Customer Reviews

A Manual for Wildlife Radio Tagging, Second Edition (Biological Techniques)

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Kenward's "A Manual for Wildlife Radio Tagging" is a must for all those wishing to use radio telemetry as a study technique. I would recommend getting your hands on this book, even before you purchase your tags, since there is a good chapter on the different kinds available in the market. Then, it takes you through the process of asking the relevant questions, all the necessary equipment, data collection, and most importantly, data analysis. This book pairs wonderfully well with Ranges 6 software. I would, however, like to see an updated version of this book.

This is a very good book when it comes to the practical side of radio tagging of a variety of animals. Anyone with an interest in animal ecology and population dynamics should have this book, because you can't do research if you don't know how. This book, together with field experience, makes you understand the advantages and the limitations of radio tagging.

It deals with planning, equipment, what kind of tags, how to attach tags, and the ins and outs of field radio tracking from the ground or the air. The last three chapters focus on data collection and a great introduction in home range and survival assessment and interaction and demography analyses. It even includes "make your own radio tag" schematics.
The book is accessible and very comprehensible, with plenty of graphs and pictures to illustrate the accompanying text.
For those who are interested in the statistical, hard core science side of radio tagging I can recommend "Radio Tracking and Animal Populations" by Millspaugh and Marzluff.

The thing abut science today is that there are many armchair experts out there that by spewing bursts of unproven knowledge manage to make an impression on academics and the media alike, having no actual field experience whatsoever to back up their musings. In this book Kenward, a true expert, proves that he has been there and done it, and done it right. If you're thinking of engaging on a wildlife radio tagging project and you're the one that either has to come with the ideas and/or do the fieldwork yourself, you can't go wrong with this one, and I'll even add that if you do, you may be sorry. Good companion books are Radio Tracking and Animal Populations (IGN Outdoor Activities (Plein Air)) (this one is more analysis-oriented) and Analysis of Wildlife Radio-Tracking Data (a little dated but still useful). To sum up: lots of excellent, practical, no-nonsense fieldwork and planning advice and insight.