Joint Species Movement Modeling: How Do Traits Influence Movements?

We develop joint species movement modeling to infer both species‐ and community‐level movement parameters from multi‐species movement data. The species‐level movement parameters are modeled as a function of species traits and phylogenetic relationships, allowing one to ask how species traits influence movements, and whether phylogenetically related species are similar in their movement behavior. We illustrate the modeling framework with direct observations of bird movements and capture–recapture data on moth movements. In both cases, we identify several traits that explain differences in movement behavior among species, such as movement rate increasing with body size in both birds and moths. These photographs illustrate the article “Joint species movement modelling: how do traits influence movements?” by Ovaskainen, O., D. L. Ramos, E. M. Slade, T. Merckx, G. Tikhonov, J. Pennanen, M. A. Pizo, M. R. Ribeiro, and J. M. Morales published in Ecology. https://doi.org/10.1002/ecy.262