How to use (and not to use) movement-based indices for quantifying foraging behaviour.

ABSTRACT: Movement-based indices such as moves per minute (MPM) and proportion time moving (PTM) are common methodologies to quantify foraging behaviour. We explore fundamental drawbacks of these indices that question the ways scientists have been using them and propose new solutions.To do so, we combined analytical and simulation models with lizards foraging data at the individual and species levels.We found that the maximal value of MPM is constrained by the minimal durations of moves and stops. As a result, foragers that rarely move and those that rarely stop are bounded to similar low MPM values. This implies that (1) MPM has very little meaning when used alone, (2) MPM and PTM are interdependent, and (3) certain areas in the MPM-PTM plane cannot be occupied. We also found that MPM suffers from

SUBMITTER: Halperin T 

PROVIDER: S-EPMC5993309 | biostudies-literature | 2018 Apr

REPOSITORIES: biostudies-literature