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Rayleigh step-selection functions and connections to continuous-time mechanistic movement models
Joseph M Eisaguirre1, Perry J Williams2, Mevin B Hooten3
1U.S. Geological Survey, Alaska Science Center, Anchorage, AK, USA. jeisaguirre@usgs.gov.
Movement Ecology
|February 8, 2024
Summary
Ecological diffusion models can be challenging for ecologists. Step-selection functions (SSFs) offer a practical alternative, with new distributions improving their application to animal movement data, even with irregular intervals.
Area of Science:
- Ecology
- Movement Ecology
- Mathematical Biology
Background:
- Ecological diffusion models offer a first-principles view of animal movement but are complex to fit to data.
- Step-selection functions (SSFs) are widely adopted by ecologists for analyzing animal movement and habitat selection.
Purpose of the Study:
- To demonstrate how ecological diffusion principles can inform the development of more flexible and applicable SSFs.
- To introduce new distributions for SSFs that improve data fitting and inference.
Main Methods:
- Utilized a change of variables to derive implications of ecological diffusion for SSF available step distributions.
- Developed and applied SSF models incorporating these new distributions to mountain lion movement data.
Main Results:
- Established that ecological diffusion implies Rayleigh step-length and uniform turning angle distributions for SSFs.
- Showcased how these distributions accommodate data with irregular time intervals, improving model precision and inference compared to standard approaches.
Conclusions:
- Introduced a novel continuous-time step-length distribution for SSFs.
- Enhanced the applicability of SSFs to diverse animal tracking datasets, particularly those with irregular temporal sampling.
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