Who conducts biological research, where they do it and how results are disseminated vary among geographies and identities. Identifying and documenting these forms of bias by research communities is a critical step towards addressing them. We documented perceived and observed biases in movement ecology, a rapidly expanding sub-discipline of biology, which is strongly underpinned by fieldwork and technology use. We surveyed attendees before an international conference to assess a baseline within-discipline perceived bias (uninformed perceived bias). We analysed geographic patterns in Movement Ecology articles, finding discrepancies between the country of the authors' affiliation and study site location, related to national economics. We analysed race-gender identities of USA biology researchers (the closest to our sub-discipline with data available), finding that they differed from national demographics. Finally, we discussed the quantitatively observed bias at the conference, to assess within-discipline perceived bias informed with observational data (informed perceived bias). Although the survey indicated most conference participants as bias-aware, conversations only covered a subset of biases. We discuss potential causes of bias (parachute-science, fieldwork accessibility), solutions and the need to evaluate mitigatory action effectiveness. Undertaking data-driven analysis of bias within sub-disciplines can help identify specific barriers and move towards the inclusion of a greater diversity of participants in the scientific process.

Advanced Study of Collective Behaviour University of Konstanz Konstanz Baden Württemberg Germany

Animal Ecology Unit Research and Innovation Centre Fondazione Edmund Mach San Michele all'Adige Trento Italy

Bay Area Environmental Research Institute Moffett Field CA USA

Biology Department Woods Hole Oceanographic Institution Woods Hole MA USA

CEFE CNRS University of Montpellier EPHE IRD Montpellier Occitanie France

Center for Biodiversity and Global Change Yale University New Haven CT USA

Center for Latin American Studies University of Florida Gainesville FL USA

College of Science and Mathematics University of the Virgin Islands Saint Thomas Virgin Islands

Département de biologie Université de Sherbrooke Sherbrooke Québec Canada

Département de Sciences Biologiques Université de Montréal Montréal Québec Canada

Department of Biological Sciences Goethe University Frankfurt Germany

Department of Biological Sciences University of New Brunswick Saint John New Brunswick Canada

Department of Biology Lund University Lund Sweden

Department of Biology The University of British Columbia Okanagan Kelowna British Columbia Canada

Department of Biology University of Oxford Oxford UK

Department of Biology University of Washington Seattle WA USA

Department of Ecology and Evolutionary Biology Yale University New Haven CT USA

Department of Ecology Evolution and Behavior University of Minnesota Twin Cities Saint Paul MN USA

Department of Ecology Radboud University Nijmegen Netherlands

Department of Evolutionary and Environmental Biology and Institute of Evolution University of Haifa Haifa Israel

Department of Fisheries Wildlife and Conservation Biology University of Minnesota Twin Cities Saint Paul MN USA

Department of Infectious Diseases University of Georgia Athens GA USA

Department of Migration Max Planck Institute of Animal Behavior Radolfzell Baden Württemberg Germany

Department of Organismic and Evolutionary Biology Harvard University Cambridge MA USA

Department of Wildlife Fish and Environmental Studies Swedish University of Agricultural Sciences Umeå Västerbotten Sweden

Department of Zoology Stockholm University Stockholm Sweden

Division of Ecology and Evolution Australian National University Canberra Australian Capital Territory Australia

Ecology and Evolutionary Biology University of California Santa Cruz Santa Cruz CA USA

Environmental Science Policy and Management University of California Berkeley Berkeley CA USA

Faculty of Forestry and Wood Sciences Czech University of Life Sciences Suchdol Czech Republic

Institute for biodiversity and ecosystem dynamics University of Amsterdam Amsterdam Noord Holland The Netherlands

Institute of Bioinformatics University of Georgia Athens GA USA

Instituto de Conservação de Animais SIlvestres Campo Grande Brazil

ISEM University of Montpellier CNRS IRD Montpellier Occitanie France

Konrad Lorenz Research Center University of Vienna Vienna Austria

Migratory Bird Center Smithsonian's National Zoo and Conservation Biology Institute Washington DC USA

MiVEGEC University of Montpellier CNRS IRD Montpellier Occitanie France

NASA Ames Research Center Moffett Field CA USA

National Biodiversity Future Centre Palermo Italy

National Oceanography Centre Southampton UK

Odum School of Ecology University of Georgia Athens GA USA

Okanagan Institute for Biodiversity Resilience and Ecosystem Services The University of British Columbia Okanagan Kelowna British Columbia Canada

Organismal and Evolutionary Biology Research Programme Faculty of Biological and Environmental Sciences University of Helsinki Helsinki Finland

Research Institute of Wildlife Ecology Department of Interdisciplinary Life Sciences University of Veterinary Medicine Vienna Vienna Austria

School for Environment and Sustainability University of Michigan Ann Arbor MI USA

School of Biological and Environmental Sciences Liverpool John Moores University Liverpool UK

School of Biological Sciences Monash University Melbourne Victoria Australia

School of Environment and Science Griffith University Brisbane Queensland Australia

Senckenberg Biodiversity and Climate Research Centre Frankfurt Hessen Germany

Swiss Ornithological Institute Sempach Switzerland

The Marine Biological Association Plymouth UK

The University Centre in Svalbard Longyearbyen Norway

UMR TETIS French Agricultural Research Centre for International Development Montpellier France

UWA Oceans Institute and the School of Biological Sciences The University of Western Australia Perth Australia

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Perceived and observed biases within scientific communities: a case study in movement ecology