@article{NoonanTuckerFlemingetal.2018,
  author    = {Noonan, Michael J. and Tucker, Marlee A. and Fleming, Christen H. and Akre, Thomas S. and Alberts, Susan C. and Ali, Abdullahi H. and Altmann, Jeanne and Antunes, Pamela Castro and Belant, Jerrold L. and Beyer, Dean and Blaum, Niels and Boehning-Gaese, Katrin and Cullen Jr, Laury and de Paula, Rogerio Cunha and Dekker, Jasja and Drescher-Lehman, Jonathan and Farwig, Nina and Fichtel, Claudia and Fischer, Christina and Ford, Adam T. and Goheen, Jacob R. and Janssen, Rene and Jeltsch, Florian and Kauffman, Matthew and Kappeler, Peter M. and Koch, Flavia and LaPoint, Scott and Markham, A. Catherine and Medici, Emilia Patricia and Morato, Ronaldo G. and Nathan, Ran and Oliveira-Santos, Luiz Gustavo R. and Olson, Kirk A. and Patterson, Bruce D. and Paviolo, Agustin and Ramalho, Emiliano Estero and Rosner, Sascha and Schabo, Dana G. and Selva, Nuria and Sergiel, Agnieszka and da Silva, Marina Xavier and Spiegel, Orr and Thompson, Peter and Ullmann, Wiebke and Zieba, Filip and Zwijacz-Kozica, Tomasz and Fagan, William F. and Mueller, Thomas and Calabrese, Justin M.},
  title     = {A comprehensive analysis of autocorrelation and bias in home range estimation},
  series = {Ecological monographs : a publication of the Ecological Society of America.},
  volume    = {89},
  journal   = {Ecological monographs : a publication of the Ecological Society of America.},
  number    = {2},
  publisher = {Wiley},
  address   = {Hoboken},
  issn      = {0012-9615},
  doi       = {10.1002/ecm.1344},
  pages     = {21},
  year      = {2018},
  abstract  = {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 ( N̂ area ) 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 N̂ area. 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 N̂ area. While 72\% of the 369 empirical data sets had >1,000 total observations, only 4\% had an N̂ area >1,000, where 30\% had an N̂ area <30. In this frequently encountered scenario of small N̂ area, AKDE was the only estimator capable of producing an accurate home range estimate on autocorrelated data.},
  language  = {en}
}
@phdthesis{Schirmer2019,
  author    = {Schirmer, Annika},
  title     = {Consistent individual differences in movement-related behaviour as equalising and/or stabilising mechanisms for species coexistence},
  school      = {Universit{\"a}t Potsdam},
  pages     = {154},
  year      = {2019},
  abstract  = {The facilitation of species coexistence has been a central theme in ecological research for years, highlighting two key aspects: ecological niches and competition between species. According to the competitive exclusion principle, the overlap of species niches predicts the amount of shared resources and therefore competition between species, determining their ability to coexist. Only if niches of two species are sufficiently different, thus niche overlap is low, competition within species is higher than competition between species and stable coexistence is possible. Thereby, differences in species mean traits are focused on and conspecific individuals are assumed to be interchangeable. This approach might be outdated since behaviour, as a key aspect mediating niche differentiation between species, is individual based. Individuals from one species consistently differ across time and situations in their behavioural traits. Causes and consequences of consistent behavioural differences have been thoroughly investigated stimulating their recent incorporation into ecological interactions and niche theory. Spatial components have so far been largely overlooked, although animal movement is strongly connected to several aspects of ecological niches and interactions between individuals. Furthermore, numerous movement aspects haven been proven to be crucially influenced by consistent individual differences. Considering spatial parameters could therefore crucially broaden our understanding of how individual niches are formed and ecological interactions are shaped. Furthermore, extending established concepts on species interactions by an individual component could provide new insights into how species coexistence is facilitated and local biodiversity is maintained. The main aim of this thesis was to test whether consistent inter-individual differences can facilitate the coexistence of ecological similar species. Therefore, the effects of consistent inter-individual differences on the spatial behaviour of two rodent species, the bank vole (Myodes glareolus) and the striped field mouse (Apodemus agrarius), were investigated and put in the context of: (i) individual spatial niches, (ii) interactions between species, and (iii) the importance of different levels of behavioural variation within species for their interactions. Consistent differences of study animals in boldness and exploration were quantified with the same tests in all presented studies and always combined with observations of movement and space use via automated VHF radio telemetry. Consequently, results are comparable throughout the thesis and the methods provide a common denominator for all chapters. The first two chapters are based on observations of free-ranging rodents in natural populations, while chapter III represents an experimental approach under semi-natural conditions. Chapter I focusses on the effect of consistent differences in boldness and exploration on movement and space use of bank voles and their contribution to individual spatial niche separation. Results show boldness to be the dominating predictor for spatial parameters in bank voles. Irrespective of sex, bolder individuals had larger home ranges, moved longer distances, had less spatial interactions with conspecifics and occupied different microhabitats compared to shy individuals. The same boldness-dependent spatial patterns could be observed in striped field mice which is reported in chapter II. Therefore, both study species showed individual spatial niche occupation. Chapter II builds on findings from the first chapter, investigating the effect of boldness driven individual spatial niche occupation on the interactions between species. Irrespective of species and sex, bolder individuals had more interspecific spatial interactions, but less intraspecific interactions, compared to shy individuals. Due to individual niches occupation the competitive environment individuals experience is not random. Interactions are restricted to individuals of similar behavioural type with presumably similar competitive ability, which could balance differences on the species level and support coexistence. In chapter III the experimental populations were either comprised of only shy or only bold bank voles, while striped field mice varied, creating either a shy- or bold-biased competitive community. Irrespective of behavioural type, striped field mice had more intraspecific interactions in bold-biased competitive communities. Only in a shy-biased competitive community, bolder striped field mice had less interspecific interactions compared to shy individuals. Bank voles showed no difference in intra- or interspecific interactions between populations. Chapter III highlights, that not only consistent inter-individual differences per se are important for interactions within and between species, but also the amount of behavioural variation within coexisting species. Overall, this thesis highlights the importance of considering consistent inter-individual differences in a spatial context and their connection to individual spatial niche occupation, as well as the resulting effects on interactions within and between species. Individual differences are discussed in the context of similarity of individuals, individual and species niche width, and individual and species niche overlap. Thereby, this thesis makes one step further from the existing research on individual niches towards integrating consistent inter-individual differences into the larger framework of species coexistence.},
  language  = {en}
}