| Statistical Programs |
| College of Agricultural and Life Sciences |
University of Idaho |
| Seminar Announcement |
| "Applied Statistics in Agriculture" |
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Evaluating Animal Space Use: Maximum Likelihood Approaches to Estimating Animal Movement, Home Range, and Habitat Selection
Presented By |
| Dr. Edward O. Garton |
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Department of Fish and Wildlife Resources University of Idaho |
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Tuesday, October 23 3:30 P. M. Ag. Science 62 |
| We propose a new philosophy for analyzing observations of space use by animals and provide maximum likelihood and information theoretic tools to apply this new approach. Classic analyses of radio-telemetry location data separate the analysis into independent estimation questions concerning size of the area used (home range) and habitats selected. We will describe new approaches based on using information theoretic tools to evaluate multivariate models of animal movement, resource selection and space use based on underlying ecological processes (e.g. defending a territory, provisioning a nest/den, foraging, accumulating knowledge of resource distributions, dispersing) and fundamental theoretical models (e.g. random walks). These new approaches dramatically improve on historic methods by utilizing maximum-likelihood methods to estimate parameters of the models. Versions of the approach are particularly applicable to the new data gathered using satellite and gps telemetry that incorporate location error and bias correction for missed fixes into the analysis procedures and resulting estimates. We will conclude with a synoptic, multivariate modeling approach that treats observations of space use as a sample from an underlying probability density function in order to estimate home range area and intensity of use while simultaneously evaluating patterns of resource selection. |
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