Estimated mink home ranges using various home‐range estimators

Halbrook, Richard S.; Petach, Marty

doi:10.1002/wsb.924

Cited by 11 publications

(20 citation statements)

References 38 publications

(62 reference statements)

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“…Due to the complexity and diversity of home range estimation methods, and the fact that there is no standardized method evaluation (Fieberg and Börger 2012;Signer and Balkenhol 2015), it is necessary to carefully match speci c objectives with appropriate methods in analyzing home range sizes (Halbrook and Petach 2018). Previous studies con rmed that LoCoH was more preferable compared with MCP and KDE, as this model produced lower statistical error rates and could more realistically describe home range size (Getz et al 2007 terrain features would tend to prefer α-LoCoH method, but these features pose no obstacles to gorals movements; on the contrary, they were important shelters for reducing predation risk.…”

Section: Methodological Implicationsmentioning

confidence: 99%

A Pilot Study on Home Range and Habitat Use of Chinese Goral (Naemorhedus Griseus): Exploring GPS Tracking Data in Cliff Landscape by Three Estimation Methods

Teng

Tang²,

Menghe

et al. 2021

Preprint

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Home range size estimation is a crucial basis for developing effective conservation strategies and provides important insights into animal behavior and ecology. This study aimed at analyzing the home range variations, the influence of altitude in habitat selection, and comparing three methods in home range estimation of Chinese gorals (Naemorhedus griseus) living at a cliff landscape. The results indicated that there were significant differences between the annual home range sizes of individual animals but there was no difference in their seasonal home range sizes based on GPS tracking data of five female Chinese gorals from February 2015 to September 2018. The monthly home ranges decreased dramatically in May, June and July due to birth-giving. Notable seasonal variations were found in the micro-habitats of the Chinese gorals, as reflected by the altitude they inhabit, with higher altitude habitats used in spring and lower altitude habitats used in winter. Additionally, the altitude of monthly habitats was lowest in January, which may indicate an adaptation to low air temperature. We also found differences between estimation methods, namely minimum convex polygon (MCP), kernel density estimation (KDE) and α-local convex hull (α-LoCoH), with seasonal home range sizes derived from α-LoCoH being substantially smaller than those derived from MCP and KDE. In conclusion, our findings filled the gaps in home range study for this endangered species and contributed to effective conservation strategies. Considerations shall have to be given to the variations in home range estimation caused by different methods when dealing with rugged habitats, so as to make sure that any interpretation concerning the habitat use of the targeted species made on basis of such results would be meaningful and valid.

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Section: Methodological Implicationsmentioning

confidence: 99%

A Pilot Study on Home Range and Habitat Use of Chinese Goral (Naemorhedus Griseus): Exploring GPS Tracking Data in Cliff Landscape by Three Estimation Methods

Teng

Tang²,

Menghe

et al. 2021

Preprint

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“…While covering large areas with widely spaced traps can remove mobile males with large home ranges [ 45 ], it is likely to miss animals that travel less. Female minks usually have smaller home ranges than males [ 24 , 26 , 46 , 47 , 48 ]. The combination of reduced trappability of females due to their movement patterns with the fact that male mink mate with multiple females suggest that trapping activities aimed at population reduction should target females.…”

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Improving Trapping Efficiency for Control of American Mink (Neovison vison) in Patagonia

Medina-Vogel

Muñoz

Moeggenberg

et al. 2022

Animals

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Two main challenges when controlling alien American mink (Neovison vison) in Patagonia are to maximize campaign efficacy and cost-effectiveness and to avoid trapping native species. We designed and tested new variants of collapsible wire box traps, compared the efficacy of a food-based bait and a scent lure and compared catch rates in different seasons of the year. We used the data to model the efficiency rate of the trapping and to determine the trapping effort required to remove 70–90% of the estimated discrete mink population. Between January 2018 and March 2021, we operated 59 trapping transects over 103 three-day trapping periods in southern Chile. Traps were first baited with canned fish, and afterwards with mink anal gland lure. We compared the efficacy of mink capture with that of our previous study. We trapped 196 mink (125 males, 71 females), with most captures in summer. The medium-sized GMV-18 trap caught more male mink, but the more compact GMV-13 caught fewer non-target rodents and no native mammals. The scent lure was more successful than the canned fish when the previous campaign’s data were included in the analysis. There was also a significant improvement in the proportion of female mink trapped and reduced labour compared with our previous campaign that used larger traps, fish bait and 400–500 m trap spacings. We caught relatively more females than males after the third night of trapping on a transect. Our data analysis supports the use of the GMV-13 variant of wire cage trap as the best trap size: it is effective on female mink, small, cheap and easy to transport. Combined with mink anal scent lure, it reduces the possibility of trapping native species compared with other traps tested in Chile. As the most efficient method for removing at least 70% of the estimated discrete mink population within the area covered by each trap transect in southern Chile tested to date, we recommend trapping campaigns using GMV-13 during summer, with a 200-m trap spacing, for up to 6 days before moving traps to a new site, with a combination of three days with a female scent gland lure, followed by three days with a male scent gland lure.

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“…During the last century, an extensive body of literature has been directed to describe and quantify biases arising from methods used (see e.g., Hayne 1949, 1950, Worton 1989, Harris et al 1990, Seaman et al 1999, Andrzejewski 2002, Laver and Kelly 2008, Fleming et al 2018, 2019). Comparisons of different estimators for home ranges have suggested strengths of each under different conditions (e.g., sample size, the time between measurements and autocorrelation) (Hayne 1949, Van Winkle 1975, Rose 1982, Worton 1987, Plotz et al 2016, Halbrook and Petach 2018, Noonan et al 2019, Vieira et al 2019). Further spatial and temporal heterogeneities have also been investigated (e.g., ecotypes, physical boundaries) and shown to have an effect (Ouellette and Cardille 2011, Halbrook and Petach 2018, Wszola et al 2019).…”

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Are trapping data still suited for home range estimation? An analysis with various estimators, asymptotic models and data ordering procedures

Socias‐Martínez

Peckre

Noonan

2022

Preprint

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Understanding the size of animals' home ranges is vital for studies in ecology and conservation. Trapping datasets are an important source of information when targeting the biodiversity of an area, inconspicuous species, or high numbers of individuals in contrast to more expensive telemetry-based methods such as radio- or GPS-collaring. Currently, studies relying on trapping lack an evaluation of the performance of existing home range estimation procedures comparable to those developed for telemetry. Using animal movement simulations, we evaluate three variables reflecting the trade-offs faced by ecologists when designing a trapping study, 1) the number of observations obtained per individual, 2) the trap density and 3) the proportion of the home range area falling inside of the trapping grid. We compare the performance of five estimators on these conditions, four commonly used (AKDE, KDE, MCP, LoCoH) and a possible alternative for situations with low trap density or high number of observations (bicubic interpolation). We further test suggested benefits of using asymptotic models (Michaelis-Menten and monomolecular) to assess the total home range area when information obtained per individual is scarce, as this situation might be common in trapping datasets. In addition, we propose sorting the observations based on the distance between locations to improve the performance of asymptotic models' estimates. Using the results of the different procedures we constructed a generalized additive model (GAM) that allows predicting the bias in home range size under the different scenarios investigated. Our results show that the proportion of the area covered by the trapping grid and the number of observations were the most important factors predicting the accuracy and reliability of the estimates. The use of asymptotic models helped obtaining an accurate estimation at lower sample sizes and this effect was further improved by distance-ordering. The autocorrelation informed KDE was the estimator performing best under most conditions evaluated. Nevertheless, bicubic interpolation can be an alternative under common trapping conditions with low density of traps and low area covered. We provide the current results to the constructed GAM as a prospective tool for ecologists planning a new study or with already collected datasets that aim at assessing the potential biases in their estimates. Reliable and accurate home range estimates using trapping data can optimize monetary costs of home range studies, potentially enlarging the span of species, researchers and questions studied in ecology and conservation.

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Estimated mink home ranges using various home‐range estimators

Cited by 11 publications

References 38 publications

A Pilot Study on Home Range and Habitat Use of Chinese Goral (Naemorhedus Griseus): Exploring GPS Tracking Data in Cliff Landscape by Three Estimation Methods

A Pilot Study on Home Range and Habitat Use of Chinese Goral (Naemorhedus Griseus): Exploring GPS Tracking Data in Cliff Landscape by Three Estimation Methods

Improving Trapping Efficiency for Control of American Mink (Neovison vison) in Patagonia

Are trapping data still suited for home range estimation? An analysis with various estimators, asymptotic models and data ordering procedures

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