%0 Journal Article
%T Comparison of Two Methods for Measuring Daily Path Lengths in Arboreal Primates
%A Lappan
%A Susan
%J Journal of Ecology and Field Biology
%D 2007
%I 
%X Researchers have used a variety of methods to measure patterns of animal movement, includingthe use of spatial data (mapping the position of a moving animal at specified intervals) and direct estimationof travel path length by pacing under a moving animal or group. I collected movement data from five groupsof siamangs (Symphalangus syndactylus) using two different methods concurrently to estimate the effects of themethod of data collection on estimates of daily path length (DPL). Estimates of DPL produced from spatial datacollected at 15-minute intervals were 12% lower than estimates of DPL produced by pacing under the travelinganimal. The actual magnitude of the difference was correlated with the travel distance, but there was no correlationbetween the proportional difference and the travel distance. While the collection of spatial data is generallypreferable, as spatial data permit additional analyses of patterns of movements in two or three dimensions, therelatively small difference between the DPL¡¯s produced using different methods suggests that pacing is anacceptable substitute where the collection of spatial data is impractical. I also subsampled the spatial data atincreasing time intervals to assess the effect of sampling interval on the calculation of daily path lengths. Longersampling intervals produced significantly shorter estimates of travel paths than shorter sampling intervals. Theseresults suggest that spatial data should be collected at short time intervals wherever possible, and that samplingintervals should not exceed 30 minutes. Researchers should be cautious when comparing data generated usingdifferent methods.
%K Daily path length
%K Gibbon
%K Primate
%K Siamang
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