I have GPS collaring data and I have conducted some analysis on habitat utilization using the methods described by Neu et al (1974) and Byers (1984). Besides these methods, what other analysis can be conducted to study habitat use? I have some environmental variables that (possibly) influence habitat use (for example, slope, elevation, NDVI, distance to roads, etc.,). I have run some Generalized Linear models that tell me which variables are significant but I don't feel that my study brings out anything new. Any advice or help on what other analyses can be done to gain a deeper insight into what is driving habitat use would be appreciated. Thank you.
Depending on your study species, available priors, and the locations it ranges in, you could use Bayesian analysis instead of glm to report how much the habitat effect correlates with use for the animal to justify management decisions for certain areas.
Thank you for your reply Andrew Paul McKenzie Pegman and Russell Gray; my study animals are elephants. Would you be able to please explain a bit more or provide some references to the Bayesian analysis you are suggesting? My email id is [email protected] (if it's easier to communicate via email) Yes, the aim is to justify / support / provide management decisions based on habitat use. Thank you.
Hi Wilson,
Habitat use can be studied in many ways. I rather suggest you to do ENFA modeling or GNESFA modeling. You can find some applications in the following paper.
Article Habitat use by Asian elephants: Context matters
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