Home range estimation: examples of estimator effects

A Pilot Study on Home Range and Habitat Use of Chinese Goral (Naemorhedus Griseus): Exploring GPS Tracking Data in Cliff Landscape by Three Estimation Methods

10.21203/rs.3.rs-597882/v1 ◽

2021 ◽

Author(s):

yang teng ◽

Shupei TANG ◽

lai heda meng ◽

Liji Wu ◽

Zhiqing HAN ◽

...

Keyword(s):

Home Range ◽

Habitat Use ◽

Estimation Methods ◽

Conservation Strategies ◽

Gps Tracking ◽

Tracking Data ◽

Size Estimation ◽

Range Estimation ◽

Lower Altitude ◽

Effective Conservation

Abstract Home range size estimation is a crucial basis for developing effective conservation strategies and provides important insights into animal behavior and ecology. This study aimed at analyzing the home range variations, the influence of altitude in habitat selection, and comparing three methods in home range estimation of Chinese gorals (Naemorhedus griseus) living at a cliff landscape. The results indicated that there were significant differences between the annual home range sizes of individual animals but there was no difference in their seasonal home range sizes based on GPS tracking data of five female Chinese gorals from February 2015 to September 2018. The monthly home ranges decreased dramatically in May, June and July due to birth-giving. Notable seasonal variations were found in the micro-habitats of the Chinese gorals, as reflected by the altitude they inhabit, with higher altitude habitats used in spring and lower altitude habitats used in winter. Additionally, the altitude of monthly habitats was lowest in January, which may indicate an adaptation to low air temperature. We also found differences between estimation methods, namely minimum convex polygon (MCP), kernel density estimation (KDE) and α-local convex hull (α-LoCoH), with seasonal home range sizes derived from α-LoCoH being substantially smaller than those derived from MCP and KDE. In conclusion, our findings filled the gaps in home range study for this endangered species and contributed to effective conservation strategies. Considerations shall have to be given to the variations in home range estimation caused by different methods when dealing with rugged habitats, so as to make sure that any interpretation concerning the habitat use of the targeted species made on basis of such results would be meaningful and valid.

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ctmmweb: A graphical user interface for autocorrelation-informed home range estimation

10.1101/2020.05.11.087932 ◽

2020 ◽

Cited By ~ 2

Author(s):

Justin M. Calabrese ◽

Christen H. Fleming ◽

Michael J. Noonan ◽

Xianghui Dong

Keyword(s):

Home Range ◽

Kernel Density ◽

R Package ◽

Home Ranges ◽

Tracking Data ◽

Sampled Data ◽

Convex Polygons ◽

Range Estimation ◽

Empirical Reality ◽

Range Overlap

ABSTRACTEstimating animal home ranges is a primary purpose of collecting tracking data. All conventional home range estimators in widespread usage, including minimum convex polygons and kernel density estimators, assume independently sampled data. In stark contrast, modern GPS animal tracking datasets are almost always strongly autocorrelated. This incongruence between estimator assumptions and empirical reality leads to systematically underestimated home ranges. Autocorrelated kernel density estimation (AKDE) resolves this conflict by modeling the observed autocorrelation structure of tracking data during home range estimation, and has been shown to perform accurately across a broad range of tracking datasets. However, compared to conventional estimators, AKDE requires additional modeling steps and has heretofore only been accessible via the command-line ctmm R package. Here, we introduce ctmmweb, which provides a point-and-click graphical interface to ctmm, and streamlines AKDE, its prerequisite autocorrelation modeling steps, and a number of additional movement analyses. We demonstrate ctmmweb’s capabilities, including AKDE home range estimation and subsequent home range overlap analysis, on a dataset of four jaguars from the Brazilian Pantanal. We intend ctmmweb to open AKDE and related autocorrelation-explicit analyses to a wider audience of wildlife and conservation professionals.

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A Pilot Study on Home Range and Habitat Use of Chinese Goral (Naemorhedus Griseus): Exploring GPS Tracking Data in Cliff Landscape by Three Estimation Methods

10.21203/rs.3.rs-597882/v2 ◽

2021 ◽

Author(s):

Yang Teng ◽

Shupei TANG ◽

Dalai Menghe ◽

Liji Wu ◽

Zhiqing HAN ◽

...

Keyword(s):

Home Range ◽

Habitat Use ◽

Estimation Methods ◽

Conservation Strategies ◽

Gps Tracking ◽

Tracking Data ◽

Size Estimation ◽

Range Estimation ◽

Lower Altitude ◽

Effective Conservation

Abstract Home range size estimation is a crucial basis for developing effective conservation strategies and provides important insights into animal behavior and ecology. This study aimed at analyzing the home range variations, the influence of altitude in habitat selection, and comparing three methods in home range estimation of Chinese gorals (Naemorhedus griseus) living at a cliff landscape. The results indicated that there were significant differences between the annual home range sizes of individual animals but there was no difference in their seasonal home range sizes based on GPS tracking data of five female Chinese gorals from February 2015 to September 2018. The monthly home ranges decreased dramatically in May, June and July due to birth-giving. Notable seasonal variations were found in the micro-habitats of the Chinese gorals, as reflected by the altitude they inhabit, with higher altitude habitats used in spring and lower altitude habitats used in winter. Additionally, the altitude of monthly habitats was lowest in January, which may indicate an adaptation to low air temperature. We also found differences between estimation methods, namely minimum convex polygon (MCP), kernel density estimation (KDE) and α-local convex hull (α-LoCoH), with seasonal home range sizes derived from α-LoCoH being substantially smaller than those derived from MCP and KDE. In conclusion, our findings filled the gaps in home range study for this endangered species and contributed to effective conservation strategies. Considerations shall have to be given to the variations in home range estimation caused by different methods when dealing with rugged habitats, so as to make sure that any interpretation concerning the habitat use of the targeted species made on basis of such results would be meaningful and valid.

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