Marine Biodiversity Networking Friday: Animal Movement
On February 13, 2026, from 1:00 to 2:00 PM UTC+0, we will host a special session with Sarah Davidson, Jonathan Pye and Megan McKinzie focusing on animal movement.
Movements of animals play a key role in the connectivity and health of ecosystems and represent causes and consequences of changes in biodiversity. However, they remain under-recognized in multilateral conservation frameworks, largely due to a real or perceived lack of accessible information about these movements.
In this session, we will introduce the Animal Movement Biodiversity Observation Network (Move BON), a thematic BON that was endorsed in fall 2025. Incorporating movement into biodiversity policy offers opportunities to enhance metrics of connectivity and ranges and reveal overlooked components of biodiversity. In this session, we will describe the current activities of the BON, plans for the first year, and how to get involved. Marine BON and efforts to mobilize marine tracking and bio-logging data that are already impacting global conservation policy offer successful examples for Move BON to learn from.
In the second half of the session we will also discuss the continued growth of acoustic telemetry to track animals through the ocean, and how the Ocean Tracking Network (OTN) is a global centralizing force bringing together independent ocean observing projects into a global observatory that can answer marine conservation and policy questions at spatial and temporal scales beyond the scope of any individual tracking study. We will describe in detail how data mobilization adds value and secondary utility for the animal movement data aggregated through OTN and the array of intercompatible research network infrastructures it supports. We will also showcase how marine telemetry data are being mobilized through coordinated infrastructures such as the U.S. Animal Telemetry Network (ATN), briefly outlining how satellite telemetry data are archived at NOAA’s National Centers for Environmental Information and transformed into Darwin Core–compliant products for sharing through OBIS and GBIF, demonstrating how standardized data pipelines increase the long-term value, accessibility, and policy relevance of animal movement data.
Speakers
Sarah Davidson
Researcher, Max Planck Institute of Animal Behavior, DE
Introducing Move BON, the new biodiversity observation network for animal movement
Sarah is an environmental scientist with expertise in bio-logging data management, geographic information systems, and earth sciences. She is the lead data curator for Movebank, a global platform for animal tracking and bio-logging data. She serves as a co-chair of the newly endorsed Biodiversity Observation Network for Animal Movement (Move BON) and the Data Standardization Working Group of the International Bio-Logging Society, and on the executive committee of the International Bio-Logging Society.
Jonathan Pye
Director of Data Operations, Ocean Tracking Network (OTN), CA
The Ocean Tracking Network – Acoustic Telemetry Supporting Policy-Driven Research Across Scales
Jon graduated from Dalhousie University with a B.CSc. in 2005. He is a seasoned data manager, with experience servicing biological oceanographic buoys in Lunenburg Bay, as well as working in a lab seeking an optimal strain of phytoplankton for biofuel production. He has also held roles as a technician and database designer for ocean observing using marine autonomous vehicles, as well as shipboard profiling instruments.
As Director of Data Operations for Ocean Tracking Network (OTN), he coordinates regional animal telemetry communities and data managers and archivists around the world into a global network of animal tracking. He works with the international biodiversity data community to design schemas for biologging methods that can be integrated with global marine biodiversity databases, such as the Ocean Biodiversity Information System (OBIS).
Megan McKinzie
Data Manager, Animal Telemetry Network (ATN), Monterey Bay Aquarium Research Institute, USA
Building the Pipeline: Converting ATN Telemetry Data to Darwin Core Archives
Dr. Megan McKinzie is the Data Manager for the U.S. Integrated Ocean Observing System (IOOS) Animal Telemetry Network (ATN) and helps manage the ATN Data Assembly Center (DAC) from within the Research Department at the Monterey Bay Aquarium Research Institute (MBARI). Based in central California, she works closely with the U.S. marine animal telemetry community, providing guidance on data policy, telemetry data management systems, and best practices, while leading multiple ATN development initiatives.
She also serves as Program Lead for the U.S. AniBOS (Animal Borne Ocean Sensors) Network and as a Project Lead for the Northeast Pacific Acoustic Telemetry (N-PAcT) node. Dr. McKinzie earned her Ph.D. in Fish, Fisheries and Allied Aquacultures from Auburn University, where her research focused on the movement ecology, residency, and mortality of gray triggerfish (Balistes capriscus) on artificial reefs in the northern Gulf of Mexico. Prior to joining MBARI, she worked as a Research Assistant at the Auburn University Gulf Coast Research and Extension Station in Fairhope, Alabama and as a Research Scientist at the Prince William Sound Science Center in Cordova, Alaska.
Moderator
Neil Hammerschlag
Executive Director, Shark Research Foundation, CA
Dr. Neil Hammerschlag is a marine ecologist and shark researcher based out of Nova Scotia, Canada. He is the founder and Executive Director of the Shark Research Foundation. Hammerschlag is also President of Atlantic Shark Expeditions, an organization dedicated to providing opportunities for the public to experience, discover, and help protect sharks through ecotourism and citizen science. Neil is an investigator with the Marine Biodiversity Observation Network (MBON) and a courtesy faculty member at Oregon State University. Neil’s research centers on the behavioral ecology of the ocean’s top predators under global change. He has published over 160 scientific articles and has projects currently underway in Nova Scotia, Florida, Bahamas, and South Africa.
We will continue with the Networking Fridays during the next months. More information about future sessions as well as presentations and videos from previous sessions can be found here. Please do not forget to subscribe to our YouTube Channel. Twitter Hashtag: #netfridays. Expect some very exciting mornings, afternoons or evenings, depending on where you are…
If you need any additional information please send an email to Catarina Paes Duarte.
