Journal ArticleDOI
Effects of sampling regime on the mean and variance of home range size estimates
Luca Börger,Luca Börger,Luca Börger,Novella Franconi,Giampiero De Michele,Alberto Gantz,Fiora Meschi,Andrea Manica,Sandro Lovari,Tim Coulson +9 more
TLDR
A new procedure, based on a variance components analysis using generalized mixed effects models, is proposed, which concludes that effort should be directed at marking more individuals monitored over long periods at the expense of the sampling rate per individual.Abstract:
1. Although the home range is a fundamental ecological concept, there is considerable debate over how it is best measured. There is a substantial literature concerning the precision and accuracy of all commonly used home range estimation methods; however, there has been considerably less work concerning how estimates vary with sampling regime, and how this affects statistical inferences. 2. We propose a new procedure, based on a variance components analysis using generalized mixed effects models to examine how estimates vary with sampling regime. 3. To demonstrate the method we analyse data from one study of 32 individually marked roe deer and another study of 21 individually marked kestrels. We subsampled these data to simulate increasingly less intense sampling regimes, and compared the performance of two kernel density estimation (KDE) methods, of the minimum convex polygon (MCP) and of the bivariate ellipse methods. 4. Variation between individuals and study areas contributed most to the total variance in home range size. Contrary to recent concerns over reliability, both KDE methods were remarkably efficient, robust and unbiased: 10 fixes per month, if collected over a standardized number of days, were sufficient for accurate estimates of home range size. However, the commonly used 95% isopleth should be avoided; we recommend using isopleths between 90 and 50%. 5. Using the same number of fixes does not guarantee unbiased home range estimates: statistical inferences differ with the number of days sampled, even if using KDE methods. 6. The MCP method was highly inefficient and results were subject to considerable and unpredictable biases. The bivariate ellipse was not the most reliable method at low sample sizes. 7. We conclude that effort should be directed at marking more individuals monitored over long periods at the expense of the sampling rate per individual. Statistical results are reliable only if the whole sampling regime is standardized. We derive practical guidelines for field studies and data analysis.read more
Citations
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Journal ArticleDOI
Are there general mechanisms of animal home range behaviour? A review and prospects for future research
TL;DR: A review of recent advances in modelling home range behaviour focuses particularly on the problem of identifying mechanisms that lead to the emergence of stable home ranges from unbounded movement paths, and discusses the issue of spatiotemporal scale, which is rarely considered in modelling studies.
Journal ArticleDOI
Distinguishing technology from biology: a critical review of the use of GPS telemetry data in ecology
TL;DR: A review of the major benefits, problems and potential misuses of GPS/Argos technology to animal ecology and conservation is provided, and suggestions are offered for ecologists on which kinds of ecological questions would currently benefit the most, and where the technology has been potentially misused.
Journal ArticleDOI
A Critical Review of Home Range Studies
Peter N. Laver,Marcella J. Kelly +1 more
TL;DR: Home range reporting was generally inadequate for reproducing studies; that the methods employed varied considerably; that home range estimates were often reported and analyzed using inappropriate methods; and that many comparisons were made between studies that may produce spurious results.
Journal ArticleDOI
LoCoH: Nonparameteric Kernel Methods for Constructing Home Ranges and Utilization Distributions
Wayne M. Getz,Wayne M. Getz,Scott Fortmann-Roe,Paul C. Cross,Andrew J. Lyons,Sadie J. Ryan,Christopher C. Wilmers +6 more
TL;DR: The results demonstrate that LoCoH methods are superior to parametric kernel methods in estimating areas used by animals, excluding unused areas (holes) and, generally, in constructing UDs and HRs arising from the movement of animals influenced by hard boundaries and irregular structures.
Journal ArticleDOI
The home-range concept: are traditional estimators still relevant with modern telemetry technology?
John G. Kie,Jason Matthiopoulos,John R Fieberg,Roger A. Powell,Francesca Cagnacci,Michael S. Mitchell,Jean-Michel Gaillard,Paul R. Moorcroft +7 more
TL;DR: This work has shown that mechanistic home-range models, derived from models of animal movement behaviour, promise to offer new insights into how home ranges emerge as the result of specific patterns of movements by individuals in response to their environment.
References
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BookDOI
Density estimation for statistics and data analysis
TL;DR: The Kernel Method for Multivariate Data: Three Important Methods and Density Estimation in Action.
Book
Mixed-Effects Models in S and S-PLUS
TL;DR: Linear Mixed-Effects and Nonlinear Mixed-effects (NLME) models have been studied in the literature as mentioned in this paper, where the structure of grouped data has been used for fitting LME models.
Book
Analysis of longitudinal data
TL;DR: In this paper, a generalized linear model for longitudinal data and transition models for categorical data are presented. But the model is not suitable for categric data and time dependent covariates are not considered.
Journal ArticleDOI
Kernel methods for estimating the utilization distribution in home-range studies
TL;DR: Kernel methods are of flexible form and can be used where simple parametric models are found to be inappropriate or difficult to specify and give alternative approaches to the Anderson (1982) Fourier transform methods.
Book
The Origin of Species by Means of Natural Selection
TL;DR: Barnes & Noble Classics as mentioned in this paper is a collection of books based on the "The Origin of Species" by Charles Darwin, which is part of the "Barnes and Noble Classics" series.
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