Effects of Biotelemetry Triangulation Error on Detecting Habitat Selection

Abstract

Mote Carlo simulations were used to determine impact of biotelemetry triangulation errors on power of the Chi-square goodness-of-fit test to detect habitat selection. Two categories of habitat complexity, 5 categories of habitat selection by the animal, 5 categories of precision of triangulation bearings, and 5 categories of sampling effort (sample size of .chi.2 test) were simulated. Results demonstrated that the power of Chi-square tests were decreased by increasing habitat complexity, decreasing precision of triangulation bearings, and decreasing sampling effort. Before field work commences to detect habitat selection, Monte Carlo simulations should be used to determine the power of the resulting Chi-square test, and thus allow the experiment to be redesigned if inconclusive results are imminent.