Data from: Moving beyond curve-fitting: using complementary data to assess alternative explanations for long movements of three vulture species

Citation
Spiegel OM, Harel R, Centeno-Cuadros A, Hatzofe O, Getz WM, Nathan R. 2015. Data from: Moving beyond curve-fitting: using complementary data to assess alternative explanations for long movements of three vulture species. Movebank Data Repository. https://doi.org/10.5441/001/1.8c56f72s
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
Gyps africanus,Gyps fulvus,Torgos tracheliotus,animal tracking,Lévy flight foraging hypothesis,movement ecology,sex-biased dispersal,wildlife biotelemetry,3D accelerometers
Taxa
Taxon
Gyps africanus
White-backed Vulture
Taxon
Gyps fulvus
Griffon Vulture
Taxon
Torgos tracheliotus
Lappet-faced Vulture
Sensors
Sensor
GPS
Related Workflows
DOIs of related Publications
BibTex
@misc{001/1_8c56f72s,
  title = {Data from: Moving beyond curve-fitting: using complementary data to assess alternative explanations for long movements of three vulture species},
  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},
  doi = {doi:10.5441/001/1.8c56f72s},
  publisher = {Movebank data repository}
}
RIS
TY  - DATA
ID  - doi:10.5441/001/1.8c56f72s
T1  - Data from: Moving beyond curve-fitting: using complementary data to assess alternative explanations for long movements of three vulture species
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  - Gyps africanus
KW  - animal foraging
KW  - Gyps fulvus
KW  - Torgos tracheliotus
KW  - animal tracking
KW  - Lévy flight foraging hypothesis
KW  - movement ecology
KW  - sex-biased dispersal
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
DO  - doi:10.5441/001/1.8c56f72s
ER  -
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