Development and field testing a satellite-linked fluorometer for marine vertebrates

Background Understanding the responses of marine vertebrates to spatial and temporal variability of primary productivity is fundamental for their conservation and for predicting how they will be affected by climate change. Despite recent advances in biotelemetry, fluorometers have only recently been incorporated into larger transmitting systems. The purpose of this project was to incorporate a miniature fluorometer into a satellite-linked transmitter to provide measures of in situ phytoplankton fluorescence, which were used to calculate chlorophyll-a (chl-a), a proxy for primary productivity. After evaluating the suitability of commercially available fluorometers, the ECO Puck™ (WET Labs, Philomath, OR), which measures chl-a (0 to 75 µg Chl/L), was first interfaced with an archival instrument (TDR10) manufactured by Wildlife Computers (Redmond, WA, USA) to (1) determine if the interfaced prototype functioned properly, (2) examine data relative to the orientation of the optics, (3) monitor the behavior of tagged animals, and (4) collect a complete dive/sensor record to validate a data reduction routine established for Service Argos and verify performance of the Argos message generation.