Long-range adult movements of 3 vulture species (data from Spiegel et al. 2015)

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Date
2015-02-03
DOI
https://doi.org/10.5441/001/1.8c56f72s/1
Authors
Citation
Spiegel OM, Harel R, Centeno-Cuadros A, Hatzofe O, Getz WM, Nathan R. 2015. Long-range adult movements of 3 vulture species (data from Spiegel et al. 2015). Movebank Data Repository. https://doi.org/10.5441/001/1.8c56f72s/1
Abstract
Animal movements exhibit an almost universal pattern of fat-tailed step-size distributions, mixing short and very long steps. The Lévy-flight foraging hypothesis (LFFH) suggests a single optimal food search strategy to explain this pattern, yet mixed movement distributions are biologically more plausible and often convincingly fit movement data. To confront alternative explanations for these patterns, we tracked vultures of three species in two very different ecosystems using high-resolution GPS/accelerometer tags accompanied by behavioral, genetic and morphological data. The Lévy distribution fitted the datasets reasonably well, matching expectations based on their sparsely distributed food resources; yet, the fit of mixed models was considerably better, suggesting distinct movement modes operating at three different scales. Specifically, long-range forays (LRFs)—rare, short-term, large-scale circular journeys that greatly exceed the typical foraging range and contribute to the tail-fatness of the movement distribution in all three species – do not match an optimal foraging strategy suggested by the LFFH. We also found no support for preferred weather conditions or population genetic structure as alternative explanations, so the hypothesis that LRFs represent failed breeding dispersal attempts to find mates remains our most plausible explanation at this time. We conclude that inference about the mechanisms underlying animal movements should be confronted with complementary data, and suggest that mixed behavioral-modes likely explain commonly observed fat-tailed movement distributions.
Keywords
animal foraging,animal tracking,Gyps africanus,Gyps fulvus,Lévy flight foraging hypothesis,movement ecology,sex-biased dispersal,Torgos tracheliotus,vultures,wildlife biotelemetry,3D accelerometers
Taxa
Sensors
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DOIs of related Publications
URI
https://datarepository.movebank.org/handle/10255/move.390
BibTex
@misc{001/1_8c56f72s/1,
  title = {Long-range adult movements of 3 vulture species (data from Spiegel et al. 2015)},
  author = {Spiegel, OM and Harel, R and Centeno-Cuadros, A and Hatzofe, O and Getz, WM and Nathan, R},
  year = {2015},
  URL = {http://dx.doi.org/10.5441/001/1.8c56f72s/1},
  doi = {doi:10.5441/001/1.8c56f72s/1},
  publisher = {Movebank data repository}
}
RIS
TY  - DATA
ID  - doi:10.5441/001/1.8c56f72s/1
T1  - Long-range adult movements of 3 vulture species (data from Spiegel et al. 2015)
AU  - Spiegel, Orr M.
AU  - Harel, Roi
AU  - Centeno-Cuadros, Alejandro
AU  - Hatzofe, Ohad
AU  - Getz, Wayne M.
AU  - Nathan, Ran
Y1  - 2015/02/03
KW  - animal foraging
KW  - animal tracking
KW  - Gyps africanus
KW  - Gyps fulvus
KW  - Lévy flight foraging hypothesis
KW  - movement ecology
KW  - sex-biased dispersal
KW  - Torgos tracheliotus
KW  - vultures
KW  - wildlife biotelemetry
KW  - 3D accelerometers
KW  - Gyps africanus
KW  - Gyps fulvus
KW  - Torgos tracheliotus
PB  - Movebank data repository
UR  - http://dx.doi.org/10.5441/001/1.8c56f72s/1
DO  - doi:10.5441/001/1.8c56f72s/1
ER  -
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