Simple metrics to characterize inter-individual and temporal variation in habitat selection behaviour

1. Individual variation in habitat selection and movement behavior is receiving growing attention, but primarily with respect to characterizing behaviors in different contexts as opposed to decomposing structure in behavior within populations. This focus may be limiting advances in understanding the diversity of individual behavior and its influence on population organization. We propose a framework for characterizing variation in space-use behavior with the aim of advancing interpretation of its form and function. 2. Using outputs from integrated Step Selection Analyses of 20 years of telemetry data from African elephants (Loxodonta Africana), we developed four metrics characterizing differentiation in resource selection behavior within a population [specialization (magnitude of the response independent of direction), heterogeneity (inter-individual variation), consistency (temporal shift in response) and reversal (frequency of directional changes in the response)]. 3. We contrast insi...1. 个体生境选择与移动行为的变异正受到学界越来越多的关注，但现有研究多聚焦于不同情境下的行为特征刻画，而非解析种群内部的行为结构。这种研究取向或制约了我们对个体行为多样性及其对种群组织的影响的认知进展。本研究提出一套刻画空间利用行为变异的分析框架，旨在深化对该行为的形式与功能的解析。 2. 本研究基于非洲象（Loxodonta Africana）20年遥测数据（telemetry data）的整合步长选择分析（integrated Step Selection Analyses）结果，构建了4项用于刻画种群内资源选择行为分化的指标：特化度（specialization，即与响应方向无关的响应强度）、异质性（heterogeneity，即个体间变异水平）、一致性（consistency，即响应的时间偏移程度）与反转性（reversal，即响应方向变化的频率）。 3. 本研究对比了insi...