Integrative modelling of animal movement: incorporating in situ habitat and behavioural information for a migratory marine predator |
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Authors: | Sophie Bestley Ian D Jonsen Mark A Hindell Christophe Guinet Jean-Beno?t Charrassin |
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Institution: | 1.Department of Biology, Dalhousie University, Halifax, Nova Scotia, Canada, B3H 4R2;2.Institute for Marine and Antarctic Studies, University of Tasmania, Hobart, Tasmania 7001, Australia;3.Centre d''Etudes Biologiques de Chize, CEBC-CNRS, 79170 Chize, France;4.LOCEAN/IPSL, Muséum National d''Histoire Naturelle/UPMC/CNRS/IRD, UPMC, 75252 Paris, France |
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Abstract: | A fundamental goal in animal ecology is to quantify how environmental (and other) factors influence individual movement, as this is key to understanding responsiveness of populations to future change. However, quantitative interpretation of individual-based telemetry data is hampered by the complexity of, and error within, these multi-dimensional data. Here, we present an integrative hierarchical Bayesian state-space modelling approach where, for the first time, the mechanistic process model for the movement state of animals directly incorporates both environmental and other behavioural information, and observation and process model parameters are estimated within a single model. When applied to a migratory marine predator, the southern elephant seal (Mirounga leonina), we find the switch from directed to resident movement state was associated with colder water temperatures, relatively short dive bottom time and rapid descent rates. The approach presented here can have widespread utility for quantifying movement–behaviour (diving or other)–environment relationships across species and systems. |
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Keywords: | individual movement animal telemetry spatial ecology state-space model foraging behaviour oceanographic drivers of movement |
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