Using movement behaviour to define biological seasons for woodland caribou
Terrestrial mammals are strongly influenced by seasonal changes in environmental conditions. Studies of animal space use behaviour are therefore inherently seasonal in nature. We propose an individual-based quantitative method for identifying seasonal shifts in caribou movement behaviour and we demo...
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2012
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Online Access: | https://doi.org/10.7557/2.32.2.2277 https://doaj.org/article/162b6b16ce8040e9a56e4f3398d1ffdc |
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ftdoajarticles:oai:doaj.org/article:162b6b16ce8040e9a56e4f3398d1ffdc 2023-05-15T15:53:29+02:00 Using movement behaviour to define biological seasons for woodland caribou Tyler D. Rudolph Pierre Drapeau 2012-03-01T00:00:00Z https://doi.org/10.7557/2.32.2.2277 https://doaj.org/article/162b6b16ce8040e9a56e4f3398d1ffdc EN eng Septentrio Academic Publishing https://septentrio.uit.no/index.php/rangifer/article/view/2277 https://doaj.org/toc/1890-6729 doi:10.7557/2.32.2.2277 1890-6729 https://doaj.org/article/162b6b16ce8040e9a56e4f3398d1ffdc Rangifer, Vol 32, Iss 2 (2012) biological inference quantitative methods seasonal onset behaviour temporal variation woodland caribou Animal culture SF1-1100 article 2012 ftdoajarticles https://doi.org/10.7557/2.32.2.2277 2022-12-31T05:33:12Z Terrestrial mammals are strongly influenced by seasonal changes in environmental conditions. Studies of animal space use behaviour are therefore inherently seasonal in nature. We propose an individual-based quantitative method for identifying seasonal shifts in caribou movement behaviour and we demonstrate its use in determining the onset of the winter, spring dispersal, and calving seasons. Using pooled data for the population we demonstrate an alternate approach using polynomial regression with mixed effects. We then compare individual onset dates with population-based estimates and those adopted by expert consensus for our study area. Distributions of individual-based onset dates were normally distributed with prominent modes; however, there was considerable variation in individual onset times. Population-based estimates were closer to the peaks of individual estimates than were expert-based estimates, which fell outside the onetailed 90% and 95% sample quantiles of individually-fitted distributions for spring and winter, respectively. Both expertand population-based estimates were later for winter and earlier for both spring and calving than were individual-based estimates. We discuss the potential consequences of neglecting to corroborate conventionally used dates with observed seasonal trends in movement behaviour. In closing, we recommend researchers adopt an individual-based quantitative approach and a variable temporal window for data set extraction. Article in Journal/Newspaper caribou Rangifer Directory of Open Access Journals: DOAJ Articles Rangifer 32 2 295 |
institution |
Open Polar |
collection |
Directory of Open Access Journals: DOAJ Articles |
op_collection_id |
ftdoajarticles |
language |
English |
topic |
biological inference quantitative methods seasonal onset behaviour temporal variation woodland caribou Animal culture SF1-1100 |
spellingShingle |
biological inference quantitative methods seasonal onset behaviour temporal variation woodland caribou Animal culture SF1-1100 Tyler D. Rudolph Pierre Drapeau Using movement behaviour to define biological seasons for woodland caribou |
topic_facet |
biological inference quantitative methods seasonal onset behaviour temporal variation woodland caribou Animal culture SF1-1100 |
description |
Terrestrial mammals are strongly influenced by seasonal changes in environmental conditions. Studies of animal space use behaviour are therefore inherently seasonal in nature. We propose an individual-based quantitative method for identifying seasonal shifts in caribou movement behaviour and we demonstrate its use in determining the onset of the winter, spring dispersal, and calving seasons. Using pooled data for the population we demonstrate an alternate approach using polynomial regression with mixed effects. We then compare individual onset dates with population-based estimates and those adopted by expert consensus for our study area. Distributions of individual-based onset dates were normally distributed with prominent modes; however, there was considerable variation in individual onset times. Population-based estimates were closer to the peaks of individual estimates than were expert-based estimates, which fell outside the onetailed 90% and 95% sample quantiles of individually-fitted distributions for spring and winter, respectively. Both expertand population-based estimates were later for winter and earlier for both spring and calving than were individual-based estimates. We discuss the potential consequences of neglecting to corroborate conventionally used dates with observed seasonal trends in movement behaviour. In closing, we recommend researchers adopt an individual-based quantitative approach and a variable temporal window for data set extraction. |
format |
Article in Journal/Newspaper |
author |
Tyler D. Rudolph Pierre Drapeau |
author_facet |
Tyler D. Rudolph Pierre Drapeau |
author_sort |
Tyler D. Rudolph |
title |
Using movement behaviour to define biological seasons for woodland caribou |
title_short |
Using movement behaviour to define biological seasons for woodland caribou |
title_full |
Using movement behaviour to define biological seasons for woodland caribou |
title_fullStr |
Using movement behaviour to define biological seasons for woodland caribou |
title_full_unstemmed |
Using movement behaviour to define biological seasons for woodland caribou |
title_sort |
using movement behaviour to define biological seasons for woodland caribou |
publisher |
Septentrio Academic Publishing |
publishDate |
2012 |
url |
https://doi.org/10.7557/2.32.2.2277 https://doaj.org/article/162b6b16ce8040e9a56e4f3398d1ffdc |
genre |
caribou Rangifer |
genre_facet |
caribou Rangifer |
op_source |
Rangifer, Vol 32, Iss 2 (2012) |
op_relation |
https://septentrio.uit.no/index.php/rangifer/article/view/2277 https://doaj.org/toc/1890-6729 doi:10.7557/2.32.2.2277 1890-6729 https://doaj.org/article/162b6b16ce8040e9a56e4f3398d1ffdc |
op_doi |
https://doi.org/10.7557/2.32.2.2277 |
container_title |
Rangifer |
container_volume |
32 |
container_issue |
2 |
container_start_page |
295 |
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1766388598611902464 |