An introduction to statistical models used to characterize species-habitat associations with animal movement data.

ABSTRACT: Understanding species-habitat associations is fundamental to ecological sciences and for species conservation. Consequently, various statistical approaches have been designed to infer species-habitat associations. Due to their conceptual and mathematical differences, these methods can yield contrasting results. In this paper, we describe and compare commonly used statistical models that relate animal movement data to environmental data. Specifically, we examined selection functions which include resource selection function (RSF) and step-selection function (SSF), as well as hidden Markov models (HMMs) and related methods such as state-space models. We demonstrate differences in assumptions while highlighting advantages and limitations of each method. Additionally, we provide guidance on se

SUBMITTER: Florko KRN 

PROVIDER: S-EPMC12004767 | biostudies-literature | 2025 Apr

REPOSITORIES: biostudies-literature