Selection of optimal positioning intervals in fish tracking: an experimental study on Barbus barbus

摘要: Selecting an optimum sampling frequency is a key problem in fish telemetry studies. High positioning gives accurate idea of the actual mobility pattern animal but may be impossible due to environmental constraints, prohibitive cost or when using long life transmitters operating on duty cycles. Low prove effective, only for minimum loss accuracy (i.e. decrease estimates home range mobility). This paper analyses respective benefits and limitations ‘high cost-high return’ ‘low cost-unknown strategies. It based day-by-day tracking study cyprinid Barbus barbus (L.) Belgian waters (River Ourthe, seven fish, 112 days each), re-examines distance travelled, as if had been located at longer time intervals (2–28 d). The are compared original data set, order quantify resulting accuracy, provide predictive models future