A Spatially-Varying Stochastic Differential Equation Model for Animal Movement

TL;DR

This paper introduces a novel stochastic differential equation model that captures complex, spatially-varying animal movement patterns by incorporating semiparametric potential and motility surfaces, providing new insights into animal behavior.

Contribution

It presents a new spatially-varying SDE model with semiparametric surfaces for animal movement analysis, addressing unobserved environmental influences.

Findings

Analyzed ant movement within a nest.

Revealed spatial heterogeneity in ant motility.

Demonstrated model's ability to capture complex movement patterns.

Abstract

Animal movement exhibits complex behavior which can be influenced by unobserved environmental conditions. We propose a model which allows for a spatially-varying movement rate and spatially-varying drift through a semiparametric potential surface and a separate motility surface. These surfaces are embedded in a stochastic differential equation framework which allows for complex animal movement patterns in space. The resulting model is used to analyze the spatially-varying behavior of ants to provide insight into the spatial structure of ant movement in the nest.