Enhancing Capacity of Wildlife GPS Collars for Environmental Health

Urban wildlife, such as coyotes, foxes, skunks, and raccoons, face risks from chemical and drug bioaccumulation and from traffic. They also carry zoonotic diseases, which exacerbate risks to human and animal health. Most animal tracking collars focus almost exclusively on collecting movement data for precise animal location. This project team includes a wildlife ecologist, atmospheric scientist, and electronic engineer, focusing on urban carnivores in Detroit, Michigan, one of the most polluted cities in the US. The project will develop an enhanced GPS collar that, in addition to biometric information, collects ambient environmental data including temperature, humidity, particulate matter, and volatile organic compounds. These collars could lead to improvements in public health by providing data to better track and predict dangers for both animals and humans.