A comprehensive analysis of autocorrelation and bias in home range estimation

• Autores: Noonan, Michael J.; Tucker, Marlee A.; Fleming, Christen H.; Akre, Thomas S.; Alberts, Susan C.; Ali, Abdullahi H.; Altmann, Jeanne; Antunes, Pamela Castro; Belant, Jerrold L.; Beyer, Dean; Blaum, Niels; Böhning Gaese, Katrin; Cullen Jr., Laury; de Paula, Rogerio Cunha; Dekker, Jasja; Drescher Lehman, Jonathan; Farwig, Nina; Fichtel, Claudia; Fischer, Christina; Ford, Adam T.; Goheen, Jacob R.; Janssen, René; Jeltsch, Florian; Kauffman, Matthew; Kappeler, Peter M.; Koch, Flávia; LaPoint, Scott; Markham, A. Catherine; Medici, Emilia Patricia; Morato, Ronaldo G.; Nathan, Ran; Oliveira Santos, Luiz Gustavo R.; Olson, Kirk A.; Patterson, Bruce; Paviolo, Agustin Javier; Ramalho, Emiliano Esterci; Rösner, Sascha; Schabo, Dana G.; Selva, Nuria; Sergiel, Agnieszka; Xavier da Silva, Marina; Spiegel, Orr; Thompson, Peter; Ullmann, Wiebke; Ziḝba, Filip; Zwijacz Kozica, Tomasz; Fagan, William F.; Mueller, Thomas; Calabrese, Justin M.
• Año de publicación: 2018
• Idioma: inglés
• Tipo de recurso: artículo
• Materia: ANIMAL MOVEMENT; KERNEL DENSITY ESTIMATION; LOCAL CONVEX HULL; MINIMUM CONVEX POLYGON; RANGE DISTRIBUTION; SPACE USE; TELEMETRY; TRACKING DATA
• Institución: Consejo Nacional de Investigaciones Científicas y Técnicas

Home range estimation is routine practice in ecological research. While advances in animal tracking technology have increased our capacity to collect data to support home range analysis, these same advances have also resulted in increasingly autocorrelated data. Consequently, the question of which home range estimator to use on modern, highly autocorrelated tracking data remains open. This question is particularly relevant given that most estimators assume independently sampled data. Here, we provide a comprehensive evaluation of the effects of autocorrelation on home range estimation. We base our study on an extensive data set of GPS locations from 369 individuals representing 27 species distributed across five continents. We first assemble a broad array of home range estimators, including Kernel Density Estimation (KDE) with four bandwidth optimizers (Gaussian reference function, autocorrelated-Gaussian reference function [AKDE], Silverman´s rule of thumb, and least squares cross-validation), Minimum Convex Polygon, and Local Convex Hull methods. Notably, all of these estimators except AKDE assume independent and identically distributed (IID) data. We then employ half-sample cross-validation to objectively quantify estimator performance, and the recently introduced effective sample size for home range area estimation ((Formula presented.)) to quantify the information content of each data set. We found that AKDE 95% area estimates were larger than conventional IID-based estimates by a mean factor of 2. The median number of cross-validated locations included in the hold-out sets by AKDE 95% (or 50%) estimates was 95.3% (or 50.1%), confirming the larger AKDE ranges were appropriately selective at the specified quantile. Conversely, conventional estimates exhibited negative bias that increased with decreasing (Formula presented.). To contextualize our empirical results, we performed a detailed simulation study to tease apart how sampling frequency, sampling duration, and the focal animal´s movement conspire to affect range estimates. Paralleling our empirical results, the simulation study demonstrated that AKDE was generally more accurate than conventional methods, particularly for small (Formula presented.). While 72% of the 369 empirical data sets had >1,000 total observations, only 4% had an (Formula presented.) >1,000, where 30% had an (Formula presented.) <30. In this frequently encountered scenario of small (Formula presented.), AKDE was the only estimator capable of producing an accurate home range estimate on autocorrelated data.
Fil: Noonan, Michael J.. National Zoological Park; Estados Unidos. University of Maryland; Estados Unidos
Fil: Tucker, Marlee A.. Senckenberg Gesellschaft Für Naturforschung; . Goethe Universitat Frankfurt; Alemania
Fil: Fleming, Christen H.. University of Maryland; Estados Unidos. National Zoological Park; Estados Unidos
Fil: Akre, Thomas S.. National Zoological Park; Estados Unidos
Fil: Alberts, Susan C.. University of Duke; Estados Unidos
Fil: Ali, Abdullahi H.. Hirola Conservation Programme. Garissa; Kenia
Fil: Altmann, Jeanne. University of Princeton; Estados Unidos
Fil: Antunes, Pamela Castro. Universidade Federal do Mato Grosso do Sul; Brasil
Fil: Belant, Jerrold L.. State University of New York; Estados Unidos
Fil: Beyer, Dean. Universitat Phillips; Alemania
Fil: Blaum, Niels. Universitat Potsdam; Alemania
Fil: Böhning Gaese, Katrin. Senckenberg Gesellschaft Für Naturforschung; Alemania. Goethe Universitat Frankfurt; Alemania
Fil: Cullen Jr., Laury. Instituto de Pesquisas Ecológicas; Brasil
Fil: de Paula, Rogerio Cunha. National Research Center For Carnivores Conservation; Brasil
Fil: Dekker, Jasja. Jasja Dekker Dierecologie; Países Bajos
Fil: Drescher Lehman, Jonathan. George Mason University; Estados Unidos. National Zoological Park; Estados Unidos
Fil: Farwig, Nina. Michigan State University; Estados Unidos
Fil: Fichtel, Claudia. German Primate Center; Alemania
Fil: Fischer, Christina. Universitat Technical Zu Munich; Alemania
Fil: Ford, Adam T.. University of British Columbia; Canadá
Fil: Goheen, Jacob R.. University of Wyoming; Estados Unidos
Fil: Janssen, René. Bionet Natuuronderzoek; Países Bajos
Fil: Jeltsch, Florian. Universitat Potsdam; Alemania
Fil: Kauffman, Matthew. University Of Wyoming; Estados Unidos
Fil: Kappeler, Peter M.. German Primate Center; Alemania
Fil: Koch, Flávia. German Primate Center; Alemania
Fil: LaPoint, Scott. Max Planck Institute für Ornithologie; Alemania. Columbia University; Estados Unidos
Fil: Markham, A. Catherine. Stony Brook University; Estados Unidos
Fil: Medici, Emilia Patricia. Instituto de Pesquisas Ecológicas (IPE) ; Brasil
Fil: Morato, Ronaldo G.. Institute For Conservation of The Neotropical Carnivores; Brasil. National Research Center For Carnivores Conservation; Brasil
Fil: Nathan, Ran. The Hebrew University of Jerusalem; Israel
Fil: Oliveira Santos, Luiz Gustavo R.. Universidade Federal do Mato Grosso do Sul; Brasil
Fil: Olson, Kirk A.. Wildlife Conservation Society; Estados Unidos. National Zoological Park; Estados Unidos
Fil: Patterson, Bruce. Field Museum of National History; Estados Unidos
Fil: Paviolo, Agustin Javier. Consejo Nacional de Investigaciones Científicas y Técnicas. Centro Científico Tecnológico Conicet - Nordeste. Instituto de Biología Subtropical. Instituto de Biología Subtropical - Nodo Puerto Iguazú | Universidad Nacional de Misiones. Instituto de Biología Subtropical. Instituto de Biología Subtropical - Nodo Puerto Iguazú; Argentina. Consejo Nacional de Investigaciones Científicas y Técnicas. Centro Científico Tecnológico Conicet - Nordeste; Argentina
Fil: Ramalho, Emiliano Esterci. Institute For Conservation of The Neotropical Carnivores; Brasil. Instituto de Desenvolvimento Sustentavel Mamirauá; Brasil
Fil: Rösner, Sascha. Michigan State University; Estados Unidos
Fil: Schabo, Dana G.. Michigan State University; Estados Unidos
Fil: Selva, Nuria. Institute of Nature Conservation of The Polish Academy of Sciences; Polonia
Fil: Sergiel, Agnieszka. Institute of Nature Conservation of The Polish Academy of Sciences; Polonia
Fil: Xavier da Silva, Marina. Parque Nacional do Iguaçu; Brasil
Fil: Spiegel, Orr. Universitat Tel Aviv; Israel
Fil: Thompson, Peter. University of Maryland; Estados Unidos
Fil: Ullmann, Wiebke. Universitat Potsdam; Alemania
Fil: Ziḝba, Filip. Tatra National Park; Polonia
Fil: Zwijacz Kozica, Tomasz. Tatra National Park; Polonia
Fil: Fagan, William F.. University of Maryland; Estados Unidos
Fil: Mueller, Thomas. Senckenberg Gesellschaft Für Naturforschung; . Goethe Universitat Frankfurt; Alemania
Fil: Calabrese, Justin M.. National Zoological Park; Estados Unidos. University of Maryland; Estados Unidos