The pace and sequence of spatial learning: exploration facilitates long-term behavioural refinement

Understanding how animals learn in novel environments is crucial for predicting behavioral responses to rapid environmental change, yet we lack knowledge about how long different behaviors take to develop and refine, and how exploration facilitates learning. We tested the exploration-refinement hypothesis using movement and diet data from GPS-collared bison (Bison bison; n=10) monitored for five years following reintroduction to Banff National Park. We examined how exploration influenced movement efficiency, habitat selection behaviors, and home range establishment. Different behaviors showed distinct learning trajectories. Movement efficiency in familiar areas reached an inflection point at 384 days, but when facing unfamiliar terrain, efficiency decreased as animals needed time to learn the new area. Habitat selection behaviors showed rapid initial improvement followed by extended refinement periods lasting up to three years. Exploratory movements occurred primarily in the first year ..., Population size, animal handling, and collaring
The initial population of 16 wild-born bison (10 adult females, 6 adult males) from Elk Island National Park increased from 34 individuals in 2018 to 90 by 2022. Throughout the study period, 30 – 100% (from 100% initially to ~30% by study end) of the adult female population was monitored via GPS collars(Vectronic Aerospace, Berlin, Germany). We only included individuals with > 1 year of data. All data were cleaned to only include high quality 2-hour fixes (3 dimensional fixes with a Horizontal dilution of precision < 2). While bison initially moved as a single group, they exhibited typical fusion-fission dynamics as the population grew, regularly splitting into multiple subgroups throughout the study period (Figure S2, see Supplementary Methods for details on group dynamics). The animal study and capture protocol was approved by Parks Canada’s Animal Care Task Force under a 2016 Parks Canada Research and Collection Permit.
Metrics of..., , # The pace and sequence of spatial learning: exploration facilitates long-term behavioural refinement

[https://doi.org/10.5061/dryad.h44j0zpx5](https://doi.org/10.5061/dryad.h44j0zpx5)

## Description of the data and file structure

Data on bison explorations across 5 years after reintroduction. Data files include information on individual metrics of time spent in meadows, exposure to forage biomass, diet quality, adherence to least cost travel paths, home range area, and home range overlap. Code files include scripts to run learning curve models, change point analyses, and regression models to understand how exploration influences spatial learning. Also included in the code are scripts to create the figures in the manuscript.

### Files and variables

#### File: DryadData_Code.zip

**Description:** 

In the DryadData_Code.zip you will find:

**CombinedData.rds** is the R data file that contains information on individual metrics of diet quality, adherence to least cost paths, exposure ...,