Information technology has made its way into most aspects of life, both social and economic, similarly it has managed a place in wildlife research as well. The wildlife researcher is no more the old-styled binocular around the neck and note-book in hand personality. He has more modern tools to his field kit.

Various modern technologies both in terms of hardware tools and software are being used for research to understand wildlife behaviour, monitor populations, data analysis, study threats and so on. 

Of electronic hardware tools used for wildlife research the most popular one has been radio telemetry. Radio telemetry studies involve fitting leather or synthetic collars, on wildlife, containing a transmitter which sends signals and is received via a simple antenna and receiver. This technology invented by scientists of Bell Museum of Natural History, Minnesota, USA has been in use since late 1950s.  However it has been widely used in the recent times. It has been a boon to study cryptic species such as tigers, jaguars, snow leopards and several other smaller taxa.

Radio collars help researchers understand territorial range, survival and other factors of secretive wildlife species. Researchers supported by Wildlife Conservation Society-India Program have studied tigers, lesser known species such as Indian fox, slender loris using radio telemetry. 

Modern radio collars are fitted with Global Positioning Systems (GPS) where the data is stored at pre-set intervals and downloaded when the researcher recovers the collars. The more advanced Argos collars transmits location data through a satellite to the computer of a researcher cosily sitting in his lab, sometimes several hundred kilometres away.

As an alternative to collars which cannot be fitted on species such as turtles and birds, technologists have developed light weight GPS with transmitters that can be easily mounted on the animals. These GPS devices have been a boon to study wildlife species that range over several thousand kilometres across continents. For example, sea turtles after hatching venture across continents and only the females return to their birth site to lay eggs. In understanding migratory patterns of such species radio tracking devices have played a commendable role. Similarly in the case of birds that migrate across oceans and countries. 

Other hardware tools such as “data-logger” which contain sensors, when attached to individual animals using a collar or radio tracking device can record detailed movements along with a range of environmental variables including temperature, light, humidity and pressure. This is valuable in studying behaviour of species such as reptiles which are dependent on atmospheric variables.

By using cameras fitted with infrared sensors that are controlled by microprocessors biologists have been able to monitor population dynamics, presence-absence of wildlife species. This method termed as ‘camera trapping’ is being effectively used by researchers of Wildlife Conservation Society-India Program to estimate densities of tigers across the country. 

Simplified GPS
These days it is hard to find wildlife researchers without a GPS. The modern touch screen GPS can be used by illiterates and even by forest dwelling communities who could build forest resource maps using these modern tools. 

TrialGuard Systems, a Syracuse based company has lent its hand in developing technology to help patrolling efforts of field staff. They have developed magnetometer metal detectors to detect wire snares, jaw traps used for poaching wildlife, smugglers carrying machetes and so on. These hidden metal detectors could be placed in forest trials and would set out alarms at base camp using satellite modem. Their other innovation is the development of flame detectors which could help in identifying camp sites of poachers or timber smugglers. However these systems cannot distinguish between ‘good’ or ‘bad’ people carrying metal equipment or lighting fire for legal purposes. 

Development of Geographic Information System (GIS) has facilitated better understanding of landscape ecology. GIS is useful in developing spatial distribution of forest cover, vegetation characteristics, human impacts which could be used for conservation management. These computer-based tools clubbed with satellite images are now being used to monitor and understand extent of damage caused by forest fires. 

These technologies can help in ‘on-ground’ conservation through validation of habitat connectivity between forests to connect landscapes for large-bodied species such as elephants, tigers, which need vast areas for their survival. GIS with cartographic tools can also be used to mark accurate boundaries of wildlife reserves with minimum of effort and time compared to the old methods that were very labour intensive and time consuming.
Simple electronic devices such as web cameras are employed for various purposes. I once worked in Black Forests of southern Germany on a Perigrine Falcon nest monitoring project to record bird behaviour and to safeguard eggs and young ones of this endangered bird being stolen.

More recently web cameras have been installed in wildlife sanctuaries in Africa, broadcasting live images and animals from the bush to all parts of the world. Web cameras are popularly used in Germany and Switzerland to beam live images of white stork fledglings in nests. Web based Google Earth is popularly used by naturalists and wildlife researchers to identify human encroachments, development activities and topography of forest areas. 
In India, even to this day using electrical equipment in remote forest camp sites has been an unsolved problem. Though solar power is available in plenty, field researchers still face this resource constraint without proper technology inputs at lower costs. Few technologists have identified issues where their contributions could be invaluable.

DNA techniques
Recent, rapid advances in reproductive technology has helped researchers understand many factors that influence reproduction, genetics, behaviour and nutrition in wildlife.  Equipments such as capillary sequencer, PCR machine, bioanalyzer, thermocycler suite, all required for DNA extraction and sequencing have been the contribution of instrumentation technology.
 
New DNA techniques also help beat wildlife crime. Wildlife meat, species and origin identification of wild caught animals, and even information on wild timber can all be established using new wildlife forensic techniques. In Great Britain a ‘for-profit’ organisation called Wildlife DNA Services has been setup which helps customs officials at airports to detect illegal wildlife and wild meat trade.

Bar-coded elephants
Captive elephants in Kerala, Assam, Arunachal Pradesh, West Bengal and other states, and problem leopards in Maharashtra have been ‘bar-coded’! Passive Integrated Transponder (PIT tags) micro chips which act as permanent identification tag with unique code have been inserted into the animals’ body. These rice grain sized chips stores ‘personal data’ of the elephants such as details of owner, age, forest department certification and so on.  This would help in curbing smuggling of illicitly wild caught animals from the north-eastern states that were fallaciously branded as captive elephants.
Leopards creating problems to humans are captured, the capture location, date, age and so on fed into the chips and the animals relocated to forest areas. This use of modern technology has helped in developing management strategies to reduce loss of livestock, injury to humans and thereby reducing human-wildlife conflict.