Over the past 20 years, GPS collars have emerged as powerful tools for the study of nonhuman primate (hereafter, "primate") movement ecology. As the size and cost of GPS collars have decreased and performance has improved, it is timely to review the use and success of GPS collar deployments on primates to date. Here we compile data on deployments and performance of GPS collars by brand and examine how these relate to characteristics of the primate species and field contexts in which they were deployed. The compiled results of 179 GPS collar deployments across 17 species by 16 research teams show these technologies can provide advantages, particularly in adding to the quality, quantity, and temporal span of data collection. However, aspects of this technology still require substantial improvement in order to make deployment on many primate species pragmatic economically. In particular, current limitations regarding battery lifespan relative to collar weight, the efficacy of remote drop-off mechanisms, and the ability to remotely retrieve data need to be addressed before the technology is likely to be widely adopted. Moreover, despite the increasing utility of GPS collars in the field, they remain substantially more expensive than VHF collars and tracking via handheld GPS units, and cost considerations of GPS collars may limit sample sizes and thereby the strength of inferences. Still, the overall high quality and quantity of data obtained, combined with the reduced need for on-the-ground tracking by field personnel, may help defray the high equipment cost. We argue that primatologists armed with the information in this review have much to gain from the recent, substantial improvements in GPS collar technology.

中文翻译：

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对非人类灵长类动物的 GPS 项圈部署和性能的回顾

在过去的 20 年中，GPS 项圈已成为研究非人类灵长类动物（以下简称“灵长类动物”）运动生态学的有力工具。随着 GPS 项圈的尺寸和成本的降低以及性能的提高，现在是时候回顾一下迄今为止在灵长类动物身上部署 GPS 项圈的使用和成功情况。在这里，我们按品牌编译了 GPS 项圈的部署和性能数据，并研究了这些数据与灵长类动物物种的特征和部署它们的野外环境之间的关系。16 个研究小组对 17 个物种的 179 个 GPS 项圈部署的汇总结果表明，这些技术可以提供优势，特别是在增加数据收集的质量、数量和时间跨度方面。然而，这项技术的各个方面仍然需要大量改进，以便经济地在许多灵长类动物物种上进行部署。特别是，在该技术可能被广泛采用之前，需要解决当前电池寿命相对于项圈重量的限制、远程掉落机制的功效以及远程检索数据的能力。此外，尽管 GPS 项圈在现场的实用性越来越高，但它们仍然比 VHF 项圈贵得多，并且通过手持 GPS 单元进行跟踪，并且 GPS 项圈的成本考虑可能会限制样本大小，从而限制推理的强度。尽管如此，获得的数据的总体高质量和数量，加上现场人员对地面跟踪的需求减少，可能有助于支付高昂的设备成本。