Fish and Wildlife Population Ecology  - Dr. Edward O. Garton

 

New Approaches to Studies of Home Range, Habitat Selection and Space Use

A workshop presented by
Dr. Edward O. Garton, UI Emeritus Professor
of Wildlife Ecology and Statistics

May 19-23, 2014
Moscow, Idaho

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Radio and satellite telemetry has become a nearly essential tool in modern studies of animal behavior, ecology, management and conservation because of the dramatic increases in our technological capabilities to locate animals.  It is common to use radio/satellite telemetry to study animal movement, survival, migration, dispersal, space use, home range size, habitat use, and resource selection.  The primary objectives of this workshop are to briefly review historic methods for analysis of home range, resource selection and space use and describe new approaches that use information theoretic tools to evaluate multivariate models of animal movement, resource selection and space use based on underlying ecological processes (e.g. defending a territory, provisioning a nest/den, foraging, accumulating knowledge of resource distributions, dispersing) and fundamental theoretical models (e.g. random walks, central place and optimal foraging).  Designing and analyzing studies of animals using radio/satellite telemetry will be improved substantially through knowledge of the powerful statistical tools which have been developed for analysis of these data as well as how to apply basic principles of finite population sampling. The secondary objective is to introduce biologists to new software available to analyze radio tracking location data that simultaneously estimates home range and resource selection for independent observations from VHF or non-invasive genetic sampling as well as serially correlated data gathered with GPS or ARGOS satellite telemetry that requires analysis in a multi-core parallel processing environment. 

Participants in this five-day workshop (May 19-23, 2014) will explore these powerful tools for estimating space use (home range size, habitat use, and resource selection) by applying them to real data on continuously monitored elk and deer at Starkey Experimental Forest and Range as well as data on mammals and birds from other studies on caribou, moose and Dall sheep.  Class size is limited to 24 participants and a minimum of 10 is required.  Workshop participants will accrue 32 contact hours toward The Wildlife Society’s Professional Development Program. Graduate credit from the Univ. of Idaho College of Graduate Studies is available for an additional fee.

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WORKSHOP AGENDA

Monday - 2:00 p.m. to 5 p.m.

  • Welcome, Introduction, objectives
  • Research Design for Radio/satellite telemetry
     Design Considerations
    Biological and Statistical Populations
    Populations and samples
    Estimation overview for home range, dispersal distance, habitat use, resource selection, space use, survival rate and fecundity

Tuesday  -  8:30 a.m. to 5 p.m.

  • Elements of Sampling
     Terminology
    How to select the sample
    Sources of errors
    Simple Random Sampling
    Stratification
    Systematic Sampling with GPS
    Hybrid Designs (2-stage)
  • Lab 1 – Survey Sampling
    Random, stratified and cluster samples
    Determining optimal ample size
  • Home Range Size
     Concept: History
    Utilization volume/probability of use
    Core areas
    Polygon approaches
  • Lab2 – Intro to ArcView and
    Animal Movement Extensions     or ArcGIS for Applying Parametrics and Kernels

Wednesday -  8:30 a.m. to 5 p.m.

  • New Developments in Home Range Estimation
    Fractal-based spatial analyses
     Generalized entropy
    Maximum likelihood approaches to parameter estimation, model selection and inference
    Brownian bridges for serially correlated movement data
  • Lab 3 – Using AIC and Cross-validation to choose models

Wednesday continued

 

  • Habitat Utilization & Resource Selection
    Univariate approaches:
          Chi-square & Bonferroni-CI
          Ratio estimators and CI on preference
          Manly's selectivity index
          Compositional analysis
          Euclidean distance
  • Lab 4 - Brownian Bridges

 

 Thursday - 8:30 a.m. to 5 p.m.

  • Multivariate Statistical Approaches
     Discriminant Analysis (MANOVA)
    Logistic Regression
     Principal components/ factor analysis  
    Multiple regression
    Selection differentials and gradients
    Ecological factor niche analysis
    Log linear models
    Marzluff's resource utilization functions
    Polytomous logistic regression  
    Discrete choice modeling
  • Lab 5 – Univariate Resource Selection Analysis  
  • Effect of Sample Size on Performance of Resource Selection Methods
     Neu et al. (1974) Chi-square
    Friedman (1973) ANOVA on ranks
    Johnson (1980)
    Aebischer et al. (1996) Compositional Analysis
  • Lab 6– Multivariate resource Selection Analysis
 

Friday - 8:30 a.m. to 12 noon

  • Synoptic Model of Space-Use  Simultaneous estimation of home range and resource selection
  • Survival Analysis Incorporating spatial covariates 
  • Fitness Estimation Integrating models to estimate survival and reproductive success
  • Lab 6 Space use analysis using synoptic model

 


This workshop is designed to be as practical as possible. Thus, the following activities are offered on a voluntary basis during labs or an evening session as desired.

Continuation of the lab exercises
Discussion of individual design problems submitted by the participants
Analysis of data brought by the participants
Individual help from the instructor
Analysis of your own data

 

LOCATION AND TIME

All meetings will be held at the College of Natural Resources (Room 25), 6th and Line Street, University of Idaho, Moscow, Idaho. Meetings will run from 2:00 p.m. on Monday, through 12:00 noon. on Friday.

PREREGISTRATION

The registration fee is $850 per participant. You may register on-line or print out the registration form and mail with payment to the Department of Fish and Wildlife Resources, University of Idaho, Moscow, ID 83844-1136.

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HOUSING

Housing is the responsibility of the registrant. A block of rooms has been reserved at the University Inn/Best Western. To receive the special rate, please call 208-882-0550 or 800-325-8765 and mention that you are with the New Approaches to Radio/satellite Telemetry Workshop.

CREDIT

Workshop participants will accrue 38 contact hours toward The Wildlife Society's Professional Development Program, or credits toward other societies (AFS, ESA, SCB) continuing education requirements for professionals.  One graduate credit for Wlf 503 intersession course is available from the University of Idaho's College of Graduate Studies for an additional fee.  Graduate credit requires completing all lab assignments and writing a short paper after the course concludes.

QUESTIONS

For transportation, registration, or logistical information, please call the Department of Fish and Wildlife Resources at 208-885-6434 or fish_wildlife@uidaho.edu.

 

Date this page was last updated:  03/10/14