Analyzing Tidal, Diurnal, Synoptic, and Seasonal Drivers of Acoustic Telemetry Efficiency on a Coastal Reef

Acoustic telemetry is a useful research technique, however analyzing the results requires accounting for variation in the detection efficiency. This efficiency and the estimated detection range are dynamic and change on different scales due to environmental variation such as nightly increases in noise, tidal and wind forcing on the environment, and seasonal differences. Instruments were moored on a shallow coastal reef for almost a full year, transmitting while also collecting noise and temperature data, allowing for the pairing of measured detection efficiency with environmental variables. Daily average detection efficiencies are minimal when parallel tidal currents are strongest and highest at high and low tide (lowest currents); sunset brings with it the highest noise and the least detection efficiency; on synoptic (7–10) timescales, high winds appear to be correlated with far more detections, and successful detections occurred far less often during hours with the weakest winds; seasonal differences can be seen as a combination of the other frequencies, warmer water columns with more noise interference leading to less detection efficiency. These measured differences in detection efficiency can be used to estimate detection probability in other situations.