Data from: Space-use behavior of woodland caribou based on a cognitive movement model ...

• Main Authors: Avgar, Tal, Brown, Glen S., Thompson, Ian, Rodgers, Art R., Mosser, Anna, Fryxell, John M., Patterson, Brent R., Newmaster, Steven G., Reid, Doug E. B., Turetsky, Merritt, Hagens, Jevon S., Reid, Douglas E. B., Shuter, Jennifer, Baker, James A., Kittle, Andrew M., Mallon, Erin E., McGreer, Madeleine T., Street, Garrett M., Turetsky, Merritt J.
• Format: Dataset
• Language: English
• Published: Dryad 2016
• Subjects: apparent competition; informative prior; attribute memory; step selection; resource selection; Spatial memory; telemetry; perceptual range; redistribution kernel; Alces alces; Canis lupus; caribou; Rangifer tarandus
• Online Access: https://dx.doi.org/10.5061/dryad.7p60n; https://datadryad.org/stash/dataset/doi:10.5061/dryad.7p60n

1. Movement patterns offer a rich source of information on animal behaviour and the ecological significance of landscape attributes. This is especially useful for species occupying remote landscapes where direct behavioural observations are limited. In this study, we fit a mechanistic model of animal cognition and movement to GPS positional data of woodland caribou (Rangifer tarandus caribou; Gmelin 1788) collected over a wide range of ecological conditions. 2. The model explicitly tracks individual animal informational state over space and time, with resulting parameter estimates that have direct cognitive and ecological meaning. Three biotic landscape attributes were hypothesized to motivate caribou movement: forage abundance (dietary digestible biomass), wolf (Canis lupus; Linnaeus, 1758) density and moose (Alces alces; Linnaeus, 1758) habitat. Wolves are the main predator of caribou in this system and moose are their primary prey. 3. Resulting parameter estimates clearly indicated that forage abundance ... : data_2.313_5a .mat file containing all data needed to run the cognitive movement model for a single animal: AU313 ...