities to accomplish all steps of the titration procedure including data acquisition and real-time processing to decide about the course of titration in the following step and so forth, until the titration endpoint was reached. The usefulness of the proposed titration system was demonstrated by analyzing red wine samples. When results were compared with those obtained using the AOAC reference method, no significant difference was observed at the 95% confidence level. A relative standard deviation of ca  2% (n=9 ) was obtained when processing a typical red wine sample containing 7.3 gl -1 total acidity expressed as tartaric acid.