Radar aeroecology: The need for cohesive radar studies of organisms in the aerosphere

摘要: The aerosphere supports a range of animal life both at the Earth’s surface and in the air. While monitoring the movements and activities of terrestrial animals can be demanding, observation of volant organisms are even more challenging because they require novel technologies. Here we focus on the analysis of animal movements using radar. It has long been known that radio waves scattered from flying organisms (bioscatter) can be detected and processed using radar. Depending on the particular design, radar can be used to track individuals, observe the movements of organisms over a variety of spatial and temporal scales, and to some extent discriminate between and identify different taxa. These capabilities are being further enhanced through continuing innovations in radar hardware and signal processing technologies. Moreover, thousands of radar installations are located around the world with many of these already integrated into cohesive networks. For example, NEXRAD (Next-Generation Radar) operates continuously and provides near complete spatial coverage across the continental US in near real time. In this presentation we explore the fundamental question: To what extent can radar observations be used to investigate questions about ecology, abundance, and airborne movement of animals over large spatial and temporal domains, and promote the transdisciplinary field of aeroecology.