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arXiv · 1408.3279

A maximum-entropy description of animal movement

Chris H. Fleming·Yigit Subasi·Justin M. Calabrese
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Abstract

We introduce a class of maximum-entropy states that naturally includes within it all of the major continuous-time stochastic processes that have been applied to animal movement, including Brownian motion, Ornstein-Uhlenbeck motion, integrated Ornstein-Uhlenbeck motion, a recently discovered hybrid of the previous models, and a new model that describes central-place foraging. We are also able to predict a further hierarchy of new models that will emerge as data quality improves to better resolve the underlying continuity of animal movement. Finally, we also show that Langevin equations must obey a fluctuation-dissipation theorem to generate processes that fall from this class of maximum-entropy distributions.

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Chris H. Fleming, Yigit Subasi, Justin M. Calabrese. 2014-08-07. A maximum-entropy description of animal movement. https://doi.org/10.1103/physreve.91.032107

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