Data from: Suite of simple metrics reveals common movement syndromes across vertebrate taxa

Citation
Abrahms B. 2017. Data from: Suite of simple metrics reveals common movement syndromes across vertebrate taxa. Movebank Data Repository. https://doi.org/10.5441/001/1.hm5nk220
Abstract
Background: Because empirical studies of animal movement are most-often site- and species-specific, we lack understanding of the level of consistency in movement patterns across diverse taxa, as well as a framework for quantitatively classifying movement patterns. We aim to address this gap by determining the extent to which statistical signatures of animal movement patterns recur across ecological systems. We assessed a suite of movement metrics derived from GPS trajectories of thirteen marine and terrestrial vertebrate species spanning three taxonomic classes, orders of magnitude in body size, and modes of movement (swimming, flying, walking). Using these metrics, we performed a principal components analysis and cluster analysis to determine if individuals organized into statistically distinct clusters. Finally, to identify and interpret commonalities within clusters, we compared them to computer-simulated idealized movement syndromes representing suites of correlated movement traits observed across taxa (migration, nomadism, territoriality, and central place foraging). Results: Two principal components explained 70% of the variance among the movement metrics we evaluated across the thirteen species, and were used for the cluster analysis. The resulting analysis revealed four statistically distinct clusters. All simulated individuals of each idealized movement syndrome organized into separate clusters, suggesting that the four clusters are explained by common movement syndrome. Conclusions: Our results offer early indication of widespread recurrent patterns in movement ecology that have consistent statistical signatures, regardless of taxon, body size, mode of movement, or environment. We further show that a simple set of metrics can be used to classify broad-scale movement patterns in disparate vertebrate taxa. Our comparative approach provides a general framework for quantifying and classifying animal movements, and facilitates new inquiries into relationships between movement syndromes and other ecological processes.
Keywords
Antidorcas marsupialis,Canis mesomelas,Chelonoidis hoodensis,Chelonoidis porteri,Gyps africanus,Loxodonta africana,Mirounga angustirostris,Phoebastria irrorata,Syncerus caffer,Zalophus californianus,African elephant,animal tracking,Antidorcas marsupialis,black-backed jackal,California sea lion,Canis mesomelas,central place foraging,classification scheme,cluster analysis,Equus quagga,Galapagos albatross,Galapagos tortoise,Geochelone nigra,Gyps africanus,Loxodonta africana,migration,Mirounga angustirostris,movement ecology,nomadism,northern elephant seal,Phoebastria irrorata,Plains zebra,springbok,Syncerus caffer,territoriality,white-backed vulture,Zalophus californianus
Taxa
Taxon
Antidorcas marsupialis
Springbok, springbok
Taxon
Canis mesomelas
Black-backed Jackal
Taxon
Chelonoidis hoodensis
Espanola Giant Tortoise, Hood Island Giant Tortoise
Taxon
Chelonoidis porteri
Indefatigable Island Giant Tortoise, Santa Cruz Giant Tortoise, Western Santa Cruz Tortoise
Taxon
Gyps africanus
White-backed Vulture
Sensors
Related Workflows
DOIs of related Publications
BibTex
@misc{001/1_hm5nk220,
  title = {Data from: Suite of simple metrics reveals common movement syndromes across vertebrate taxa},
  author = {Abrahms, B},
  year = {2017},
  URL = {http://dx.doi.org/10.5441/001/1.hm5nk220},
  doi = {doi:10.5441/001/1.hm5nk220},
  publisher = {Movebank data repository}
}
RIS
TY  - DATA
ID  - doi:10.5441/001/1.hm5nk220
T1  - Data from: Suite of simple metrics reveals common movement syndromes across vertebrate taxa
AU  - Abrahms, Briana
Y1  - 2017/06/01
KW  - Antidorcas marsupialis
KW  - African buffalo
KW  - Canis mesomelas
KW  - Chelonoidis hoodensis
KW  - Chelonoidis porteri
KW  - Gyps africanus
KW  - Loxodonta africana
KW  - Mirounga angustirostris
KW  - Phoebastria irrorata
KW  - Syncerus caffer
KW  - Zalophus californianus
KW  - African elephant
KW  - animal tracking
KW  - Antidorcas marsupialis
KW  - black-backed jackal
KW  - California sea lion
KW  - Canis mesomelas
KW  - central place foraging
KW  - classification scheme
KW  - cluster analysis
KW  - Equus quagga
KW  - Galapagos albatross
KW  - Galapagos tortoise
KW  - Geochelone nigra
KW  - Gyps africanus
KW  - Loxodonta africana
KW  - migration
KW  - Mirounga angustirostris
KW  - movement ecology
KW  - nomadism
KW  - northern elephant seal
KW  - Phoebastria irrorata
KW  - Plains zebra
KW  - springbok
KW  - Syncerus caffer
KW  - territoriality
KW  - white-backed vulture
KW  - Zalophus californianus
KW  - Antidorcas marsupialis
KW  - Canis mesomelas
KW  - Chelonoidis hoodensis
KW  - Chelonoidis porteri
KW  - Gyps africanus
KW  - Loxodonta africana
KW  - Mirounga angustirostris
KW  - Phoebastria irrorata
KW  - Syncerus caffer
KW  - Zalophus californianus
PB  - Movebank data repository
UR  - http://dx.doi.org/10.5441/001/1.hm5nk220
DO  - doi:10.5441/001/1.hm5nk220
ER  -
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