Data from: From randomness to traplining: a framework for the study of routine movement behavior

Memory allows many animals to benefit from the spatial predictability of their environment by revisiting known profitable places. Travel route optimization or resource acquisition constraints usually lead to repeated sequences of visits, which may have major evolutionary and ecological implications. However, the study of this behavior has been impaired by a lack of concepts and methodologies. We here formally define routine movement behavior, provide an index that quantifies the degree of repetitiveness in movement sequences in terms of minimal conditional entropy, and design a flexible procedure that detects the specific subsequences that are repeated. We demonstrate our framework using computer simulations and real-world movement data of black-tailed deer (Odocoileus hemionus) introduced into a novel environment. The simulation example showed that our methods can suitably reveal the increase in the level of routine movement behavior during home range (HR) establishment. Black-tailed deer did not show such an increase, suggesting that HR establishment occurred very fast. In both examples, our procedure determining the subsequences that are repeated provides a precise visualization of routine movements. Our approach solves limitations in the study of routine movement behavior and thus opens promising perspectives for the study of the linkages between cognition, foraging strategies, and environments. Although we developed it to study routine movement behavior, it can be applied to any type of behavioral sequence and should thus be of interest to a broad range of behavioral ecologists.记忆可使诸多动物通过重返已知的高收益场所，借助环境的空间可预测性获取生存益处。旅行路线优化或资源获取约束通常会催生重复的造访序列，这类序列可能具备重要的进化与生态学意义。然而，此类行为的研究却因概念与方法的匮乏而进展受阻。为此，我们对常规运动行为（routine movement behavior）进行了明确定义，构建了以最小条件熵（minimal conditional entropy）为基准量化运动序列重复程度的指标，并设计了一套可灵活检测特定重复子序列的分析流程。我们通过计算机模拟与被引入全新环境的黑尾鹿（Odocoileus hemionus）真实运动轨迹数据，对本框架进行了验证。模拟实验结果表明，我们的方法能够有效揭示家域（home range, HR）建立过程中常规运动行为水平的提升过程。而黑尾鹿的运动轨迹并未呈现此类水平提升，这表明其家域建立过程极为迅速。在两类案例中，我们用于检测重复子序列的流程均可对常规运动模式实现精准可视化。本研究方法解决了常规运动行为研究中的现有局限，为认知、觅食策略与环境之间关联的研究开辟了极具前景的方向。尽管本方法最初为研究常规运动行为而开发，但它可应用于任意类型的行为序列，因此将受到众多行为生态学家的关注。