Authors: Guillaume Péron
Published: 2019-07-26
DOI: 10.1111/brv.12545
Source: Full article
ABSTRACTAs technological and statistical innovations open new avenues in movement ecology, I review the fundamental implications of the time frame of home‐range studies, with the aim of associating terminologies consistently with research objectives and methodologies. There is a fundamental distinction between (a) extrapolations of stationary distributions, associated with long time scales and aiming at asymptotic consistency, and (b) period‐specific techniques, aiming at specificity but typically sensitive to the sampling design. I then review the difference between function and utilization in home‐range studies. Most home‐range studies are based on phenomenological descriptions of the time budgets of the study animals, not the function of the visited areas. I highlight emerging trends in automated pattern‐recognition techniques for inference about function rather than utilization.