3/27/2023 0 Comments Green swamp west gps tracks![]() Migratory species need to fatten prior to lengthy migrations and refuel upon return to wintering areas, while residents have food and habitat needs throughout the year. Therefore, a detailed understanding of how and when animals move about and use the landscape can help develop and improve management and conservation strategies, including habitat distribution and forage quality/quantity needs or objectives.Ī variety of intrinsic and extrinsic factors such as phenology, sex, species, resource availability and disturbance affect activity patterns and the need to move. The size of, and duration spent in habitat patches reflects the distribution and availability of necessary or used resources for the population in question, a condition that applies across taxa. Characterizing movement patterns allows us to better inform and develop theories in related fields of research, such as optimal foraging theory, bioenergetics and estimate time or activity budgets that are directly shaped by movement behavior and distribution of resources. The scale of animal movements can identify and characterize the environmental or behavioral processes which drive any given movement pattern, as well as represent the energy costs associated with various behaviors or activities. Consequently, how they interact with their environments reflects their ecological constraints, habitat or resource requirements and landscape heterogeneity. Our study illustrates how fine-scale movement data from tracking help understand and inform various other fields of research.Īnimals adjust foraging activity, and therefore movement distances, in relation to available resources. ![]() Ducks likely use less energy for movement than currently predicted and management, including distribution and configuration of essential habitat, may require reconsideration. Additionally, movement reductions over time demonstrates behavioral adjustments that represent divergent energetic demands, the detection of which is a key advantage of higher frequency data. Pacific Flyway ducks spend the majority of time using smaller foraging and resting areas than expected or previously reported, implying that foraging areas may be highly localized, and nutrients obtainable from smaller areas. Distance moved in 30 min shortened as segment duration increased, likely reflecting phases of non-movement captured within segments. 23.6% of track segments were short duration (1–2 locations), approximately 1/3 more than would be expected if they occurred randomly, and were more dispersed in the landscape than longer segments. ![]() Females and males differed only during the post-hunt season when females moved more. Pintails ( Anas acuta) moved most, were more likely to conduct flights > 300 m, had FFDs of 0.8–1.1 km, used more segments and patches per day that they revisited more frequently, resulting in the longest daily total movements. Gadwall ( Mareca strepera) generally moved least (FFDs: 0.5–0.7 km), but their larger foraging patches resulted from longer within-area movements. Movements and space-use were small, and varied by species, sex and season. ![]() We investigated behavior through relationships between these variables. We quantified distances moved, area used and time allocated across the day, using linear and generalized linear mixed models. We tracked 3 species of dabbling ducks with GPS-GSM transmitters in 2015–17 to examine fine-scale movement patterns over 24 h periods (30 min interval), dividing movement pathways into temporally continuous segments and spatially contiguous patches. Highly mobile waterfowl, which can exploit resources over large spatial extents, are excellent models to understand relationships between movements and resource usage, landscape interactions and specific habitat needs. Spatio-temporal patterns of movement can characterize relationships between organisms and their surroundings, and address gaps in our understanding of species ecology, activity budgets, bioenergetics, and habitat resource management. ![]()
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