title: Modeling the daily activities of breeding colonial seabirds: dynamic occupancy patterns in multiple habitat patches.
abstract: We constructed differential equation models for the diurnal abundance and distribution of breeding glaucous-winged gulls (Larus glaucescens) as they moved among nesting and non-nesting habitat patches. We used time scale techniques to reduce the differential equations to algebraic equations and connected the models to field data. The models explained the data as a function of abiotic environmental variables with R(2 )=0.57. A primary goal of this study is to demonstrate the utility of a methodology that can be used by ecologists and wildlife managers to understand and predict daily activity patterns in breeding seabirds.
authors.affiliation: Department of Mathematics, Andrews University, Berrien Springs, MI 49104, USA.
authors.forename: Andrea L
authors.initials: AL
authors.lastname: Moore
authors.forename: Smruti P
authors.initials: SP
authors.lastname: Damania
authors.forename: Shandelle M
authors.initials: SM
authors.lastname: Henson
authors.forename: James L
authors.initials: JL
authors.lastname: Hayward
mesh_terms: D000818:Animals; D001522:Behavior, Animal / Q000502:physiology*; D001947:Breeding; D046091:Charadriiformes / Q000502:physiology*; D017753:Ecosystem; D004777:Environment; D008954:Models, Biological