Accounting for phenology in the analysis of animal movement. 2019

Henry R Scharf, and Mevin B Hooten, and Ryan R Wilson, and George M Durner, and Todd C Atwood
Department of Statistics, Colorado State University, Fort Collins, Colorado.

The analysis of animal tracking data provides important scientific understanding and discovery in ecology. Observations of animal trajectories using telemetry devices provide researchers with information about the way animals interact with their environment and each other. For many species, specific geographical features in the landscape can have a strong effect on behavior. Such features may correspond to a single point (eg, dens or kill sites), or to higher dimensional subspaces (eg, rivers or lakes). Features may be relatively static in time (eg, coastlines or home-range centers), or may be dynamic (eg, sea ice extent or areas of high-quality forage for herbivores). We introduce a novel model for animal movement that incorporates active selection for dynamic features in a landscape. Our approach is motivated by the study of polar bear (Ursus maritimus) movement. During the sea ice melt season, polar bears spend much of their time on sea ice above shallow, biologically productive water where they hunt seals. The changing distribution and characteristics of sea ice throughout the year mean that the location of valuable habitat is constantly shifting. We develop a model for the movement of polar bears that accounts for the effect of this important landscape feature. We introduce a two-stage procedure for approximate Bayesian inference that allows us to analyze over 300 000 observed locations of 186 polar bears from 2012 to 2016. We use our model to estimate a spatial boundary of interest to wildlife managers that separates two subpopulations of polar bears from the Beaufort and Chukchi seas.

UI MeSH Term Description Entries
D011235 Predatory Behavior Instinctual behavior pattern in which food is obtained by killing and consuming other species. Predation,Behavior, Predatory,Predatory Behaviors
D002980 Climate The longterm manifestations of WEATHER. (McGraw-Hill Dictionary of Scientific and Technical Terms, 6th ed) Climates
D000818 Animals Unicellular or multicellular, heterotrophic organisms, that have sensation and the power of voluntary movement. Under the older five kingdom paradigm, Animalia was one of the kingdoms. Under the modern three domain model, Animalia represents one of the many groups in the domain EUKARYOTA. Animal,Metazoa,Animalia
D001503 Ursidae The family of carnivorous or omnivorous bears, having massive bodies, coarse heavy fur, relatively short limbs, and almost rudimentary tails. Ailuropoda,Bears,Black Bears,Giant Pandas,Grizzly Bears,Pandas, Giant,Pandas, Greater,Polar Bears,Spectacled Bear,Tremarctos,Ursus,Bear,Bear, Black,Bear, Grizzly,Bear, Polar,Bear, Spectacled,Bears, Black,Bears, Grizzly,Bears, Polar,Bears, Spectacled,Black Bear,Giant Panda,Greater Panda,Greater Pandas,Grizzly Bear,Panda, Giant,Panda, Greater,Polar Bear,Spectacled Bears
D012621 Seasons Divisions of the year according to some regularly recurrent phenomena usually astronomical or climatic. (From McGraw-Hill Dictionary of Scientific and Technical Terms, 6th ed) Seasonal Variation,Season,Seasonal Variations,Variation, Seasonal,Variations, Seasonal
D046448 Ice Cover A thick mass of ICE formed over large regions of land; RIVERS; LAKES; ponds; or SEAWATER. Sea Ice Cover,Glaciers,Ice Sheet,Icebergs,Marine Glaciers,Polar Ice Shelf,Sea Ice,Cover, Ice,Cover, Sea Ice,Covers, Ice,Covers, Sea Ice,Glacier,Glacier, Marine,Glaciers, Marine,Ice Cover, Sea,Ice Covers,Ice Covers, Sea,Ice Sheets,Ice Shelf, Polar,Ice Shelfs, Polar,Ice, Sea,Iceberg,Marine Glacier,Polar Ice Shelfs,Sea Ice Covers,Sheet, Ice,Sheets, Ice,Shelf, Polar Ice,Shelfs, Polar Ice
D025041 Animal Migration Periodic movements of animals in response to seasonal changes or reproductive instinct. Hormonal changes are the trigger in at least some animals. Most migrations are made for reasons of climatic change, feeding, or breeding. Migration, Animal,Animal Migrations,Migrations, Animal

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