Recent trends in movement ecology of animals and human mobility

Abstract

Movement is fundamental to life, shaping population dynamics, biodiversity patterns, and ecosystem structure. In 2008, the movement ecology framework (MEF Nathan et al. in PNAS 105(49):19052–19059, 2008) introduced an integrative theory of organismal movement—linking internal state, motion capacity, and navigation capacity to external factors—which has been recognized as a milestone in the field. Since then, the study of movement experienced a technological boom, which provided massive quantities of tracking data of both animal and human movement globally and at ever finer spatio-temporal resolutions. In this work, we provide a quantitative assessment of the state of research within the MEF, focusing on animal movement, including humans and invertebrates, and excluding movement of plants and microorganisms. Using a text mining approach, we digitally scanned the contents of $$>8000$$ > 8000 papers from 2009 to 2018 available online, identified tools and methods used, and assessed linkages between all components of the MEF. Over the past decade, the publication rate has increased considerably, along with major technological changes, such as an increased use of GPS devices and accelerometers and a majority of studies now using the R software environment for statistical computing. However, animal movement research still largely focuses on the effect of environmental factors on movement, with motion and navigation continuing to receive little attention. A search of topics based on words featured in abstracts revealed a clustering of papers among marine and terrestrial realms, as well as applications and methods across taxa. We discuss the potential for technological and methodological advances in the field to lead to more integrated and interdisciplinary research and an increased exploration of key movement processes such as navigation, as well as the evolutionary, physiological, and life-history consequences of movement.

The movement ecology of fishes

“…1), although it is clear that the conceptual basis for the framework is sound and highly applicable to fishes. There is existing and emerging research on all aspects of the framework but we note that the greatest focus to date has been on the effect of environmental factors on movementa similar observation made by Joo et al (2022) in a review of how the Nathan et al (2008) framework had been applied across taxa. We further extended our review of movement ecology to consider higher level processes, such as what movement means for fish population biology, community interactions and ecosystem function.…”

“…There is existing and emerging research on all aspects of the framework but we note that the greatest focus to date has been on the effect of environmental factors on movement – a similar observation made by Joo et al . (2022) in a review of how the Nathan et al . (2008) framework had been applied across taxa.…”

abmAnimalMovement: An R package for simulating animal movement using an agent-based model

“…The abmAnimalMovement package provides the functionality to simulate animal movements via an agent-based model. We wrote the model using C++ via the Rcpp v.1.0.8.3 package [51][52][53] to ensure it runs efficiently while allowing for easier manipulation of model inputs and outputs via R (R is the most used analysis tool in movement ecology with numerous supporting packages 13,54 ).…”

“…12 The information gathered from animal movement studies is only as robust as the methods and analysis applied. In the past decade, the volume of animal data has exploded, 13,14 and the infrastructure for collating these data has improved drastically. 15 There are stand out examples of novel methods, 16 and exceptionally detailed insights into animal behaviour using new bio-logging technology (e.g., Ref.…”

“…However, on the whole, analysis approaches to maximise the information extracted have arguably lagged behind the technological and data improvements. 13 The bodily cost of attaching bio-telemetry devices (with examples from reptiles 17 ; mammals 18 ; and birds 19 ), as well as the possible conservation sensitivity of study animals, means researchers have an ethical duty to maximise the value/impact of the data collected.…”