Home range

Alonso Bussalleu

• What is home range? How is it defined?• Data collection and analysis: Models, methods

and tools• What can we learn from home range studies?

•(...) it may be here remarked that most animals and plants keep to their proper homes, and do not needlessly wander about; we see this even with migratory birds, which almost always return to the same spot. (Darwin 1861)

Definition

• Home range: spatial extend of individual-environment interactions

• estimated only by the presence of the individual (locations in time)

• Restriction of animal movements due to survival and reproduction

• Dynamic process impact on individual and environment

constrains

• Scale has an important role

• might be affected by seasonality, environmental conditions (biotic and abiotic), species identity and individual characteristics (age, gender, experience)

Models, Methods and tools• Models: predict

movements• analytical modeling

approach :Random walks• individual-based

modeling approach : optimal foraging

• statistical modeling approach : behavioral ecology and natural history

• Methods: analyze data• minimum convex polygon

(MCP) home range estimation

• kernel density estimation (KDE)

Falabella, V., Campagna, C., and Croxall, J. (Eds). 2009. Atlas of the Patagonian Sea. Species and Spaces. Buenos Aires, Wildlife Conservation Society and BirdLife International. http://www.atlas-marpatagonico.org

• http://atlas-marpatagonico.org/species/22/all-species.htm

• WCS sea and sky database• 283600 localizations, 16 species, 1326

migratory or foraging trips• Different colonies• Small number of individuals• 50%, 75% and 95% density distributions

Tools• Telemetry (VHF-radio

signal)• GPS• Camera traps• Capture recapture

• Things to consider:• Costs• # locations• # individuals• Lifespan (battery and

memory)• Precision• Remote recording vs

triangulation• Species

Ocelot home range, overlap and density: comparing radiotelemetry with camera trapping

A. Dillon & M. J. KellyJournal of Zoology 275 (2008) 391–398

• Simultaneous use of camera trapping surveys and radio telemetry tracking of ocelots in Chiquibul Forest Reserve and National Park (CFRNP,1670km2) Belize

• 5 surveys, 7-17 camera stations at a variable systematic spacing of 510–2922m for 238–1513 available trap nights (2002-2004) 22 ocelot captures of nine individuals

• five radiocollared ocelots (two male, three female). 686 locations

Implications

• distribution and abundance of organisms• population regulation and genetics• habitat use and selection• community structure and dynamics• infection spread• conservation

Implications

Masello et al 2010

Home Range, Time, and Body Size in MammalsStan L. Lindstedt, Brian J. Miller, Steven W. Buskirk

Ecology, Vol. 67, No. 2 (Apr., 1986), pp. 413-418

Female tiger Panthera tigris home range size in theBangladesh Sundarbans: the value of this mangrove

ecosystem for the species’ conservation

• Tracked 2 females for 2.5(1528 loations) and 5.5 months (679 locations)

• Estimate home range size (MCP and using gps collars mean home range size = 14.2 km

• Estimate tiger density 7 adult females in 100 km2

• Good tiger quality environment mangrove productivity

Using Satellite Telemetry to Define Spatial Population Structure in Polar Bears in the Norwegian and Western Russian Arctic

Mette Mauritzen, Andrew E. Derocher, Øystein Wiig, Stanislav E. Belikov, AndreiN. Boltunov, Edmond Hansen, Gerald W. Garner

Journal of Applied Ecology, Vol. 39, No. 1 (Feb., 2002), pp. 79-90

• Spatial population structure: habitat types and use patterns

• Genetic structure vs migration patterns of polar bears between Norway and Russia local habitat dynamics

• Analysis of positions from satellite transmitters deployed on 105 female polar bears over a 12-year period in the Russian and Norwegian Arctic

• 95% MCP individual HR, Kernel populations

• Polar bear home-range sizes ranged from 201 km2 to 964 264 km2

• no sharp population boundaries between Svalbard and the Barents and Kara Seas management units

• Offshore diplomacy, or how seabirds mitigate intra-specific competition: a case study based on GPS tracking of Cape gannets from neighbouring colonies (Gremillet at al. 2004) habitat partitioning

• How landscape dynamics link individual to population-level movement patterns: a multispecies comparison of ungulate relocation data (Mueller et al. 2011) landscape dynamics between different species of ungulates

• Tracking apex marine predator movements in a dynamic ocean (Block et al. 2011) management of large marine ecosystems