Methods to approach bird movement data: a roadmap

ALARCÓN, PABLO A. E.; DI VIRGILIO, AGUSTINA S.

Congreso; I Ornithological Congress of the Americas; 2017

Animal movement is a key process in ecosystems as it can provide a link between behavior, landscape ecology, and population dynamics. Satellite telemetry now allows biologists and conservationists to get large numbers of high-resolution three-dimensional location data to monitor and map the details of bird movement. This technique is then expected to catalyze new conceptual progresses in theoretical biology and conservation, but at the challenge of developing and incorporating new analytical tools. In this talk, we will review the available methods to analyze movement data from bird species, with special emphasis being placed on the pros and cons of each one when satellite-based data is used. Particularly, we will walk through the evolution of method used to assess space use and resource selection; and finally focus on the different approaches to model animal movement. We hope our talk will encourage researchers to incorporate novel methods to study movement ecology of birds according their particular objectives.