The University of Oklahoma Biologging Initiative

What is biologging? The OU Biologging Initiative is all about developing and using technological advances to monitor the movements of wild animals. For many animal species, such as migratory birds, we can’t truly understand their behavior or enact effective conservation measures unless we know where they go throughout their annual cycle and how they get there. Our toolbox includes miniaturized data loggers that weigh less than a raisin, tiny radio transmitters, genetic and chemical analyses that can tell us where animals have been, and the NEXRAD network of weather radars. We work to harness the potential of these tracking tools and share them openly with researchers all over the world so that we can understand and protect migrating animals.

Support for the OU Biologging Initiative comes primarily from the Vice President for Research at the University of Oklahoma. We are part of a broader University Strategic Organization centered around the concept of aeroecology. We also have funding from the National Science Foundation and the United States Department of Agriculture.