Rayleigh step-selection functions and connections to continuous-time mechanistic movement models.

ABSTRACT:

Background

The process known as ecological diffusion emerges from a first principles view of animal movement, but ecological diffusion and other partial differential equation models can be difficult to fit to data. Step-selection functions (SSFs), on the other hand, have emerged as powerful practical tools for ecologists studying the movement and habitat selection of animals.

Methods

SSFs typically involve comparing resources between a set of used and available points at each step in a sequence of observed positions. We use change of variables to show that ecological diffusion implies certain distributions for available steps that are more flexible than others commonly used. We then demonstrate advantages of these distributions with SSF models fit to data collected for a mou

SUBMITTER: Eisaguirre JM 

PROVIDER: S-EPMC10854073 | biostudies-literature | 2024 Feb

REPOSITORIES: biostudies-literature