cluster() Function and Paper

[Tyler Hodges]

Hello Chris,

I am currently working on an analysis of sub-seasonal functional home ranges of elk in eastern North America using a combination of segclust2d and ctmm. Given that I have 5+ years of data, ~200 individual elk, and 160,000+ relocations, I am trying to automate the process as much as possible. I was initially planning on evaluating stationarity of each segment returned via segclust2d (1500+) by studying each individual track and variogram and manually annotating the spreadsheets to indicate residence or migration. However, I stumbled onto the cluster() function while reading old threads on here, which can help to automate this process. I was wondering if the paper you mentioned here a few times ever got published? I'd like to read more into the function before I decide to use it. It will of course be faster than manually diagnosing variograms, but does it prove to be accurate, especially if comparing tracks that are of variable time (3 days to a few months per segment)? Would things get tricky if you are clustering the HR area of non-resident tracks that are 3 days in length with the HR areas of resident tracks that encompass larger areas and three months of time?

I'd also like to eventually derive timing and duration of the migratory and/or exploratory segments, so I wonder if manual inspection might end up being best anyway to better classify those movements. 

As always, thanks for your help!

Best,

Tyler

[Christen Fleming]

Hi Tyler,

We haven't yet published that work, because we are trying a lot of different approaches and seeing what works best. Currently, I would recommend something like sorting by the range-crossing timescale and then inspecting the most extreme cases, from worst to best (or until you feel confident).

best,

Chris

[Tyler Hodges]

Hello Chris,

Noted, thank you! I will give it a go and see how it turns out!

Best,

Tyler