title: Adding structure to land cover - using fractional cover to study animal habitat use.
abstract: BACKGROUND
  Linking animal movements to landscape features is critical to identify factors that shape the spatial behaviour of animals. Habitat selection is led by behavioural decisions and is shaped by the environment, therefore the landscape is crucial for the analysis. Land cover classification based on ground survey and remote sensing data sets are an established approach to define landscapes for habitat selection analysis. We investigate an approach for analysing habitat use using continuous land cover information and spatial metrics. This approach uses a continuous representation of the landscape using percentage cover of a chosen land cover type instead of discrete classes. This approach, fractional cover, captures spatial heterogeneity within classes and is therefore capable to provide a more distinct representation of the landscape. The variation in home range sizes is analysed using fractional cover and spatial metrics in conjunction with mixed effect models on red deer position data in the Bohemian Forest, compared over multiple spatio-temporal scales.
  
  
  RESULTS
  We analysed forest fractional cover and a texture metric within each home range showing that variance of fractional cover values and texture explain much of variation in home range sizes. The results show a hump-shaped relationship, leading to smaller home ranges when forest fractional cover is very homogeneous or highly heterogeneous, while intermediate stages lead to larger home ranges.
  
  
  CONCLUSIONS
  The application of continuous land cover information in conjunction with spatial metrics proved to be valuable for the explanation of home-range sizes of red deer.
authors.affiliation: Biogeographical Modelling, Bayreuth Center for Ecology and Environmental Research BayCEER, University of Bayreuth, Universitaetsstr. 30, Bayreuth, 95447 Germany.
authors.forename: Mirjana
authors.initials: M
authors.lastname: Bevanda
authors.affiliation: American Museum for Natural History, Central Park West at 79th Street, New York, 10024-5192 NY USA.
authors.forename: Ned
authors.initials: N
authors.lastname: Horning
authors.affiliation: Biogeographical Modelling, Bayreuth Center for Ecology and Environmental Research BayCEER, University of Bayreuth, Universitaetsstr. 30, Bayreuth, 95447 Germany ; Unité de recherche écosystèmes montagnards, Irstea, 2 rue de la Papeterie-BP 76, St-Martin-d'Hères, 38402 France.
authors.forename: Bjoern
authors.initials: B
authors.lastname: Reineking
authors.affiliation: Bavarian Forest National Park, Department of Research and Documentation, Freyunger Str. 2, Grafenau, 94481 Germany.
authors.forename: Marco
authors.initials: M
authors.lastname: Heurich
authors.affiliation: Department of Remote Sensing, Remote Sensing for Biodiversity Unit, University Wuerzburg, Oswald Kuelpe Weg 86, Wuerzburg, 97074 Germany.
authors.forename: Martin
authors.initials: M
authors.lastname: Wegmann
authors.affiliation: Bavarian Forest National Park, Department of Research and Documentation, Freyunger Str. 2, Grafenau, 94481 Germany.
authors.forename: Joerg
authors.initials: J
authors.lastname: Mueller
keywords: Animal movement; Fractional cover; Habitat selection; Land cover classification; Mixed model; Remote sensing