NERRS Motus Wildlife Tracking Project Workshops and Implementation Guidance

A 2018 project led by the ACE Basin Reserve convened workshops to expand the Motus Wildlife Tracking System, an international network of radio-telemetry receivers for migratory birds, bats, and insects. The project facilitated network implementation in the Mid-Atlantic, West Coast, and Gulf regions through virtual and in-person sessions. The National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration (NOAA) is the organizing body, with the dataset last updated in March 2026.

Use Cases

• Planning Motus receiver station siting and construction based on workshop guidance
• Analyzing cost-reduction strategies for wildlife tracking infrastructure based on partner examples
• Designing smaller-scale resident population studies using Motus tower data as discussed in presentations

Strengths

• Project led by the ACE Basin Reserve with participation from multiple National Estuarine Research Reserves
• Focuses on an established, open-source international tracking network (Motus)
• Covers implementation guidance for three geographic regions: Mid-Atlantic, West Coast, and Gulf

Limitations

• Description metadata is limited; actual data quality requires manual inspection after download
• Column-level documentation is absent; field semantics must be inferred after download
• The primary file format is PDF, which may limit direct computational analysis

Provenance

Source

National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration, Department of Commerce

Collection Method

Workshop series providing guidance on siting, construction, installation, and interpretation

Time Range

Project initiated in 2018

Freshness

Last updated 2026-03 13 22:18:57.905092; freshness should be verified

Geography

Focus on Mid-Atlantic, West Coast, and Gulf regions within the United States, with references to an international network