Year: 2025
Type: article
Abstract: Diffusion and anomalous diffusion are widely observed and used to study movement across organisms, resulting in extensive use of the mean and mean-squared displacement,. However, these measures, corresponding to specific displacement moments, do not capture the full complexity of movement behavior. Using high-resolution data from more than 70 million localizations of young and adult free-ranging barn owls (), we reveal strong anomalous diffusion as nonlinear growth of displacement moments. The moment spectrum function λ t ( q ) , defined by 〈 | x ( t ) | q 〉 ∼ t λ t ( q ) , displays piecewise linearity in q , with a critical moment marking the crossover between scaling regimes. This highlights the need of a broad spectrum of displacement moments to characterize movement, which we link to age-specific ecological drivers. Furthermore, a characteristic timescale of 5 minutes marks an unexpected transition from a convex to a concave λ t ( q ) . Using two stochastic models, a bounded Lévy walk and a multimode behavioral model, we account for the observed phenomena, showing good agreement with data, relating age-specific behavioral states to environmentally confined movement, and demonstrating how Lévy-walklike patterns can arise from the underlying behavioral structure. Finally, we discuss the ecological significance of our results, arguing that strong anomalous diffusion may be widespread in animal movement.
Source: PRX Life
DOI: 10.1103/yqpg-tn5y
Language: English
Subfield: Modeling and Simulation
Field: Mathematics
Domain: Physical Sciences
Open Access status: diamond
Awards: G5204642434, G5915110733, G5919059048
OpenAlex ID: W4414078935