Data from: Is pre-breeding prospecting behaviour affected by snow cover in the irruptive snowy owl? A test using state-space modelling and environmental data annotated via Movebank

Therrien J, Pinaud D, Gauthier G, Lecomte N, Bildstein KL, Bety J. 2015. Data from: Is pre-breeding prospecting behaviour affected by snow cover in the irruptive snowy owl? A test using state-space modelling and environmental data annotated via Movebank. Movebank Data Repository. https://doi.org/10.5441/001/1.32rf091b

Abstract

Background: Tracking individual animals using satellite telemetry has improved our understanding of animal movements considerably. Nonetheless, thorough statistical treatment of Argos datasets is often jeopardized by their coarse temporal resolution. State-space modelling can circumvent some of the inherent limitations of Argos datasets, such as the limited temporal resolution of locations and the lack of information pertaining to the behavioural state of the tracked individuals at each location. We coupled state-space modelling with environmental characterisation of modelled locations on a 3-year Argos dataset of 9 breeding snowy owls to assess whether searching behaviour for breeding sites was affected by snow cover and depth in an arctic predator that shows a lack of breeding site fidelity. Results: The state-space modelling approach allowed the discrimination of two behavioural states (searching and moving) during pre-breeding movements. Tracked snowy owls constantly switched from moving to searching behaviour during pre-breeding movements from mid-March to early June. Searching events were more likely where snow cover and depth was low. This suggests that snowy owls adapt their searching effort to environmental conditions encountered along their path. Conclusions: This modelling technique increases our understanding of movement ecology and behavioural decisions of individual animals both locally and globally according to environmental variables.

Keywords

Bubo scandiacus,Argos,Bubo scandiacus,dispersal,Env-DATA,Movebank,NCEP NARR,pre-breeding movements,snow,satellite telemetry,snowy owl,state-space model

Taxa

Taxon

Bubo scandiacus

Snowy Owl

Sensors

Sensor

Argos Doppler Shift

DOIs of related Publications

https://doi.org/10.1186/s40462-015-0028-7

URI

https://datarepository.movebank.org/handle/10255/move.424

BibTex

@misc{001/1_32rf091b,
  title = {Data from: Is pre-breeding prospecting behaviour affected by snow cover in the irruptive snowy owl? A test using state-space modelling and environmental data annotated via Movebank},
  author = {Therrien, J and Pinaud, D and Gauthier, G and Lecomte, N and Bildstein, KL and Bety, J},
  year = {2015},
  URL = {http://dx.doi.org/10.5441/001/1.32rf091b},
  doi = {doi:10.5441/001/1.32rf091b},
  publisher = {Movebank data repository}
}

RIS

TY  - DATA
ID  - doi:10.5441/001/1.32rf091b
T1  - Data from: Is pre-breeding prospecting behaviour affected by snow cover in the irruptive snowy owl? A test using state-space modelling and environmental data annotated via Movebank
AU  - Therrien, Jean-François
AU  - Pinaud, David
AU  - Gauthier, Gilles
AU  - Lecomte, Nicolas
AU  - Bildstein, Keith L.
AU  - Bety, Joël
Y1  - 2015/02/27
KW  - Bubo scandiacus
KW  - animal tracking
KW  - Argos
KW  - Bubo scandiacus
KW  - dispersal
KW  - Env-DATA
KW  - Movebank
KW  - NCEP NARR
KW  - pre-breeding movements
KW  - snow
KW  - satellite telemetry
KW  - snowy owl
KW  - state-space model
KW  - Bubo scandiacus
PB  - Movebank data repository
UR  - http://dx.doi.org/10.5441/001/1.32rf091b
DO  - doi:10.5441/001/1.32rf091b
ER  -

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