Tools and Technology Benefits and Biases of VHF and GPS Telemetry: A Case Study of American Alligator Spatial Ecology GREGORY M. SKUPIEN, 1,2 Odum School of Ecology, University of Georgia, 140 E Green Street, Athens, GA 30602, USA KIMBERLY M. ANDREWS, Savannah River Ecology Laboratory, University of Georgia, SRS Building 737A, Aiken, SC 29808, USA TERRY M. NORTON, Georgia Sea Turtle Center, Jekyll Island Authority, 214 Stable Road, Jekyll Island, GA 31527, USA ABSTRACT American alligators (Alligator mississippiensis) historically occupied freshwater habitats such as isolated wetlands, lakes, rivers, bottomland swamps, and floodplains in coastal and inland sites. As a result of loss of aquatic habitats, alligators have adapted to inhabiting human-made lagoons on golf courses and aquatic habitats in close proximity to developed areas. We conducted a telemetry study of adult (>1.8-m) male alligators between July 2012 and September 2014 on Jekyll Island, Georgia, USA. Our objective was to compare the efficacy of using very-high-frequency (VHF) and Global Positioning System (GPS) telemetry in the framework of understanding the spatial ecology of American alligators in a developed landscape. We present both benefits and biases of using these technologies in studies with large, semiaquatic vertebrates. Global Positioning System telemetry produced larger 100% minimum convex polygon home range sizes (range ¼ 67.0–1,094.0 ha) when compared with VHF telemetry (range ¼ 27.5–596.0 ha). Data collected using a prototype GPS technology custom developed by Advanced Telemetry Systems (ATS, Isanti, MN, USA) allowed for the construction of larger, more biologically accurate home ranges. However, VHF telemetry allowed alligators to be detected in underground habitats where they could not be detected with GPS telemetry and yielded more information on behavior and microhabitat through direct observation. We recommend the use of traditional VHF telemetry to allow researchers to directly observe animal behaviors such as reproduction and foraging in conjunction with GPS telemetry to capture previously unavailable locational data. These data highlight the importance of choosing the appropriate telemetry technology based on habitat type, species, and research objectives. Ó 2016 The Wildlife Society. KEY WORDS Alligator mississippiensis, American alligator, home range, spatial ecology, technology, telemetry, urban. As humans encroach on wildlife habitat, conservation and management in urban and suburban areas are essential to preserving biodiversity. In these developed areas, anthropo- genic effects on the environment, such as habitat fragmen- tation and food supplementation, may change wildlife behavior and ecology (Beckmann and Berger 2003, George and Crooks 2006). Habituation of wildlife to humans is also a growing area of concern for wildlife management in developed areas (Bounds and Shaw 1994, Kloppers et al. 2005). Predators are particularly vulnerable to the effects of development because of their dietary needs and large home ranges (Ripple et al. 2014). Predators living in close proximity to developed areas frequently enter the urban environment, resulting in road mortality, persecution by humans, exposure to contaminants, and other anthropogenic conflicts (Beier 1995). As a result of these negative human– wildlife interactions, humans often remove predators from the system to reduce risks to people, human property, and stocks of valuable game species (Graham et al. 2005, Treves and Naughton-Treves 2005). The removal of predators from developed areas may result in population declines and have widespread ecosystem effects (Estes et al. 2011). These negative human–wildlife interactions highlight the need to further understand how wildlife species use developed landscapes, particularly top-trophic-level predators that may be perceived as dangerous or even persecuted by humans. In an effort to more effectively manage wildlife popula- tions, wildlife biologists often use telemetry studies to gain a better understanding of the spatial ecology of wildlife species in developed landscapes (Kernohan et al. 2001). Although researchers have used telemetry to examine the ecology of top-trophic-level predators in developed landscapes, these studies have been restricted to mammalian species (Beier 1995, Gibeau 1998, Tigas et al. 2002, Lyons 2005), while reptilian predators have largely been ignored. Members of Received: 8 October 2015; Accepted: 25 May 2016 1 E-mail: gregory.skupien@gmail.com 2 Present address: 7501 Drayton Court, Raleigh, NC 27615, USA Wildlife Society Bulletin; DOI: 10.1002/wsb.697 Skupien et al.  Comparison of VHF and GPS Technology 1