Model-Based Estimation of Resource Selection in Animal Populations

• Activity Number: 561
• Type: Topic Contributed
• Date/Time: Wednesday, August 1, 2012 : 2:00 PM to 3:50 PM
• Sponsor: Section on Statistics and the Environment
• Author(s): Mevin Hooten*+ and Ephraim Hanks and Devin S. Johnson
• Companies: Colorado State University and California State University and National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration
• Keywords: Ecology ; Spatial Statistics ; Spatio-temporal Statistics

Abstract

A common population characteristic of interest in animal ecology studies pertains to the selection of resources. That is, given the resources available to animals, what do they ultimately choose to use? A variety of model-based statistical approaches have been employed to examine this question and each has advantages and disadvantages with respect to the form of available data and the properties of estimators given model assumptions. A wealth of high resolution telemetry data are now being collected to study animal population movement and space use and these data present both challenges and opportunities in statistical inference. We discuss traditional methods for model-based inference and describe extensions to deal with measurement uncertainty and autocorrelation that may remain in studies involving high-resolution telemetry data. These methods are demonstrated using data from a variety of animal taxa.