ESR

Endangered Species Research

ESR is a gold Open Access research journal on all endangered forms of life on Earth, the threats faced by species and their habitats, and the necessary steps that must be undertaken to ensure their conservation.

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Online: ISSN 1613-4796

Print: ISSN 1863-5407

DOI: https://doi.org/10.3354/esr

Impact Factor2.9 (JCR 2025 release)

Article Acceptance Rate68.4% (2024)

Average Time in Review178 days (2024)

Total Annual Downloads476.590 (2025)

Volume contents
Endang Species Res 4:113-122 (2008)

Harbour seal spatial distribution estimated from Argos satellite telemetry: overcoming positioning errors

ABSTRACT: A limiting factor of satellite telemetry in the context of habitat use by marine mammals is the low accuracy of the received positions. A novel statistical analysis to overcome the low accuracy was developed in the context of processing data on harbour seals Phoca vitulina for the atlas of Danish mammals. Ten harbour seals were caught in the Danish Wadden Sea and tracked with satellite transmitters. The statistical analysis reversed the problem of positioning: Instead of attempting to correctly assign each individual position to a single grid cell, our approach considers the combined probability that at least one position originated in each grid cell. Thus, all satellite-derived positions, including positions of poor precision, can contribute to the evaluation. The method is an alternative to other methods describing spatial use, such as kernel home range, and constitutes a viable approach for inclusion of satellite-derived positional data into spatial modeling of animal distribution and habitat use.

KEYWORDS

Jakob Tougaard (Co-author)

Jonas Teilmann (Co-author)

Svend Tougaard (Co-author)

  • Fisheries and Maritime Museum, Tarphagevej 2, 6710 Esbjerg V, Denmark